Le circuit de minuit

The granddaddy of "Michel Vaillant" ,the movie (the comic strip already existed),"Le Circuit De Minuit" has little to recommend it.A racing-car drama ,the circuit scenes have since been dwarfed by those of "red line 7000" (Hawks) or "Grand Prix " (Frankenheimer)and Cinerama.

As for the plot,it's the trite story of a car manufacturer ,short of the readies ,who asks his wife for money (for she owns the fortune). She refuses for her dad bankrupted himself and she could not stand poverty again.He contemplates suicide but someone comes to his rescue and there's still hope:they can win the "Circuit De Minuit" ,a motor race . Besides,there's a another woman who cares for him.

Blanchette Brunoy (Renoir's "La Bete Humaine" ,Becker's "Goupi Mains Rouges" ) and Albert Préjean (Carné's "Jenny" ,Siomak's "Mollenard")are here mere shadows of their former selves.

"le circuit de minuit" is a suspense racing car drama, quite dull, no particular competence in shooting and directing actors, the main interest being the documentary style on the Francorchamps racing circuit in Belgium, the country of the director Ivan Govar. Albert Préjean has a small part and is far from his great performances without being bad. Blanchette Brunoy has an important character but it's hard to recognize her. Yves Vincent is just ok in his character of the creator of the Gaillard car. Quizz : what car did they use as the Gaillard car? From Ivan Govar, I must admit I appreciated "deux heures à tuer", not for its direction again but for Pierre Brasseur and Michel Simon, they had some nasty punch lines.