Based on Maurice Dekobra 's famous novel which nobody reads today ;it was already obsolete when the movie was made in the mid-fifties .Diamant-Berger is one of the worst French directors of the old wave :even with a golden subject ("Arsène Lupin") he was not able to make an exciting movie.
In the fifties ,his career was more unfocused as never."La Madonne" is sandwiched between "Le Chasseur De Chez Maxime" / "Mon Curé Chez Les Riches" and "Mon Curé Chez Les Pauvres ".It's a jumble ,a dreadful far-fetched screenplay involving a socialite (and adventuress),lady Diana (Wyndsome), oil wells, stocks,psychoanalysis, conjurers, uranium, a female gaucho , skyjacking, a 60 miles walk in the desert without food or water,a free-for-all,secret agents,you name it....the viewer feels like giving up, well before the final revelations.But he can sleep the sleep of the just :uranium winds up in France's pocket.
Erich Von Stroheim is killed half-way through the movie : maybe he was tired of a hopeless script.Lady Diana's bedroom in the sleeping- car is luxurious and is worth a visit.The actress,Gisèle Pascal ,looks like a poor man's Danielle Darrieux.
NB : Von Stroheim 's character is Dr Traurig" (=sad);how apt!
In the fifties ,his career was more unfocused as never."La Madonne" is sandwiched between "Le Chasseur De Chez Maxime" / "Mon Curé Chez Les Riches" and "Mon Curé Chez Les Pauvres ".It's a jumble ,a dreadful far-fetched screenplay involving a socialite (and adventuress),lady Diana (Wyndsome), oil wells, stocks,psychoanalysis, conjurers, uranium, a female gaucho , skyjacking, a 60 miles walk in the desert without food or water,a free-for-all,secret agents,you name it....the viewer feels like giving up, well before the final revelations.But he can sleep the sleep of the just :uranium winds up in France's pocket.
Erich Von Stroheim is killed half-way through the movie : maybe he was tired of a hopeless script.Lady Diana's bedroom in the sleeping- car is luxurious and is worth a visit.The actress,Gisèle Pascal ,looks like a poor man's Danielle Darrieux.
NB : Von Stroheim 's character is Dr Traurig" (=sad);how apt!
