Film Review
Christmas must have been a pretty grim affair for the French nation in
1939, what with the armies of the Third Reich poised to roll over Europe
and force-feed everyone on Knackwurst and Sauerkraut. For most ordinary
people cinema offered the only means of escape from the travails of the
time. It is hard to believe that
Tourbillon de Paris brought
much succour to many people in France during this tense festive period, however.
A dismal misfire, it takes a threadbare plot without the meanest attempt
at characterisation, stuffs in an ungainly assortment of musical numbers,
and manages to make a complete hash of the whole thing. And the person
who has most to answer for is its director, Henri Diamant-Berger.
In his youth, Diamant-Berger was one of the most promising French filmmakers
of his day, achieving success early in his career with his rollicking episodic
masterpiece
Les Trois Mousquetaires
(1921). Fame and wealth came to Diamant-Berger too easily and far
too early. By the mid-1930s, he was still actively making films, but
with none of the flair or commitment of his early years. By this time
he had given up any pretensions of being an artist and was content merely
to churn out tacky crowd-pleasers for the most undiscerning of mainstream
audiences. The popularity of films such as
Le Chanteur inconnu
(1931) and
Arsène Lupin
détective (1937) had more to do with the appeal of their star
actors than anything Diamant-Berger brought to them.
Jacques Becker made far more of the film's basic premise with his early
work
Rendez-vous de juillet
a decade later. Diamant-Berger's offering is dreary in comparison,
his unimaginative direction merely serving to grotesquely over-emphasise
the film's other failings - an insipid script and some unbelievably inept
acting. Ray Ventura, the film's producer, comes to its rescue with
its ebullient musical numbers, which at least offer some distraction from
the histrionic excesses of certain members of the cast. Only Jean Tissier
acquits himself in this cinematic disaster, but even his welcome presence
cannot begin to make up for the film's abundant failings. Marguerite
Pierry, Jeanne Fusier-Gir, Charpin and Paul Demange are all talented performers
but you wouldn't think so from this film.
Tourbillon de Paris
may have some value as a last-ditch cure for insomnia, but that's about
the extent of its worth.
© James Travers 2019
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Henri Diamant-Berger film:
Monsieur Fabre (1951)
Film Synopsis
A group of students who are in Paris to sit their exams find themselves
desperately in need of ready cash. They like to perform music for
their own amusement, so it suddenly occurs to them that they could take
advantage of this shared passion to earn themselves a little money.
All they have to do is to pass themselves off as professional musicians and
success is bound to come their way. Can it really be as easy as that...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.