"Fort Dolorès " was René Le Hénaff's first effort and unfortunately remained his best ;some of his other works ("les gueux au paradis " an atttempt at fantasy , Balzac's "le colonel Chabert") are estimable but not particularly memorable.
As French cinema connoisseur Happy Trigger wrote, it was filmed on location in Camargue ; so why locate the story in South America? Because this part of the world is par excellence the place where the losers, the (ex)- convicts,the Nazis (the German character proudly shows his iron cross) ,in a nutshell the outsiders and the outcasts take refuge.
Although it takes place in a ranch on the pampa , it's a faux western : atmosphere is the keynote and action is kept to economical levels ; twelve men form a community of breeders ;although they claim their misogyny, they long for Dolorès ,a woman locked up in a mysterious house : but is this woman real or is it make believe? It is closer to romantic stuff such as "le grand Meaulnes' or Duvivier's "Marianne de Ma Jeunesse " than to an action-packed western ;Atmosphere is the keynote and the pictures follow suit : particularly the funeral of the young Mexican with the shadows on the ground and the clang of the sand on the guitar in the grave ; the rather risqué scene in the brothel; the final with a woman who might be.....
Should be restored to favor.
As French cinema connoisseur Happy Trigger wrote, it was filmed on location in Camargue ; so why locate the story in South America? Because this part of the world is par excellence the place where the losers, the (ex)- convicts,the Nazis (the German character proudly shows his iron cross) ,in a nutshell the outsiders and the outcasts take refuge.
Although it takes place in a ranch on the pampa , it's a faux western : atmosphere is the keynote and action is kept to economical levels ; twelve men form a community of breeders ;although they claim their misogyny, they long for Dolorès ,a woman locked up in a mysterious house : but is this woman real or is it make believe? It is closer to romantic stuff such as "le grand Meaulnes' or Duvivier's "Marianne de Ma Jeunesse " than to an action-packed western ;Atmosphere is the keynote and the pictures follow suit : particularly the funeral of the young Mexican with the shadows on the ground and the clang of the sand on the guitar in the grave ; the rather risqué scene in the brothel; the final with a woman who might be.....
Should be restored to favor.