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Razzia sur la Chnouf
1955 Crime / Thriller
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Credits
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Director: Henri Decoin
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Script: Henri Decoin, Maurice Griffe, Auguste Le Breton, based on a novel by Auguste Le Breton
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Photo: Pierre Montazel
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Music: Marc Lanjean
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Cast: Jean Gabin (Henri Ferré dit 'Le
Nantais'),
Lino Ventura (Roger le Catalan),
Albert Rémy (Bibi),
Marcel Dalio (Paul Liski),
Lila Kedrova (Léa),
Magali Noël (Lisette),
Jacqueline Porel (Solange Birot),
Pierre-Louis (Inspecteur Leroux),
Alain Nobis (Inspecteur Decharme),
Roland Armontel (Louis Birot,
l'ingénieur-chimiste),
Michel Jourdan (Marcel),
François Patrice (Jo),
Françoise Spira (Yvonne,
la dame des lavabos),
Paul Azaïs (Le patron du bistrot),
Josselin (Fredo),
Paul Frankeur (Fernand,
le commissaire),
Jacques Morlaine (Inspecteur Dupont),
Marcel Bozzuffi (Le client au révolver)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 105 min; B&W
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Aka: Chnouf; Razzia; Razzia sur la Chnouf
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Summary
International drug baron Henri Ferré, nicknamed 'Le Nantais', is tasked with restructuring
a narcotics ring operating in Paris. The gangster head Paul Liski provides him with
a cover, a bar named Le Troquet, not realising that Ferré is in fact working for
the police. Far from supporting the drugs racket, Ferré’s mission is
to break it once and for all…
Review
Jean Becker’s 1953 film
Touchez pas au grisbi allowed actor Jean
Gabin to re-invent his screen persona, becoming the tough patriarchal figure that would
predominate in his post-WWII film career. In Razzia
sur la Chnouf, Gabin appears to reprise the role he played in Grisbi
, playing opposite Lino Ventura who also starred in that earlier film. The
twist is that Gabin’s character in this film turns out to be a good guy, and, significantly,
this is the first time in his career that the actor played a law enforcer.
The film also cemented Lino Ventura's own screen image as the rough introspective outlaw,
an image that was to become intimately associated with French thrillers of the following
three decades.
With its natural locations and documentary-style narrative form, Razzia
sur la Chnouf is in marked contrast to most policiers
of this period, and is much closer in style to the thrillers of the following
decade. The film was widely condemned in France for its realistic portrayal of the
destructive effect of drugs on individuals, although from the point of view of its artistic
and social content it was years ahead of its time.
© James Travers 2004
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