Le fruit défendu

A medium=sized box-office hit in its time, the forbidden fruit is, of course, lovely Françoise Arnoul, whom shy, bourgeois country doctor Fernandel decides to keep as his secret mistress in Arles. All good Simenon stuff. Echoes of Monsieur Hire and Inspector Maigret's countryside dossiers. But this is rather a provincial melodrama than a noir thriller. Scriptwriter Companeez was a real pro and the same goes to composer Paul Durand. All in all, an efficient product from the Verneuil factory line. By 1952 - the year when Hollywood reached its production peak, quantitatively speaking - I used to go to the movies literally every day, actually more than once a day, I mean, shows used to be double features plus newsreels plus serial chapter plus short Westerns etc etc. In my own provincial town (actually larger than Arles, France, nevertheless somewhat duller) the Forbidden Fruit would be the second half of a Fridy-thru-Sunday double feature. But I wasn't allowed to see it then. It was X-rated. I can see it now on cable TV. Family stuff, naturally, and quite entertaining quand-même.