Picking the fascinating Menaces... for my first viewing of French cinema from 1940,I found Erich von Stroheim's half-masked performance to have a strikingly haunted quality. Searching for other French flicks from the year,I was happy to stumble on another 1940 offering starring Stroheim!,which led to me looking up at the stormy clouds gathering.
The plot:
Conning his way around the world,master of disguise Korlick goes to France to fleece people with a fake opportunity to buy non-existent Sahara property,whilst also meeting his secret lover Jeanne Desmarets (married to police officer Pierre Desmarets) wanting to keep the cops off his tracks,Korlick pays petty thief Barel to get fake news stories printed,and to let him live in his loft. Believing that he has all the cards,Barel rains thunder over Korlick over getting a bigger cut for his protection.
View on the film:
Skipping over making any grand political/ allegorical statement, the screenplay by co-writer/(with André Cayatte) director Dominique Bernard-Deschamps hits a surprisingly modern satirical note,via Korlick's deals with Barel for "Fake News" negatives stories,to distract the public/cops from finding real details about him. Sending Korlick into hiding from his latest misdeeds,the writers shake a (non-Murder Mystery) Caper with some stormy waters of Film Noir. Twisting Korlick round his little finger, Barel hops around with a gleefulness of having one of the worlds most wanted criminals,and the police all at his beck and call. Hiding from the cops,the writers make Korlick's heart beat with a pure Film Noir that believes in a trust and loyalty that "caper" boy Barel is all too happy to overturn.
Showcasing Korlick and Barel's world misdeeds over the opening 20 mins,director Dominique Bernard-Deschamps slings arrows at being the most un-pc to a near-surrealistic level, that spans Korlick in blackface and Korlick selling fake hair products to African Americans! Staying quick on its feet, Deschamps presents a smooth Caper,as Barel's twist and turn double dealings with everyone in gliding shots gives the movie a fitting light touch. Setting alight the playfulness, Deschamps stylishly uses the shadows surrounding Korlick to build an atmosphere of Film Noir menace.
Following his Menaces... role of being left in a dark hotel room. (sadly,a likely comment on his Austrian roots making him an "outcast" in the build-up to WWII) Erich von Stroheim impressively knocks down the walls to give a gripping performance as Korlick,who Stroheim makes a strongman holding onto his value,even as Korlick becomes a Noir loner hidden in the loft. Leaving before the film ends, Arletty and tragic Jacqueline Prévot (who 4 months into the Occupation,died via suicide along with her mum and grandfather,who both died the same way) both give sizzling performances as Ida and Yvonne,who are all joined by Marcel Dalio making Barel a real slippery slime ball,as the sound of thunder is heard over Paris.
The plot:
Conning his way around the world,master of disguise Korlick goes to France to fleece people with a fake opportunity to buy non-existent Sahara property,whilst also meeting his secret lover Jeanne Desmarets (married to police officer Pierre Desmarets) wanting to keep the cops off his tracks,Korlick pays petty thief Barel to get fake news stories printed,and to let him live in his loft. Believing that he has all the cards,Barel rains thunder over Korlick over getting a bigger cut for his protection.
View on the film:
Skipping over making any grand political/ allegorical statement, the screenplay by co-writer/(with André Cayatte) director Dominique Bernard-Deschamps hits a surprisingly modern satirical note,via Korlick's deals with Barel for "Fake News" negatives stories,to distract the public/cops from finding real details about him. Sending Korlick into hiding from his latest misdeeds,the writers shake a (non-Murder Mystery) Caper with some stormy waters of Film Noir. Twisting Korlick round his little finger, Barel hops around with a gleefulness of having one of the worlds most wanted criminals,and the police all at his beck and call. Hiding from the cops,the writers make Korlick's heart beat with a pure Film Noir that believes in a trust and loyalty that "caper" boy Barel is all too happy to overturn.
Showcasing Korlick and Barel's world misdeeds over the opening 20 mins,director Dominique Bernard-Deschamps slings arrows at being the most un-pc to a near-surrealistic level, that spans Korlick in blackface and Korlick selling fake hair products to African Americans! Staying quick on its feet, Deschamps presents a smooth Caper,as Barel's twist and turn double dealings with everyone in gliding shots gives the movie a fitting light touch. Setting alight the playfulness, Deschamps stylishly uses the shadows surrounding Korlick to build an atmosphere of Film Noir menace.
Following his Menaces... role of being left in a dark hotel room. (sadly,a likely comment on his Austrian roots making him an "outcast" in the build-up to WWII) Erich von Stroheim impressively knocks down the walls to give a gripping performance as Korlick,who Stroheim makes a strongman holding onto his value,even as Korlick becomes a Noir loner hidden in the loft. Leaving before the film ends, Arletty and tragic Jacqueline Prévot (who 4 months into the Occupation,died via suicide along with her mum and grandfather,who both died the same way) both give sizzling performances as Ida and Yvonne,who are all joined by Marcel Dalio making Barel a real slippery slime ball,as the sound of thunder is heard over Paris.
