Film Review
Having started out as an assistant and cinematographer to Marcel Pagnol
and Jean Delannoy, Pierre Méré had a short-lived career
as a director and screenwriter in the 1950s, on films that were very
much of their time.
Crime au
concert Mayol, the third of the four films Méré
directed, is a routine murder mystery thriller of the kind that came to
dominate French cinema in the 1950s, capitalising on the popularity of
American films noirs that flooded into France after the war.
Crime au concert Mayol is
partly let down by its banal, cliché laden plot, but it is
redeemed by some inspired and surprisingly brutal scenes in its second
half, scenes that would scarcely be out of place in an early
Jean-Pierre Melville gangster film
(such as
Le Doulos).
The film is set in a Parisian
music hall that, having lost its traditional clientele after the war,
prospered with its risqué strip-tease performances - a suitably seedy joint
for a classic film noir thriller.
Jean Tissier is the only name in the cast list that is familiar today,
and the reason why the film is now almostly totally forgotten is
probably because it lacks a star actor. Judging by their solid
performances in this film, Jean-Pierre Kérien and Daniel
Clérice ought to have been far bigger names than they were -
Kérien makes a likeably persistent police inspector and
Clérice brings an ambiguous charm to his portrayal. Some
noirish lighting and camerawork helps to heighten the tension and guide
the film to its dramatic climax.
Crime au concert Mayol may not be a
classic of its genre, but it's a fair example of the 1950s French
policier, although the endless musical cutaways featuring (mostly)
semi-naked female dancers do tend to distract from the plot somewhat...
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
In the course of a performance at the Concert Mayol, a Parisian music
hall, a dancer named Mado is poisoned. Fortunately, the young
woman is taken to hospital in time to save her life but she goes
missing a short time afterwards. The person most likely to
make an attempt on her life is Grumeau, her old sugar daddy who has
just broken up with her. As Inspector Million begins his
investigation there is a second murder attempt, but this one is
successful. The victim is another dancer, Lydia, shot dead in
Mado's dressing room. Suspicion soon falls on Lydia's pimp, Fred,
but conveniently he has what seems to be the perfect alibi...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.