Signé Arsène Lupin (1959) - film review

After World War I, the French gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin, emerges from his convalescence in a hospital to resume his criminal activities.  Unfortunately, somebody else has already embarked on a series of Lupinesque crimes, even going so far as to sign one of his crimes with Lupin’s name.  Whilst investigating who his imitator is, Lupin discovers a dastardly plan to steal a priceless state treasure which he is duty bound to foil.

Two years after Jacques Becker’s Les Aventures d’ Arsène Lupin, Robert Lamoureux reprises his most famous rôle as the gentleman thief.  This time, Yves Robert is the director and we return to glorious black and white, making this a very different film to Becker’s.  The Lupin of Robert’s film is a slightly more sinister and elusive figure, closer to the character in Maurice Leblanc’s original short stories.  However, there is still a gaping chasm between Leblanc’s Lupin and Lamoureux’s portrayal – the actor is just too suave and genteel ever to be completely convincing as the original Lupin.

Despite these quibbles over the authenticity of the film’s central character, this is actually rather a good film.  Although it comes early in his career as a director, Yves Robert shows great flair and skill as a director.  A witty script from Jean-Paul Rappeneau, an interesting plot, some well developed characters and generally good acting – all these make this an entertaining piece of cinema.

The main selling point of this film is its ingenious plot.  In the Leblanc novels, Lupin is a figure whose identity is constantly changing – you never really know who Lupin is, and this is where the character’s main strength lies.   Previous film adaptations of Lupin’s adventures have by and large failed to capture this element of the character, and have consequently been disappointing.   In Robert’s film, the identity of Lupin is actually stolen from the gentleman thief and he is forced to play detective to regain it.  It is a nice twist which helps to deflect any criticism about the film’s inability to properly reflect Leblanc’s Lupin.  However, that said, this film is much nearer to Sherlock Holmes than to Arsène Lupin.

© James Travers 2000

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