Mollenard (1938) - film review

Captain Justin Mollenard works for a company that sells armaments to the Far East.  After an eventful stay in Shanghai, where he and his cargo are the victim of a malicious attack, he returns to his hometown of Dunkirk.  Mollenard receives a frosty welcome from his wife Mathilde, who resents the way in which he has neglected his family for so many years.  Mollenard’s only wish is to get back to sea as soon as he can, but a sudden heart-attack leaves him paralysed and entirely in his wife’s power...

Towards the end of his successful and highly productive period in France, Robert Siodmak directed a number of films that presage the great film noir classics he would go on to make in Hollywood.  One of these is Mollenard , an atmospheric drama featuring two of the biggest names in French cinema at the time – Harry Baur and Albert Préjean.  Whilst the narrative crawls at a ponderous pace and lacks the intensity and panache of Siodmak’s other work, it is a film that is beautifully shot, particularly the moody and distinctly noir sequences in a remarkable studio-recreation of 1930s Shanghai.  Justifying his reputation as one of the greatest French actors of his time, Harry Baur gives a performance that is both convincing and devastatingly poignant, and there are some memorable contributions from his distinguished co-stars, Gabrielle Dorziat and Albert Préjean.

© James Travers 2007

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