Dortoir des grandes (1953) - film review

Inspecteur Marco is called in to investigate the murder of a young student in a respectable private girls’ school.  The victim was found tied up and strangled in her bed, but the other girls in the same dormitory claim to have seen nor heard anything during the night of the murder.  Something is clearly amiss and Marco’s investigation reveals that the young girls are not nearly as angelic as they appear...

Henri Decoin shows his mastery of the crime thriller genre in this entertaining whodunnit, which owes more to Agatha Christie than to the French film noir tradition.  In contrast to Decoin’s better known thrillers, Dortoir des grandes combines the familiar suspense drama with light comedy, a mixture which works surprisingly well.

Decoin is well served by his cast, which includes some formidable acting talent.  Fans of Jean Marais will not be disappointed by this actor’s solid appearance in this film – his embarrassed attempts to fend off his unwelcome entourage of young suitors as he tries to conduct a murder investigation is excruciatingly funny in places.  Marais’ charisma goes into overdrive in his brief encounters with Jeanne Moreau and Françoise Arnoul (who are both exquisite and very capable actresses), but it is his awkward meetings with the eternally disapproving Denise Grey which provides the greatest entertainment value.  Another comic actor, Louis de Funès (who would come to prominence in the following decade), is no less amusing, particularly as his character keeps turning up unexpectedly.

The comic elements of the film do sometimes work against its darker moments, diluting the suspense and robbing the film of dramatic impact.  As a result, Dortoir des grandes is unlikely to be regarded by many as one of the best examples of the French polar genre.  Nevertheless, it is an entertaining variation of a familiar theme, rendered a classic if only for the quality of its tongue-in-cheek comic performances.

© James Travers 2002

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