Le grand jeu (1934)

Pierre (Pierre Richard-Willm), a young lawyer, has enormous debts due to his mistress Florence (Marie Bell), and her whims of luxury life. Pierre has gone too far and put the family firm in... See full summary »

Director:

Jacques Feyder

Writers:

Jacques Feyder (screenplay), Charles Spaak (screenplay)

Stars:

Marie Bell, Pierre Richard-Willm, Charles Vanel

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marie Bell	...	Florence / Irma
Pierre Richard-Willm	...	Pierre Martel / Pierre Muller
Charles Vanel	...	Clément
Georges Pitoëff	...	Nicolas Ivanoff (as Georges Pitoeff)
Camille Bert	...	Le colonel
André Dubosc	...	Bernard Martel
Pierre Larquey	...	Gustin
Lyne Clevers	...	La môme Dauville
Harry Nestor	...	Aziani (as Nestor Ariani)
Pierre de Guingand	...	Le capitaine
Henri Chomette
Louis Florencie	...	Fenoux (as Florencie)
Pierre Labry	...	Le cantinier
Claude Marcy	...	La voix d'Irma
Olga Velbria	...	Aïchouch

Storyline

Pierre (Pierre Richard-Willm), a young lawyer, has enormous debts due to his mistress Florence (Marie Bell), and her whims of luxury life. Pierre has gone too far and put the family firm in jeopardy. They ask him to expatriate. To avoid scandal, Pierre joins the Foreign Legion. In Morocco, near the desert, Pierre goes with his comrades of the Legion to a bar-restaurant-brothel, owned by a shady character, Mr. Clement (Charles Vanel). Clement lives more or less with Ms.Blanche (Françoise Rosay) who is a fortune teller with cards, as a hobby. But Clement is also after his girls now and then. Pierre is still obsessed with Florence but he meets Irma (Marie Bell), one of Clement's girls, who is the double of Florence except for hair color. Irma has had an accident and has lost part of her memory at a certain point of her recent past, and Pierre slowly persuades himself she is Florence, but cannot remember it. Advised by Ms.Blanche, Irma finally accepts to act as if she was Florence because...

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Plot Keywords:

tarot card | inn | pessimism | desert | crime of passion | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

1934 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Büyük oyun

Filming Locations:

Agadir, Morocco

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films de France

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remade as Flesh and the Woman (1954)

User Reviews

Foreign Legion classic

This is a fine film from the golden age of french cinema, directed by the now nearly forgotten Feyder who was among other things the spiritual father of Marcel Carné (who contributed to several of his films). As usual, his wife Francoise Rosay has one of the leading roles. The somewhat melodramatic plot involves a yeuppie joining the foreign legion when he can no longer entertain the girl he loves. We get a femme fatale double as our hero meets a honky tonk temptress who reminds him of the girl he is trying to escape. The atmosphere is thick with sand, booze, sex, violence and Tarot cards. See this one if you have the chance, it is probably quite rare.