User Reviews

Gérard Oury was a specialist of hit comedies with Bourvil, Louis de Funès, Jean-Paul Belmondo....

But before directing comedies, his first efforts in directing films noirs were not successful and are today hard to find movies : "La Main Chaude" and "La Menace". "La Menace" is adapted from Frederic Dard, with Robert Hossein as a weird pharmacist. Robert Hossein is often associated with Frederic Dard's writings, as a director and/or actor : "Les Salauds Vont En Enfer", "Toi ... Le Venin", "Le Monte-Charge", these three having a strong atmosphere (just forget "Les Scélérats" in a nouvelle vague style).

"La Menace" isn't as noirish as these titles because we often see scenes with "les Marioles", a local happy gang of scooter riders. Marie-José Nat is a lonesome girl who often meets these comfortable hoodlums and she succeeds in belonging to the gang thanks to her transformation as a motorbike rider dressed in black leather (MJ Nat's performance as a motorbike rider is a must see as she is far from convincing). But MJ meets monsieur Savary (Robert Hossein) who helps her and they have a very confused love affair. This is a story hesitating between two directions, forgetting the main one with Robert Hossein, giving it very less suspense and atmosphere than it should : pity! Little details : you can often see some Lambretta scooters with the gang "les Marioles" and a Simca Versailles driven by Robert Hossein and also by Elsa Martinelli in a superb scene where she is surrounded by "les Marioles" on their Lambrettas gassing her with their mufflers ; this happens on the main place of Saint-Germain-En-Laye where the movie is sometimes shot (les Arcades and his bar, the forest next to the golf, a forest house at the entrance of the city, écluses de Bougival). You can even see the movie theatre Saint Lambert in Paris (inside and outside) with portraits of Jean-Paul Belmondo and of course Michèle Morgan.

About Gérard Oury's main contribution to film noir, we must not forget he co-wrote with Edouard Molinaro and Alain Poiré the extraordinary "Un Témoin Dans La Ville" in 1959 (adapted from Boileau and Narcejac).

After his next movie "Le Crime Ne Paie Pas", Gérard Oury listens to Louis de Funès telling him to orientate to comedy. And what a success...

1961's small film, "The Menace" is quite an impressive, intelligently made film noir starring Robert Hossein and Marie Jose Nat, who, I single out as giving a fantastically nuanced performance that is supremely supportive to the production. It is quite an accomplishment. Robert Hossein is sufficiently dubious as an older chemist who intrudes on Nat's character's naivete as she is a troubled youth, an orphant who being cared for by an self-centered ex-opera singer uncle played by Paolo Stoppa who uses her as servant until she rebels with hopes of joining a moped gang, causing her indiscretion of lying to impress them when one turns up strangled, and then getting caught up in her lies. The film was the first by director Gerard Oury that I've seen and it was well-written by Frederic Dard, Alain Poire and Oury. The script is a marvel of succinctness contributing to the splendid direction. The script is based on Dard's novel, "Les Mariolles" and Hossein's father Andre does the music for this one. Elsa Martinelli is also in the cast as Hossein's wife. B & W

Copyright 1977 by Les Productions du Daunou. Co-produced with CanaFox. French release through Parafrance: 28 September 1977. Alternative Canadian release title: The Threat. 112 minutes. (Available on an excellent Le Cinema du Figaro DVD).

SYNOPSIS: When his pregnant girlfriend (Laure) is blamed for the murder of his mistress (Dubois), the now-wealthy owner of a thriving trucking business (Montand) decides to manufacture evidence that will pin the crime on himself.

NOTES: Marie Dubois most deservedly carried off the 1978 César for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Balmer was nominated for the corresponding actor category.

COMMENT: I'll admit that the movie does tend to come apart in its concluding Canadian sequences, but they are so extravagantly handled and arrive at such a unique finish, this is only a minor flaw in this very superior suspense outing.

Mind you, the plot does have some holes, but the pace is so fast and the atmosphere so intense, few will notice.

I'll also admit that – with the notable exception of the cliff-top scenes as well as most of the other Dubois footage – the film is not as noirish in its atmosphere as it might be. For some reason, possibly to contrast with Montand's heavily dramatic hero, Balmer's police detective is presented in rather a light manner (no shadows in his scenes) and is likewise enacted in a far less dramatic style (almost flippant, in fact).

Although outclassed by the venomously neurotic Dubois, Canadian actress Carole Laure is perfectly cast as the nice girl, the innocent in Montand's heavily dramatic life.

Some would say that the hero is too inventive for his own good and far too imaginative to sustain the reality of the plot. Nonetheless, thanks to Corneau's excitingly incisive direction, and his suspenseful script (co-written with Daniel Boulanger), plus a great deal of money upfront, "La Menace" fully lives up its title. In short, a gripping thriller from first until almost last. Imaginatively directed and superbly photographed too – and on some hair-raising locations!