Director Labro, who made some 26 further films after this one, all equally undistinguished, was clearly enamoured of light and shade; he had obviously seen it used well by Masters and utilises it throughout without adding anything of his own; it's rather like a mediocre singer who admires Sinatra so buys a hat and lights and smokes a cigarette as he sings in a pedestrian voice. The setting is a boy's school clearly working on a budget as it boasts only half a classroom full of students and only a handful in the grounds. An adult is found hanged and one student a good decade older than the rest of the school decides to investigate. It passes the time - but not as well as Les Disparus de St Agil.
3 Reviews
a very atmospheric college murder case
happytrigger-64-39051724 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The supervisor of a college and a child are found hung. Some children don't believe in suicide and decide to investigate at night.
Night is the main atmosphere of the movie, very creepy with lot of shadows and smooth camera movements in an old college with archways. It is the very first movie photographed by Pierre Petit who must have seen Orson Welles movies and it's quite funny to watch such a light intrigue with strong dark black and white photography and accompanied with an intense music score. Pierre Petit and director Maurice Labro would later do "Un Fauve Est Lâché", an atmospheric gangster movie with Lino Ventura.
The casting has no stars but actors are all very convincing.
SPOILER : And the end is a true very big laugh, just love it.
Night is the main atmosphere of the movie, very creepy with lot of shadows and smooth camera movements in an old college with archways. It is the very first movie photographed by Pierre Petit who must have seen Orson Welles movies and it's quite funny to watch such a light intrigue with strong dark black and white photography and accompanied with an intense music score. Pierre Petit and director Maurice Labro would later do "Un Fauve Est Lâché", an atmospheric gangster movie with Lino Ventura.
The casting has no stars but actors are all very convincing.
SPOILER : And the end is a true very big laugh, just love it.
The FBI (The French boys investigate)
dbdumonteil3 July 2009
In the grand tradition of Paul Very (writer) and Christian-Jaque (director),"Les Gosses Mènent L'Enquête" (=the kids investigate)takes place in a boarding school where a supervisor hangs himself one night;but is it really a suicide?It's all the more intriguing since the man was rather rich and that soon after a young pupil commits suicide the same way.
One of the students ,Dominique (played by ,as it is often the case in this kind of movie ,an actor who is obviously too old for the part (23 )) tries to find the clue to the puzzle ;he is in love with the headmaster's daughter ,a sick girl ,who fears her father might be an assassin.
The screenplay is not particularly memorable ,but acting and directing are OK ,particularly the scenes in the dark at night when everybody's supposed to be asleep and when silhouettes pace dangerous corridors .
Like this? try these......
"Les Disparus De Saint-Agil " Christian-Jaque,1938 "Merlusse" Marcel Pagnol ,1935 "L'Assassinat Du Père Noel" Christian-Jaque ,1941 "Les Anciens De Saint-Loup" Georges Lampin,1950 "Dortoir Des Grandes" Henri Decoin,1953 "Nous Les Gosses" Louis Daquin ,1941
One of the students ,Dominique (played by ,as it is often the case in this kind of movie ,an actor who is obviously too old for the part (23 )) tries to find the clue to the puzzle ;he is in love with the headmaster's daughter ,a sick girl ,who fears her father might be an assassin.
The screenplay is not particularly memorable ,but acting and directing are OK ,particularly the scenes in the dark at night when everybody's supposed to be asleep and when silhouettes pace dangerous corridors .
Like this? try these......
"Les Disparus De Saint-Agil " Christian-Jaque,1938 "Merlusse" Marcel Pagnol ,1935 "L'Assassinat Du Père Noel" Christian-Jaque ,1941 "Les Anciens De Saint-Loup" Georges Lampin,1950 "Dortoir Des Grandes" Henri Decoin,1953 "Nous Les Gosses" Louis Daquin ,1941
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