Secrets d’alcove (1954) - film review

When their journey is impeded by fog, four passengers in a car decide to pass the night by telling each other stories involving beds. 
1) Le billet de logement: During the war, Davidson, an English parachute officer, is billeted with Jeanne Plisson, a pregnant woman whose husband is away fighting at the front.   That night, Jeanne goes into labour and Davidson is forced to play the role of midwife.
2) Le divorce:  In New York, Roberto has hired the services of a professional co-respondent to assist his divorce.  The pair hit it off so well that they decide to marry after Roberto’s divorce.
3) Riviera-Express: Riquet, a sympathetic lorry driver, gives the attractive Martine a helping hand when her car breaks down.  That night, when he is about to go to sleep in his lorry, Martine turns up and takes him to her bedroom.
4) Le lit de la Pompadour: During the belle époque, Émile Bergeret, an important dignitary, offers a bed to his mistress to bring her good look.  The bed is delivered by mistake to Agnès, who becomes Émile’s mistress...

This portmanteau movie was something of a tail-end Charlie on a genre that was running out of gas.  Julien Duvivier had, of course, pioneered the concept with Un Carnet de bal in 1937, albeit that was episodic and all the characters were linked (later Duvivier embraced the format proper via The Devil and the 10 Commandments).  The idea of an anthology film with entirely separate stories, writers and directors can arguably be traced back to Dead of Night (1945) in England but it was the success of four short stories by Somerset Maugham which were adapted and filmed as Quartet in 1948 that kick-started the genre, with this film being joined by Trio (1950) and Encore (1951) successively.  Over in Hollywood, Fox took it up via O. Henry’s Full House (1952) and We’re Not Married (1952) but, as usual, it was France that grabbed the ring with Christian-Jaque’s Souvenirs perdus (1950).  Max Ophüls had a respectable stab with Le Plaisir (1952), three stories by De Maupassant, but already the audiences were calling time on the genre, which makes this something of a last hurrah.  

The premise is neat enough.  Three diplomats - French, English and Italian - are being chauffer-driven to a conference when bad weather obliges them to stop for the night.  Being at something of a loose end, they while away the time by swapping stories which involve bed and the activities associated with it.   The first and best sequence is directed by Henri Decoin and involves the bizarre casting of Richard Todd - then, unaccountably, box office in England - and the still relatively unknown Jeanne Moreau (a modern equivalent would be casting Russell Brand opposite Isabelle Huppert).  Todd’s soldier is ’billeted’ on Moreau’s slightly pregnant housewife, and no prizes for guessing what happens next.  Todd was still fine-tuning his impression of a sycamore but Decoin’s skill and sensitivity makes him appear almost human. 

The next episode has some equally bizarre casting, in the shape of maestro Vittorio De Sica and starlet-of-the-month Dawn Adams.  The plot - he is a professional co-respondent, she needs a divorce - had been around since Fred and Ginger did it to music in The Gay Divorcee but De Sica saves it via his Italian charm.   This is followed by a throwaway sequence featuring two highly forgettable people and one of those it-was-all-a-dream romantic encounters.   On paper, the final sequence should have been the best.  Martine Carol had worked her way to the top of the French box office on the strength of her looks and considerable acting ability (disturbingly she was soon ousted by the vastly inferior Brigitte Bardot) and here she was partnered by Bernard Blier, another actor who had done it the hard way.  Hélas, the episode left much to be desired.  As a time-capsule this retains interest today but that’s about all.

© Leon Nock (London, England) 2010 

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