Les amants maudits

Director Willy Rozier speaks with a censor about the movie is wants to make, about a waiter, Robert Berri, who glasses a hood, takes his gun, and begins a criminal rampage with Danièle Roy as his feminine accomplice. Rozier assures the censor that there is a clear moral component to the story that he tells, but to me it looks like the titles on pre-Code gangster movies saying that they want to show the problems, a fig leaf to cover people acting badly, so that the censor will not shut down the production, or worse, forbid its release.

It's not the limited violence that makes this movie like an early version of Bonnie and Clyde, but the ease with which he finds and recruits members of the underworld, convincing them he's the biggest and baddest of them all, based on a love of policiers and an ability to act without hesitation in imposing his will. I did not find this really convincing. Surely it is more likely a competent actor could play both a waiter and a gangster than a waiter could impersonate a gangster.

That said, Rozier has a firm grasp on the visuals, from Berri escaping from the police in a dramatic manner, to the way that Berri's brutality towards Mlle Roy -- always implied, never shown -- has a strong sexual component that shows his domination of her.

Two scenes make this film watching, and those are the two tavern scenes, when Pierre breaks loose and causes havoc, as a bartender in the first one suddenly getting enough and shooting down the entire place, leaving it in cinders, and the other one is a similar scene in Nice when he casts off his disguise and goes berserk. It's a very shabby noir without any finesse at all, but she is beautiful and the only interesting part, as she like a chameleon constantly changes shape, but even in the roughest circumstances keeps up her own style and beauty. Compared to "Rififi" three years later this becomes negligible, and not even Eddie Constantine could have helped it up. Robert Berri raises no sympathy at all, at most you are fascinated by his base brutality, while you will remain fascinated by her. It's not even a clever story, but nevertheless you follow it for its excitement, and all you will remember of it afterwards are the two charming lady singers at the taverns.