Le Rouge est mis (1957) - film review

Crime / Thriller

Summary

Louis Bertain, a respectable garage owner by day, is the head of a band of notorious crooks by night. When a hold-up goes badly wrong, Bertain’s younger brother Pierre is suspected of having sold them out to the police. He was, after all, recently picked up by the police and then released after questioning. When he is finally caught by Commissaire Pluvier, Louis discovers that he has been betrayed not by Pierre but by another member of his gang…

Review

Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura are reunited for the fourth time in as many years in this standard 1950s French thriller. The film was based on a novel by the popular série noir writer Auguste Le Breton, whose works were frequently adapated for French cinema. The characters, the scenario and the dialogue is all familiar stuff, film noir by numbers, but it was a very popular formula at the time.

© James Travers 2004

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Credits

Director: Gilles Grangier
Script: Auguste Le Breton, Michel Audiard, Gilles Grangier, based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton
Photo: Louis Page
Music: Denis Kieffer
Cast: Jean Gabin (Louis Bertain dit “le Blond”), Paul Frankeur (Fredo), Annie Girardot (Hélène), Lino Ventura (Pepito), Marcel Bozzuffi (Pierre Bertain), Albert Dinan (Le commissaire Pluvier), Antonin Berval (Zé, l’américain), Thomy Bourdelle (Le catcheur), Jean-Pierre Mocky (Le Pommadin), Jean Bérard (Raymond le Matelot), Gaby Basset (Hortense, la femme de Fredo), Gina Niclos (Maman Bertain), Lucien Raimbourg (Jo de La Villette), Gabriel Robin (L’inspecteur Bouvard)
Country: France
Language: French
Runtime: 95 min; B&W
Aka: Speaking of Murder

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