Gas-Oil (1955) - film review

Early one morning, after a night with his girlfriend Alice, lorry driver Jean Chape accidentally runs over a body stretched out in the middle of the road.  He reports the incident to the police who, suspecting foul play, impound his lorry.  The dead man’s widow visits Jean and accuses him of stealing a huge some of money he was carrying before he was killed.  Jean knows nothing of the money, but then he becomes the target of vicious harassment from some sinister characters...

The main interest value of this lightweight French thriller probably lies in its impressive cast list.  Jean Gabin is on fine form and exudes charm and charisma, having managed a spectacular come-back with Jean Becker’s Touchez pas au Grisbi two years earlier.  His co-star is none other than Jeanne Moreau, who would soon become one of the icons of French cinema, largely through her contribution to the New Wave.  Roger Hanin also appears in a supporting role, very earlier in his acting career, but playing the kind of tough role he would become best known for in the following decades.

Although typical of the period it comes from, the film leaves a great deal to be desired, largely because it is such an unsatisfying mix of genres.  The touching May to December romance of Gabin and Moreau is soon muddled with a third rate gangster plot which looks as if it has been lifted from the pages of a boy’s comic strip.  The humour which one normally associates with Gilles Grangier’s films is strangely lacking, as is any sense of menace.  Even the ending where the bad guys are rounded up by the heroes looks overly contrived and half-hearted.

© James Travers 2001

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