Fièvres (1942)
Directed by Jean Delannoy

Film Review

Before he came to acquire a reputation as one of the standard bearers of the quality tradition of French cinema, director Jean Delannoy lent his talents to a diverse range of films, including some in which quality is in distinctly short supply.  Among the latter is the paradoxically titled Fièvres, a tepid melodrama in which the globally renowned chansonnier Tino Rossi (then at the height of his popularity) tries and fails to convince the world he can act.  This is one of Delannoy's least known and least well regarded works, and it is not hard to see why when it is compared with his subsequent great films - L'Éternel Retour (1943), La Symphonie pastorale (1946), Les jeux sont faits (1947), etc.  The poetry and dramatic power of the work for which Delannoy is now remembered are conspicuous by their absence in much of his his early work.

Rossi's contribution aside, the main reason why Fièvres fails to impress is its ramshackle plot, which feels like a lazily assembled compendium of ideas ripped from other film melodramas of this era.  It doesn't help that the characters are shallow and mostly unconvincing, although there are some strong performances from Rossi's co-stars, notably Madeleine Sologne and Ginette Leclerc.  You sense throughout the film that Delannoy's heart wasn't really in it - his direction lacks the inspired touch of his better films of this era and some sequences look positively amateurish.  Rossi also looks pretty bored with the whole thing and his performance is more listless and unengaging than usual, although he is back on form with the film's musical numbers, which include his hit Maria.  Of course, the main justification for watching a Tino Rossi film is to hear the legendary tenor sing his heart out, and in this department at least Fièvres delivers the goods.

Film Synopsis

A man on the run from the police takes refuge in a monastery where one of the monks takes pity on him and tells him the story of Brother Marco.  Twenty years previously, Marco was a successful singer under the name Jean Dupray.  Although happily married to Maria, he pursued an affair with a wealthy American socialite which led to his wife's premature death.  Heartbroken, Jean have up his singing career and sought anonymity in a small village in the south of France.  Not long after Jean has settled into his new life, the wife of his best friend attempts to seduce him...