Like Peter Viertel after him Robert Siodmak was born in Dresden which after 1945 became part of East Germany. Having been more or less obliged to flee a still united Germany one jump ahead of Hitler Siodmak was arguably one mad Kraut when he returned to his homeland to round out his career. Nazi hunters are not, of course, anything new but usually the idea is to bring them to justice but Pierre Brasseur has a new wrinkle; he hunts them down in the interest of making a buck and he's doing very nicely thank you, if anybody asks you, but as we know crime doesn't pay so Brasseur winds up with a sickly smile on his face and a tablet just short of where it will do the most good. This is a fine effort from Siodmak who got in just before The Spy Who Came In From The Cold kick-started a whole new genre in film-making; had enough people seen this at the time this is the one we would be hailing as the prototype. Classy, crisp black and white photography complement a story in which everyone is black; the victims are an East European Rat Pack who don't sing or perform, whose only interest in fact is to prevent Brasseur singing. Highly recommended.
5 Reviews
Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
brogmiller11 January 2024
To say that Robert Siodmak's late German films are something of a mixed bag would be an understatement. In this, his second adaptation of a novel by Johannes Mario Simmel, he has employed the stylistic devices of his earlier Film Noirs but alas, despite his unmistakeable visual style, an atmospheric score by Georges Delerue and two charismatic central performances, this Euro mishmash is let down by an indifferent script, lacklustre supporting cast and in the version I saw, truly appalling sub-titling.
It begins intriguingly, loses focus in the middle and builds to a wonderfully ironic finale.
Mesmerising as the monstrous Berrera is Pierre Brasseur and his scenes with classy Nadja Tiller as the wife who loathes him but comes to realise which side her bread is buttered are excellent whilst her final close up is utterly priceless. The character of the ill-used chauffeur is essentially a cipher and is played as such by Walter Giller. There are a few former Nazi characters in the mix, one of whom is portrayed, unsurprisingly, by Charles Regnier.
Not up there with his best, Herr Siodmak has made the most of the material at his disposal.
He eventually returned to America to direct 'Custer of the West' and probably wished he hadn't.
It begins intriguingly, loses focus in the middle and builds to a wonderfully ironic finale.
Mesmerising as the monstrous Berrera is Pierre Brasseur and his scenes with classy Nadja Tiller as the wife who loathes him but comes to realise which side her bread is buttered are excellent whilst her final close up is utterly priceless. The character of the ill-used chauffeur is essentially a cipher and is played as such by Walter Giller. There are a few former Nazi characters in the mix, one of whom is portrayed, unsurprisingly, by Charles Regnier.
Not up there with his best, Herr Siodmak has made the most of the material at his disposal.
He eventually returned to America to direct 'Custer of the West' and probably wished he hadn't.
Siodmak back in a country torn apart.
dbdumonteil27 February 2019
It was a long way from "Menschen am Sonntag" (Germany,1929) to "Die Ratten" (Germany ,1955).It was a long way from "La Crise Est Finie" (France,1934) to "L'affaire Nina B. " (France ,1961).
Anyway,although a FRench production,"l'Affaire Nina B." is definitely a German movie,even if the lead is Pierre Brasseur.
It is another unfairly overlooked work by Robert Siodmak,a director who took the film noir to its absolute peaks in America ."Nina " is no longer a film noir,although in several respects ,it is.Now the gangsters have been replaced by the war criminals and the spies,the femme fatale (Nadja Tiller replaces Ava Gardner and Yvonne de Carlo)has turned into a whore hired as a secretary .
The cast and credits set the tone: split Germany ;two bits of map which read "DEUT" and "SCHLAND " ,like two pieces of a jig saw,a la Saul Bass For a man like Siodmak,who was driven away from his country when the Nazi rose to power,it meant a lot.
A movie which was ahead of its time,it anticipated the spy thrillers about the cold war .Pierre Brasseur is a blackmailer "specialized" in war criminals.Anyway,all the characters of the movies are "Ratten" (rats):from the corrupt lawyer to the bosses who pretend they help the third world to the pitiful chauffeur,a loser no longer to react to events anymore.
Extraordinary scenes: Brasseur visits one of his " customers" : he tells him about what he "did" in the war: so there were 81 persons killed instead of 80? Who cares?Someone cares : the criminal's seventeen-year old son heard it all.No burst of anger,no tears ,no melodrama,but this boy "who could have been part of the victims" and "who's already heard his school mates talk about his dad's past" cannot take it anymore.
With its use of cinemascope,its icy pictures and its murky atmosphere ,"L'Affaire Nina B." has a deadly charm.
Anyway,although a FRench production,"l'Affaire Nina B." is definitely a German movie,even if the lead is Pierre Brasseur.
It is another unfairly overlooked work by Robert Siodmak,a director who took the film noir to its absolute peaks in America ."Nina " is no longer a film noir,although in several respects ,it is.Now the gangsters have been replaced by the war criminals and the spies,the femme fatale (Nadja Tiller replaces Ava Gardner and Yvonne de Carlo)has turned into a whore hired as a secretary .
The cast and credits set the tone: split Germany ;two bits of map which read "DEUT" and "SCHLAND " ,like two pieces of a jig saw,a la Saul Bass For a man like Siodmak,who was driven away from his country when the Nazi rose to power,it meant a lot.
A movie which was ahead of its time,it anticipated the spy thrillers about the cold war .Pierre Brasseur is a blackmailer "specialized" in war criminals.Anyway,all the characters of the movies are "Ratten" (rats):from the corrupt lawyer to the bosses who pretend they help the third world to the pitiful chauffeur,a loser no longer to react to events anymore.
