Film Review
L'Aventurier was one of a
number of stage plays adapted for cinema by director Marcel L'Herbier in the
1930s which, whilst moderately successful, gave him little scope for
employing the visual flair that he had shown in his previous silent
films.
With its unflattering portrayal of capitalism and the
bourgeoisie, the film has echoes of L'Herbier's previous masterpiece
L'Argent
(1929), although it lacks the force of that film. An
effective mix of melodrama and social satire, the film has an obvious
anti-capitalist stance which would have appealed to a contemporary
cinema audience. At the time, left-wing sentiment was very much
in the ascendant in France, and two years later the country would be
governed by a coalition of leftist parties (the Popular Front).
L'Aventurier has a
distinguished cast, although few of the illustrious actors in the
castlist are remembered today. The lead actor Victor
Francen was a major star in French cinema at this time, but would go on
to find greater fame in Hollywood, in such films as
Madame Curie (1943),
Passage to Marseille (1944),
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
and
The Beast with Five Fingers
(1946).
Francen's brooding persona and unconventional good looks
made him the ideal casting choice for the kind of character he plays in
this film, the society outsider who has no truck with bourgeois
morality. This is a film that plays to Francen's strengths and
the actor gives what is easily one of his most memorable performances,
one that is enhanced by the presence of his eye-catching co-stars
Blanche Montel and Gisèle Casadesus.
L'Aventurier is by no means
L'Herbier's finest film, but it is competently directed, well-scripted
and vividly reflects the mood of its time. The sequence where
striking factory workers riot around the Guéroy mansion
instantly calls to mind the one in Jean Renoir's
La
Marseillaise (1938) in which revolutionaries attack the
palace of Versailles. The film anticipates a new
revolution, in which the loathed bourgeoisie would be for the chop.
© James Travers 2010
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Next Marcel L'Herbier film:
Le Bonheur (1934)
Film Synopsis
After selling his salt mine in Tunisia, Étienne Ranson finds himself
caught up in a bloody uprising which culminates with the slaughter of many
indigenous rebels. On his return to France some years later, he is
an incredibly wealthy man. His uncle, Achille Guéroy,
the owner of a glove factory, gives him a cold reception until he realises
how rich he has become. Étienne is glad to renew his acquaintance
with his uncle's adopted daughter, Geneviève, with whom he was once
deeply in love. Ranson's involvement in the Tunisian riots results
in his being arrested, and when it becomes known that he is related to Guéroy
the latter fears that his business will be severely harmed by the bad publicity.
To assuage the mood of his fractious employees, Guéroy is forced in
to giving them a pay rise, but in doing so he is ignorant of the fact that
his son Jacques has drained his bank account through his foolhardy speculations.
To save his family from ruin, Ranson agrees to cover Guéroy's debts,
on condition that he consents to allow him to marry his adopted daughter,
even though Geneviève is at present engaged to another man, the deputy
Varèze. The glove manufacturer has no choice but to accept the
arrangement, but Ranson soon realises that he will never be at ease with
his family, who still regard him as something of a black sheep. He
renounces his claim to Geneviève and heads back to Africa...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.