Magnet of Doom (1963)

Broke French ex-paratrooper turned amateur boxer Michel Maudet becomes bodyguard for the fugitive corrupt banker Ferchaux.

Director:

Jean-Pierre Melville

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Melville (adaptation), Jean-Pierre Melville (dialogue)

Stars:

Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Vanel, Michèle Mercier

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Michel Maudet
Charles Vanel	...	Dieudonné Ferchaux
Michèle Mercier	...	Lou
Malvina Silberberg	...	Lina (as Malvina)
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Angie, Hitch-Hiker
Barbara Sommers	...	Lou's friend
E.F. Medard	...	Suska
Todd Martin	...	Jeff
André Certes	...	Émile Ferchaux
Andrex	...	M. Andrei
Jerry Mengo	...	Banker
Delia Kent	...	Prostitute
Ginger Hall	...	Nurse
Maurice Auzel	...	Boxeur
Simone Darot

Storyline

When French ex-paratrooper turned amateur boxer Michel Maudet looses his last fight he decides to quit boxing. The French banker and businessman Dieudonné Ferchaux is looking for a new personal secretary and bodyguard. The 25 year old ex-paratrooper is perfect for this role and he accepts the job. Because Mr. Ferchaux is in trouble with the French authorities, especially for his tax evasion crimes, he decides to run to America taking his personal secretary and bodyguard with him. After being threatened with extradition from the USA Mr. Ferchaux plans to escape to South America.He carries a vast sum of money with him but his bodyguard Maudet has a few dishonest ideas of his own.

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Plot Keywords:

jukebox | undressing | shower | bare chested male | bare chested male fighting | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

As the plot is mainly about a flight throughout the United States from New York to New Orléans of the two main characters played by Jean Paul Belmondo and production could not film on locations; the indoor scenes were shot in Melvilles's own studio in Paris with the addition of many rear projections for the scenes inside cars.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Michel Maudet: My name is Michel Maudet. I guess. Back then, I was a boxer. Or more precisely, trying to become one.

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Connections

References Citizen Kane (1941)

User Reviews

End of the Line

Washed-up boxer Jean-Paul Belmondo answers an ad for a secretary. It's Charles Vanel, a magnate whose brother has just been jailed for corruption. Vanel needs to get out of the country, pick up his money in New York and then fly to extradition-safe Venezuela. Belmondo goes with him. In New York, the bankers put him off, so they go on a road trip, ending up near New Orleans. Vanel grows weaker. Belmondo chafes at the situation. Locals try to get him to help kill the old man.

There's a sequence in which Belmondo goes to New Orleans and has an affair with Michèle Mercier, whose character is a French stripper called "Lou." This makes me think that writer-director Jean-Pierre Melville had the song "Frankie and Johnny" in mind, and that this is a love story with a tragic ending, with Belmondo on a voyage of self-discovery through an alien, idealized America of his own imagination How these pieces fit together is not clear; Melville had these bizarre ideas of how things worked that often bore no relationship to reality. The journey, wth Vanel occasionally providing insight into how Belmondo's character thinks, strikes me as something of a journey into the underworld. Melville's symbolism is so idiosyncratic, and the pacing so slow, that the movie is recondite and unsatisfactory.

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French English

Release Date:

25 September 1963 (Italy)

Also Known As:

An Honorable Young Man

Filming Locations:

Studios Jenner, Rue Jenner, Paris 13, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Spectacles Lumbroso, Ultra Film, Sicilia Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1