Dimitri Kirsanoff reportedly made good silent movies ;there is also a worthwhile talkie, "rapt" (1934).
"Le Crâneur" (="the show-off":as nobody's bragging is the movie,the title is a misnomer).
Raymond Pellegrin was a very good actor ,who made indifferent films Noirs by the dozen and found a good part as a schoolteacher in the first version of "Manon Des Sources" by Pagnol.
He portrays a stuntman (the actor he stands for is a real braggart on his part:" yes,he said to his female fans,I'm sporty;that's why I'm not doubled in my movies) ,torn between two women:a good one (Marina Vlady) ,who sings in a nightclub and a bitch (Dora Doll), a choreographic artist ("topless dancer" says the cop).The bad woman gets her new lover involved in her dirty job with drug traffickers. (she tells him he transports nylon stockings !)
In this hackneyed story ,the most salutary quality is a certain sense of humor ;"it could not be the English guy who committed the crime!he would have strangled her!" .The Chanteuse to her sister who blames the place where she works: " There are decent people there;sister: " decent people for sure ,selling morphine !"
The film is a long flashback,as it is often the case in this kind of thriller ;the suspense is not really sustained and the ending totally bland.
Marina Vlady(17) has rarely been as good-looking as in this movie ;she claims that she writes her own songs :maybe it fooled some viewers at the time; but since, Brassens ' s "Chanson Pour L'Auvergnat" has become a timeless classic of the Chanson Française and her words are now a little ridiculous.
NB: Marina Vlady's real life sister,Hélène Vallier,plays the part of her straight sibling.
