Steven Boyd and his friend, Tony Wright, have escape from a German POW camp during World War II and have made their way to Marseilles, where they find temporary shelter in the shabby apartment of a sympathizer. The apartment is shabby because it's in the Old Quarter of Marseilles, and ALL of the Old Quarter is made up on tiny crooked streets and decrepit buildings.
Boyd and Wright are initially intent on getting out of Marseilles and back to their own lines but things get a little complicated when Boyd takes up with a sassy blond a la gamin and Wright strikes up a friendship with a middle-aged married lady who is, like Wright himself, a Londoner. The Nazi occupiers mostly avoid the Old Quarter because it's corrupt and dangerous. Too many soldiers sneak off to the whorehouse or decide to desert or simply disappear. Boyd and a fat, ugly, unambiguously mean Nazi soldier have a clumsy fist fight on the slate roof top and somebody falls to his death. Not even THAT scene is well handled. The decision is made by the Gestapo to remove all the residents and blow up the Old Quarter with dynamite. How can Boyd, Wright, and the blond escape? DO they escape when the buildings start to blow? Guess.
That's narrative thread Number One, and it's neither exciting nor suspenseful. There's a lot of banter and flirting. An air of pointlessness seems to hang over the story of Boyd and Buddies. Why don't they get on with it? Narrative threat Number Two occupies much less screen time but is far more interesting, a kind of horror story embedded in this otherwise dull production. An elderly Jewish dentist is marooned in Marseilles. He roots around and finds an entrepreneur, James Robertson Justice, who promises to see that he reaches a free country, and there will be no charge for the service. But the dentist must convert all his currency (quite a lot, actually) into gold and bring it with him for safe keeping.
The old dentist does as he's told and shows up at the appointed time with a bag full of savings in Justice's apartment. All along, Justice has been brusque but now he offers his guest a glass of cognac in celebration of the occasion. Finally relaxed, the dentist asks conversationally what Justice does for a living. Fregonese's camera dollies in to make sure we realize how important this revelation is when Justice replies, "I am a murderer." Justice then explains that, having drunk the wine, the old Jew is expiring even now. He's the 96th victim. He'll be buried in the cellar in a pit of lime and will be forgotten shortly, while Justice will keep the gold and be eight thousand pounds richer. With an evil grin, Justice asks if he might hasten the dentist's inevitable demise and offers him more of the poisoned wine. A chilling scene.
But the two narrative threads hardly touch one another. Boyd and troupe do the expected -- barely -- while Justice dies without adumbration in a stupid car accident.
A lot of people seem to have enjoyed this rambling tale with its slight point, so you might want to give it a try.
Boyd and Wright are initially intent on getting out of Marseilles and back to their own lines but things get a little complicated when Boyd takes up with a sassy blond a la gamin and Wright strikes up a friendship with a middle-aged married lady who is, like Wright himself, a Londoner. The Nazi occupiers mostly avoid the Old Quarter because it's corrupt and dangerous. Too many soldiers sneak off to the whorehouse or decide to desert or simply disappear. Boyd and a fat, ugly, unambiguously mean Nazi soldier have a clumsy fist fight on the slate roof top and somebody falls to his death. Not even THAT scene is well handled. The decision is made by the Gestapo to remove all the residents and blow up the Old Quarter with dynamite. How can Boyd, Wright, and the blond escape? DO they escape when the buildings start to blow? Guess.
That's narrative thread Number One, and it's neither exciting nor suspenseful. There's a lot of banter and flirting. An air of pointlessness seems to hang over the story of Boyd and Buddies. Why don't they get on with it? Narrative threat Number Two occupies much less screen time but is far more interesting, a kind of horror story embedded in this otherwise dull production. An elderly Jewish dentist is marooned in Marseilles. He roots around and finds an entrepreneur, James Robertson Justice, who promises to see that he reaches a free country, and there will be no charge for the service. But the dentist must convert all his currency (quite a lot, actually) into gold and bring it with him for safe keeping.
The old dentist does as he's told and shows up at the appointed time with a bag full of savings in Justice's apartment. All along, Justice has been brusque but now he offers his guest a glass of cognac in celebration of the occasion. Finally relaxed, the dentist asks conversationally what Justice does for a living. Fregonese's camera dollies in to make sure we realize how important this revelation is when Justice replies, "I am a murderer." Justice then explains that, having drunk the wine, the old Jew is expiring even now. He's the 96th victim. He'll be buried in the cellar in a pit of lime and will be forgotten shortly, while Justice will keep the gold and be eight thousand pounds richer. With an evil grin, Justice asks if he might hasten the dentist's inevitable demise and offers him more of the poisoned wine. A chilling scene.
But the two narrative threads hardly touch one another. Boyd and troupe do the expected -- barely -- while Justice dies without adumbration in a stupid car accident.
A lot of people seem to have enjoyed this rambling tale with its slight point, so you might want to give it a try.