Die Schlange

Edmond T Greville's swansong.It displays some qualities.

This director knows how to create an atmosphere .It was the main interest of his former works ("Menaces" and "Le Port Du Désir").here his depiction of a gloomy island is not bad .A half wit (Roland Lesaffre)goes on repeating "the Chinese are coming" -he actually plays no part in the plot);a seedy school where even the blackboards seem to be one hundred years old ;a ship cemetery where ships come home to die ("they should be wrecked before" says the schoolteacher's wife);a headmaster who treats his pupils like a military man;the brats aping his alcoholic wife...

But although the writer is Frederic Dard ,the detective plot does not work.The husband/wife/mistress subject has been treated so many times that Greville cannot renew it.The "unexpected " twist is not original at all. Dard did much better with a similar subject with Robert Hossein's "Toi Le Venin".

Magali Noel is best remembered for her part in "Fellini-Satyricon."

"L' Accident" (1963) is a slow-moving but vividly atmospheric film: the isolated island that it is entirely set on looks both barren and beautiful, and you can almost feel the wind gusts on your face. On paper, it looks like another film noir, but there are no true femme fatales or villains here; people sometimes make the wrong decisions based on their loneliness and desire. It is quite erotic for its time: Magali Noel is scorching, of course, but the unknown Danik Patisson is also a revelation, in more ways than one (wink). If there is one flaw, it may be the miscasting of Noel: it's hard to believe that anyone would even think of cheating on her. Surprisingly good use of Tchaikovsky music (there is no "new" score credited). **1/2 out of 4.