Extraordinary scenes: Brasseur visits one of his " customers" : he tells him about what he "did" in the war: so there were 81 persons killed instead of 80? Who cares?Someone cares : the criminal's seventeen-year old son heard it all.No burst of anger,no tears ,no melodrama,but this boy "who could have been part of the victims" and "who's already heard his school mates talk about his dad's past" cannot take it anymore.
With its use of cinemascope,its icy pictures and its murky atmosphere ,"L'Affaire Nina B." has a deadly charm.
Deut and schland
dbdumonteil20 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
It was a long way from "Menschen am Sonntag" (Germany,1929) to "Die Ratten" (Germany ,1955).It was a long way from "La Crise Est Finie" (France,1934) to "L'affaire Nina B. " (France ,1961).
Anyway,although a FRench production,"l'Affaire Nina B." is definitely a German movie,even if the lead is Pierre Brasseur.
It is another unfairly overlooked work by Robert Siodmak,a director who took the film noir to its absolute peaks in America ."Nina " is no longer a film noir,although in several respects ,it is.Now the gangsters have been replaced by the war criminals and the spies,the femme fatale (Nadja Tiller replaces Ava Gardner and Yvonne de Carlo)has turned into a whore hired as a secretary .
The cast and credits set the tone: split Germany ;two bits of map which read "DEUT" and "SCHLAND " ,like two pieces of a jig saw,a la Saul Bass For a man like Siodmak,who was driven away from his country when the Nazi rose to power,it meant a lot.
A movie which was ahead of its time,it anticipated the spy thrillers about the cold war .Pierre Brasseur is a blackmailer "specialized" in war criminals.Anyway,all the characters of the movies are "Ratten" (rats):from the corrupt lawyer to the bosses who pretend they help the third world to the pitiful chauffeur,a loser no longer to react to events anymore.
Extraordinary scenes: Brasseur visits one of his " customers" : he tells him about what he "did" in the war: so there were 81 persons killed instead of 80? Who cares?Someone cares : the criminal's seventeen-year old son heard it all.No burst of anger,no tears ,no melodrama,but this boy "who could have been part of the victims" and "who's already heard his school mates talk about his dad's past" cannot take it anymore.
And there's this sublime finale.Like in "die Ratten" ,which also took place in Christmas time and which included a ball,the b..... celebrates his triumph.But it will be short-lived.As the clock is striking twelve and the revelers are breaking into the traditional "Auld Lang Syne" , Mister B .collapses on his table,struck down by a heart attack (but hasn't he swallowed his pills?" His magnificent wife walks towards him:maybe it's the triumph of the femme fatale after all those American years.
With its use of cinemascope,its icy pictures and its murky atmosphere ,"L'Affaire Nina B." has a deadly charm.
Anyway,although a FRench production,"l'Affaire Nina B." is definitely a German movie,even if the lead is Pierre Brasseur.
It is another unfairly overlooked work by Robert Siodmak,a director who took the film noir to its absolute peaks in America ."Nina " is no longer a film noir,although in several respects ,it is.Now the gangsters have been replaced by the war criminals and the spies,the femme fatale (Nadja Tiller replaces Ava Gardner and Yvonne de Carlo)has turned into a whore hired as a secretary .
The cast and credits set the tone: split Germany ;two bits of map which read "DEUT" and "SCHLAND " ,like two pieces of a jig saw,a la Saul Bass For a man like Siodmak,who was driven away from his country when the Nazi rose to power,it meant a lot.
A movie which was ahead of its time,it anticipated the spy thrillers about the cold war .Pierre Brasseur is a blackmailer "specialized" in war criminals.Anyway,all the characters of the movies are "Ratten" (rats):from the corrupt lawyer to the bosses who pretend they help the third world to the pitiful chauffeur,a loser no longer to react to events anymore.
Extraordinary scenes: Brasseur visits one of his " customers" : he tells him about what he "did" in the war: so there were 81 persons killed instead of 80? Who cares?Someone cares : the criminal's seventeen-year old son heard it all.No burst of anger,no tears ,no melodrama,but this boy "who could have been part of the victims" and "who's already heard his school mates talk about his dad's past" cannot take it anymore.
And there's this sublime finale.Like in "die Ratten" ,which also took place in Christmas time and which included a ball,the b..... celebrates his triumph.But it will be short-lived.As the clock is striking twelve and the revelers are breaking into the traditional "Auld Lang Syne" , Mister B .collapses on his table,struck down by a heart attack (but hasn't he swallowed his pills?" His magnificent wife walks towards him:maybe it's the triumph of the femme fatale after all those American years.
With its use of cinemascope,its icy pictures and its murky atmosphere ,"L'Affaire Nina B." has a deadly charm.
Rosemarie Rides Again!
JohnHowardReid12 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Also known as The Nina B. Affair, this French spin-off of Das Madchen Rosemarie (1958) does not seem to be available as yet on DVD. (Das Madchen can be purchased on a Kinowelt Home Entertainment disc). That's a shame, because Nina B. is an interesting film directed by Robert Siodmak, and just to further the real-life connection, the title role here is played by none other than Nadja Rosemarie Tiller AND the movie was photographed on location in Berlin. This time, however, Pierre Brasseur (as the domineering B.) has the lead male role. (I also have Michel Piccoli in my cast list, although he is not mentioned at IMDb), Fortunately, Siodmak brings much of his usual expertise, tautness and drive to this rambling and somewhat over-complicated account of passion and big business intrigue. Top scenes include the opening funeral, and a high-speed chase along the highway. In addition to Tiller and Brasseur, Walter Giller's glum chauffeur deserves a special pat on the back. Michel Kelber's superb black and white photography also deserves unstinting praise.
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