My summary doesn't work in French where the 's' in Jules is silent and if it comes to that Mady Berry is not, to the best of my knowledge, related to Jules; both made lots of films but Jules had the good fortune to work for directors like Carne and Renoir which more or less guaranteed international distribution. Maurice Leblanc, who created the character of Arsene Lupin was born in Rouen and a good friend of mine, who has done much to increase my knowledge of and pleasure in French films lives just outside and that's it family-wise. Until I saw this film I had supposed that only Sacha Guitry was experimenting with opening credit titles in the thirties but this movie proves me wrong; the titles are inventive as are some of the shots. In terms of that character I've seen only the last addition, a couple of years ago so I'm not qualified to compare and contrast Berry with others and it is possible that he is unsuited to the role but on the other hand I enjoyed it.
2 Reviews
A weak book...
dbdumonteil16 February 2006
"L'Agence Barnett and Cie" is probably one of Maurice Leblanc 's weakest links in the Arsene Lupin saga.Besides ,Jules Berry ,a good thespian though,is too old and not handsome enough to portray Lupin successfully.Best performance comes from a nervy Mady Berry as Victoire,Lupin's child-minder.But the story is never exciting ,being confused ,poorly written.Anyway put the blame on Leblanc's material which was not that much good in the first place.One of the characters hints at the "Aiguille Creuse" affair:why didn't they take that excellent book instead?
Arsène Lupin was never lucky as far as cinema is concerned.
Arsène Lupin was never lucky as far as cinema is concerned.
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