Secrets of the French Police

A combination of mystery and chills, well directed by A. Edward Sutherland, who specialized in both comedy (WC Fields) and adventures. He was the right person to head this film, even adding a slice of dark comedy to the proceedings.

Beautiful Gwili Andre, who very much resembled Marlene Dietrich, promoted to be the next Greta Garbo, plays a poor flower girl along the streets of Paris, who MAY be the lost Princess Anastasia, believed killed during the Revolution.

But... her body was never found!

Enter Parisian master detective and chain smoker Frank Morgan to investigate the baffling case. I agree with the last reviewer, Morgan shows off some shades of his famous Wizard character, soon to make him a star. On other side is dramatic actor Gregory Ratoff, playing the crafty general, drawn to the millions of dollars Andre may inherit. Money the root of all evil!

Eddie Sutherland is creative with this high drama slash adventure, gradually changing gears to a horror film, somewhat in the tradition of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. The mad doctor (in his secret lab) wishing to cover women with a plaster substance to become statues?, replete with some brief frontal nudity, obviously a pre-code production hard at work.

Early film appearance of pretty Rochelle Hudson, playing K-31 ( a character name reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich's DISHONORED), also young John Warburton, as Leon.

Not to disappoint mystery buffs and thrill seekers alike, to be sure. A short film, under 60 minutes, but very entertaining and a showcase for Gwili Andre, who at the time was a top fashion model.

Released on dvd and a very good print. Thanks to TCM for occasionally showing this diamond in the rough.

Secrets of the French Police is a horror crime hybrid that muddles early and never really recovers. The story revolves around a plot by an ex patriot Russian (Gregory Ratoff) trying to pull off an Anastasia scam to get his hands on Romanoff cash. Joining forces with a thief, French police set a trap to expose fraud.

As inspector St. Cyr, Frank Morgan chains smokes and forgoes an accent while Ratoff sounds like he is fresh out of the Lugosi school. John Warburton in the key role of the second story man lacks charm and comes across smug in the process negating the decent work done by Gwili Andre as his girl and the phony Anastasia.

Police has some jarringly violent and ghoulish moments along with a cynical grittiness in which the law employs illegal means to solve its case but director Ed Sutherland's anemic direction wavers between genres and ultimately fails at both.

This film tries to cross Secrets of the Wax Museum with one of Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse series, and ultimately fails. Some of the editing and set shots are remarkable, but the beginning of the film, about Danton's widow, is a waste of time, and at the end, the pacing of the film just falls apart. The villain who turns young, beautiful women into statues is certainly a delicious and twisted plot turn, but too little is made of it. Nonetheless, even if the reach far exceeds the grasp, this is worth watching if you can find it.

This film starts out with a shot of a magazine article about the modern methods adopted by the Paris police department. Then it switches to a secret burial ceremony of a Paris policeman implying that it would be a breach of national security if his death were made public. Next is Frank Morgan as a Paris police detective about to track the killer based on cigarette ash found near the corpse which he finds to be from a brand sold only at a certain bar in Paris. Then he goes to the bar disguised as a drunk to cleverly get the proprietress to tell him who buys that brand of cigarette. It seems to be a mysterious monocled gent who then disappears from the movie.

Interesting, but all this has almost nothing to do with the rest of the movie, which is concerned with the legend of Anastasia, the Russian princess killed during the Revolution whose body was never recovered, leading to several false claimants pretending to be her and collect an inheritance. This story was also the basis of a1997 animated cartoon and a 1956 film starring Ingrid Bergman as the claimant and Yul Brynner as the con artist trying to fob her off.

Here the claimant is played by Gwyli Andre, a Danish actress reminiscent of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, whose lack of critical success led to a brief career in Hollywood. I thought she was pretty good, actually.

Her mentor is one General Moloff, a White Russian emigre played by Gregory Ratoff, one of the most multi-faceted villains in movie history, kidnapper, murderer, hypnotist, and surprisingly wealthy for an escapee from the revolution. On top of all this, in the end he turns out to be a sadistic mad scientist foreshadowing some of the grade-Z movies Bela Lugosi made toward the end of his career. You will be amazed, if not convinced, by the high-tech methods by which he causes a car crash by remote control.

Everyone in France speaks English, of course, occasionally remembering to attempt a French accent. English actor John Warburton has some amusing moments as another multi-tasker, both burglar and pickpocket. In fact, all the actors do a good job.

At least the film keeps moving right along and won't bore you. OK time killer if you're quarantined. Just don't expect anything to think about afterwards. Even better if you're into camp.

My favorite moments in this film are:

• While the Inspector awaits the results of an examination of cigarette ash found at a crime scene he stands a few feet away from this delicate process, smoking his own cigarette dropping who knows how much ash.

• At a murder scene he once again lights up a cigarette and even flicks his spent match onto the floor.

With this kind of law enforcement it's a wonder France didn't descend into criminal anarchy.