Film Review
Stupéfiants is the French version of a Franco-German production
from the prestigious German studios of UFA, its German language counterpart
being titled
Der Weiße Dämon. Although the two films
had different directors and cast lists, they shared the same lead actor,
Peter Lorre, whose reputation for sinister character portrayals was established
the year before in Fritz Lang's atmospheric thriller
M (1931). Here, as the deformed villainous
lead, Lorre is as charismatic and spine-chillingly evil as ever, and he turns
in a magnetic performance to rival those he would subsequently give in Alfred
Hitchcock's
The Man Who
Knew Too Much (1934) and Karl Freund's
Mad Love (1935). Lorre's star
presence is by far the best thing that
Stupéfiants has going
for it.
In the French version, the cast list comprises some notable French actors
of the period: Jean Murat, Roger Karl and Danièle Parola, the latter
best known for her later collaborations with director Marc Allégret
-
Aventure à Paris
(1936) and
Sous les yeux
d'Occident (1936).
Stupéfiants suffers from some
obvious shortcomings on both the directing and writing fronts, with exposition,
narrative logic and character depth looking like they have been discarded
as optional extras by the production team.
Still, scripting deficiencies not withstanding,
Stupéfiants
is as well-paced as any action film of this era, and director Roger Le Bon
shows some flair in this, one of many co-productions he lent his talents
to. The expressionistic photography adds greatly to the sombre mood
of the piece, anticipating film noir with its boldly atmospheric use of lighting.
Some extensive location filming - pretty rare for a film of this period -
helps to give the film a modern realistic feel, allowing it to compare favourably
with bigger budget American productions. The director of the German version,
Kurt Gerron, turned down offers to work in Hollywood and ended up being arrested
by the Nazis and sent to the Death Camp at Auschwitz, where he and his family
were gassed.
© James Travers 2006
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Liliane Werner's dazzling career as an opera singer would seem to be in jeopardy
when she succumbs to mysterious debilitating illness. Her devoted brother
Henri is astonished and appalled when he learns that Liliane has become chronically
addicted to drugs. Worse, she has fallen under the malign influence
of a band of sinister narcotics dealers. When the opera singer is kidnapped,
Henri has no option but to risk his own neck in a desperate bid to rescue
her and thwart the drugs dealers in their next daring operation...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.