Die Stimme ohne Gesicht

Lucien Murator was a French tenor, an operatic star who enjoyed an international star ;and sing,he does in this melodrama where he portrays some kind of Jean Valjean :once a star ,then a convict en route to the penal colony of La Guyanne .The ténor plays as though he were on stage ;Simone Bourday ,cast as his daughter ,is even worse : the scene in the prison may make today's audience heartily laugh :"papa oh my papa! Don't go!don't go!";ditto for the scene when she sobs "papa! Oh papa!"while stepmom is living it up .

But it's not all bad news :a young Jean Servais as the scrupulous mom's lover would continue a distinguished career afterwards .Ditto for Margo Lion who went on supporting through the seventies (she was in Chabrol's "la rupture" ("the breach" );Here she steals the show from Vera Korene in her act of a good time chanteuse and her irresistible ditty:"I lift my skirt ". Besides the recorded music which provides the innocent with an alibi is a rather good trick .And the title (=the voice without a face) is thoroughly justified in the last part.