Alerte au sud

Jean Devaivre 's work essentially consists of two good thrillers :" la dame de onze heures " and "la ferme des sept péchés " ;the rest is eminently forgettable .

"Alerte au sud" sandwiched between two "Caroline Chérie" episodes also featuring Jean-Claude Pascal , is relatively interesting because it looks like the cheap eurospies , which throve in the wake of James Bond. And the genre did not exist in the fifties .Hence its (relative) originality.

Like all the great men,Mr Von Stroheim keeps the audience waiting and it's one hour before he appears !His character looks like a cross between Dr No and Goldfinger, and the story sometimes reminds you of the very first Bond , with the villain's lair which looks like a poor James Bond's setting .Add a gorgeous Bond girl-like Gianna Maria Canale who falls in love with the hero and betrays her boss .

Filmed in color (rare in the French early fifties)and on location in Morocco .