Portrait d’un assassin (1949)

Portrait d’un assassin is a French thriller film first released in 1949, directed by Bernard-Roland.  The film stars Maria Montez, Erich von Stroheim, Arletty, Pierre Brasseur and Marcel Dalio.  It has also been released under the title: Portrait of an Assassin.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Jean, nicknamed Fabius the Foolhardy, is a circus acrobat whose act involves driving a motorcycle up a near-vertical incline, the Wall of Death.  Tired of his girlfriend, Marthe, he decides to kill her.  One evening, he takes a shot at a woman who resembles Marthe but who in fact is someone else, Lucienne.  A well-known impresario, Lucienne decides to take her revenge by persuading Jean to undertake a death-defying stunt that has never yet been accomplished.  Lucienne’s former lover, Eric, visits Jean and reveals how she once talked him into performing a stunt that left him scarred for life. In spite of Eric’s warnings that Lucienne is an evil woman who has driven another man to his death, Jean decides to go ahead with the stunt...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)

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