Les inconnus dans la maison (1942)

Director:

Henri Decoin

Writers:

Georges Simenon (novel) &
Henri-Georges Clouzot (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

28 September 1943 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Alcoholism | Youth | Murder | Trial | Based On Novel

Cast

Raimu	...	Maître Hector Loursat
Juliette Faber	...	Nicole Loursat
Gabrielle Fontan	...	Fine
Héléna Manson	...	Madame Manu
Tania Fédor	...	Madame Marthe Dossin
Marguerite Ducouret	...	Angèle
Jean Tissier	...	Ducup
Jacques Baumer	...	Maître Gérard Rogissart
Noël Roquevert	...	Le commissaire Binet
André Reybaz	...	Émile Manu
Jacques Grétillat	...	Le président des Assises
Lucien Coëdel	...	Jo, le patron du "Boxing Bar"
Marc Doelnitz	...	Edmond Dossin (as Marc Dolnitz)
Jacques Denoël	...	Marcel Destrivaux
Pierre Ringel	...	Daillat

Also Known As:

Strangers in the House (International: English title)

Runtime:

95 min | France:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis Klangfilm Eurocord)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Continental Films

Trivia:

The character played by Marcel Mouloudji was originally called "Ephraïm Luska" when the film was released in 1942. After being banned for anti-Semitism after the war, the film was re-released a few years later and any reference to the fact the character is Jewish was erased. He was renamed "Amédée Luska" instead and all the scenes where his name is mentioned were re-recorded; except one, during the trail scene, when he is called to testify and Raimu still refers to him as "Ephraïm Luska". One can only presume that the dialogue could not be re-recorded as Raimu had died by then, or that this scene simply escaped the censors.

Movie Connections:

Remade as L'inconnu dans la maison (1992)

Entering Decoin's most fruitful period.

The precedent movie "le Bienfaiteur" was a timid attempt at a society put down ."Les Inconnus dans la Maison" has two major assets:Raimu,one of the most prodigious the French cinema ever had and Henri-George Clouzot ,the future director of such gems as "diabolique" "le Corbeau" or "le Salaire de la Peur "(wages of fear).But it does not explain the success of this work.The whole town,the old house are wrapped in a strange poetry "someone is walking in the attic upstairs the heroine says -No,that must be this old creaking furniture".The first pictures display the saddest town in the world where the rain keeps falling down.

Raimu's performance is once more stunning:during one hour ,his part is completely subdued,because he plays a human wreck,who is on the booze all day long.A former lawyer,he called it quits when his wife left him;and now,he lives with his daughter whom he does not seem to love very much.Then he discovers a dead body in his house :the girl and her pack of youngsters are involved .But he acts as like he doesn't care.He agrees to defend the suspect,his daughter's boyfriend.

Raimu really plays Lazarus:after attending the first part of the trial in a complete indifference,uttering one word or two ,he rises from the dead and puts the teenagers'parents in the dock.Raimu's performance is really sublime and a lot of actors who intend to play a lawyer should have a look at "les inconnus dans la maison".

With this film,Decoin became a great film noir director -he will outdo himself in "non coupable" -In spite of a happy end ,the audience leaves the movie with a bitter taste in the mouth:the whole town is rotten,fathers and mothers have failed ,a subject which André Cayatte will resume in "avant le déluge" (1953).

In 1992,George Lautner redid "les inconnus dans la maison" with Jean-Paul Belmondo as the lead.But a remake is a remake ,and taking on a Raimu's part is pure suicide:besides,time had taken its toll and the screenplay which was original in 1942 became mundane fifty years later:the movie looked like some seventies qualité française movie,at a time when drug was the subject à la mode.

Another remake was made by Pierre Rouve ("Stranger in the house" )between Decoin's and Lautner's versions ,with James Mason as the lead in 1967.