Having seen Caprices (1942-also reviewed) last night,I decided to pair it up with another French film from the year.Looking for info on the French flicks from '42 I have,I found a excellent review by fellow IMDber melvelvit-1 on one of the titles,which read like it was worth taking a gamble on.
View on the film:
Gambling in production the beginning and the end of the Occupation of France, director Jean Delannoy & cinematographer Nicolas Hayer make the backstage troubles disappear by heating a smoking hot atmosphere from sweltering white light basking down on the gamblers and arms dealers. Going pass a tourist poster for Japan in the long opening panning shot, Delannoy rolls the dices in bustling casinos, (which include a early use of CCTV!) where the flipping of cards is matched by ultra-stylised sweeps up to the balcony towards placing their hopes on red, which burns into a final which leaves all the seedy underworld operations bombed out of town.
One of the few films from the era featuring a Euro and Asia cast,Pierre-Gilles Veber and Roger Vitrac's adaptation of Maurice Dekobra's novel treats everyone a equal deep shade of grey in the cut-throat world of gambling and arms smuggling. Keeping the Melodrama bubbling away with the terrific entanglement of hard-nosed Krall saving siren Mireille from death, that gets smoothly mixed with the Film Noir grit chipped from Krall trying to break the winning racketeering hand of Macao underworld boss Tchai.
Using force to make sure his house always wins, Sessue Hayakawa gives a great performance as Tchai, whose sharp suits and slippery dialogue delivery are used by Hayakawa to hide a ruthlessness under the table, whilst seductive Mireille Balin tugs at the Melodrama heartstrings of Krall as Mireille. Sailing in just after the ban of him appearing in French cinema had been lifted, Erich von Stroheim gives a great,gruff performance as Krall,whose love for Mireille Stroheim has get trapped in a gambling hell.
View on the film:
Gambling in production the beginning and the end of the Occupation of France, director Jean Delannoy & cinematographer Nicolas Hayer make the backstage troubles disappear by heating a smoking hot atmosphere from sweltering white light basking down on the gamblers and arms dealers. Going pass a tourist poster for Japan in the long opening panning shot, Delannoy rolls the dices in bustling casinos, (which include a early use of CCTV!) where the flipping of cards is matched by ultra-stylised sweeps up to the balcony towards placing their hopes on red, which burns into a final which leaves all the seedy underworld operations bombed out of town.
One of the few films from the era featuring a Euro and Asia cast,Pierre-Gilles Veber and Roger Vitrac's adaptation of Maurice Dekobra's novel treats everyone a equal deep shade of grey in the cut-throat world of gambling and arms smuggling. Keeping the Melodrama bubbling away with the terrific entanglement of hard-nosed Krall saving siren Mireille from death, that gets smoothly mixed with the Film Noir grit chipped from Krall trying to break the winning racketeering hand of Macao underworld boss Tchai.
Using force to make sure his house always wins, Sessue Hayakawa gives a great performance as Tchai, whose sharp suits and slippery dialogue delivery are used by Hayakawa to hide a ruthlessness under the table, whilst seductive Mireille Balin tugs at the Melodrama heartstrings of Krall as Mireille. Sailing in just after the ban of him appearing in French cinema had been lifted, Erich von Stroheim gives a great,gruff performance as Krall,whose love for Mireille Stroheim has get trapped in a gambling hell.