Reviews

Saw this enjoyable French thriller on TV.Although the plot is nothing new, it is presented in the charming way that only French can do.Nice dialogs, very good acting.Director Decoin is famous for those B type French films which excitingly reveal the life in French province. The beginning with escape scenes and car crash are a bit naive, but after that film develops quickly. Camera work, in black and white, with interior scenes is a jewel. Reminds of other French master movie makers. The lighting, the contrasts are exquisite.Actor Perre Fresnay is convincing in the title role of bad guy.This film shows what can be done with simple story that still glues one to the screen without having special effects, car chases and the usual high noise effects that Hollywood is bombarding us nowadays.

I think this is easily the worst film of the year.What a waste of resouces, actors and moviegoers time.The screenplay must have been written by a school dropout and the idea of a search for paradise is so poorly presented that I can only merit this film 1 on a scale of 10. Why some actors agree to appear in such a stinker is beyond me.It only shows that after a successful film like Sixth Sense, a director needs to really work on the story before filming it.For me the silliest point are the clothing of the villagers - they cannot go out of their confine, yet they are all immaculately dressed.Dialogue is sometimes so silly that one wonders how on earth director thought of it.Nice camera-work though.

The TV film is about man who raped girl and after 13 years comes to see her and son again. The plot is about who killed him, girl's father, known judge, girl herself or son.Walter Mathau is lawyer who is involved in defending them in court.

I understand that this film won Venice Grand Prize for 1947. Jury must have been picked from communists as this film is a worst communist propaganda one can imagine. The story of the strike in Czech mine, poor acting, story that must have been dug out from communist party instructions "how to promulgate communism". If one critises Venice film festival during Fascist years, this award stands in the line of those too.