Film Review
It is somewhat ironic that the film which put the last nail in the
coffin of Jean Gabin's hopes of a Hollywood career was directed by the
very man who had established Gabin as an icon of French cinema in the
1930s, namely Julien Duvivier.
The
Impostor was the second American film to which Gabin lent his
talents and it fared little better than his first, the eerily
melancholic melodrama
Moontide (1942). The
film's lukewarm reception not only killed off Gabin's Hollywood
aspirations, it also contributed to Duvivier's decision to return to
France after his next feature,
Destiny
(1944). Having served with honour in the French Free Forces,
Gabin resumed his career in France, but it would take over a decade
before he regained his former iconic status.
The Impostor is essentially a
remake of Duvivier's earlier war-time drama,
La
Bandera (1935), with Gabin once again cast
as the doomed anti-hero. The film's main flaw is that it fails to
recreate the distinctive poetic realist ambiance of the original
(perhaps because Duvivier had too much money at his disposal, which
meant he was bound to end up with a glossier, less atmospheric
production).
The Impostor
lacks not only atmosphere but also the realistic action scenes that a
cinema audience of the time would have expected in a big budget war
film. It ends up resembling a somewhat uninspired adaptation of a
hideously static and over-verbose stage play. The fact that Gabin
has very little to do in the film other than look moody and
introspective also counts against it, preventing it from exploiting its
chief asset (presumably this stemmed from concerns over Gabin's poor
command of English, as was apparent in his previous film).
As in so many previous (and subsequent) Duvivier films, the director
overstretches himself and ends up having to fall back on the
money-saving expediency of back projection and unconvincing studio
mock-ups of location sets. At the time, this was an acceptable
convention, but today it dates the film badly and it is hard for the
spectator to suspend his or her disbelief when there is such a
glaring mismatch between studio and location shots. Given its
manifest flaws, it is surprising how watchable
The Impostor is. The
performances are not great, the script is somewhat over-wordy, but
Duvivier's artistry and Gabin's enigmatic presence ensure that the film
does at least hold our attention. However, it does not compare
favourably with other American war films of the period and it is easy
to see why it sank without trace.
© James Travers 2014
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Next Julien Duvivier film:
Panique (1947)
Film Synopsis
In June 1940, Clément, a condemned prisoner, is about to be
guillotined in Paris when German bombs rain down and allow him to
escape. As he flees across France, he steals the papers from the
body of a dead sergeant, Larfarge, and acquires a new identity.
In North Africa, he joins the French Free Forces and distinguishes
himself in battle. Now a hero, Clément is visited by
Larfarge's widow, but she is persuaded not to reveal the fact that he is
an impostor. A short while later, another combatant turns up at
Clément's camp who can identify him as the man who stole
Larfarge's papers. Clément is driven to confess that he is
an impostor and accept the consequences of his act...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.