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.

A smorgasbord of in-jokes, tres moderne crime-fighting techniques, and every old-dark-house cliche (but of course, it was made in 1932, so it may have been inventing some of them), the film features Frank Morgan (later to be the Wizard of Oz) as a clever, chain-smoking inspecteur from the Surete who goes up against a wily Russian crook. Murders, staged accidents, bodies dragged from the Seine and an amazingly successful attempt to foil the censor while showing female nudity are all parts of this tale. A suave French thief (with an impeccable Oxford accent)is employed by the Surete to help foil the plot, and an army of Chinese house-servants and a broken-glass wall topping are just some of the dazzling obstacles to be overcome. The "statue" created by the villain will astonish you, as will the gorgeous clothes worn by the beautiful young heroine who could be Anastasia, long-lost daughter of the Romanoffs. This is high camp film-making but done in an earnest style. Really fun.

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.

Despite the presence of Frank Morgan in the lead, this is a cheap B-movie all the way--with a plot that seems like the stuff you'd see in a Monogram cheapie of the 1930s or 40s--the sort of thing that George Zucco, Lionel Atwill or Bele Lugosi would star in and which would have terrible production values.

The Zucco/Atwill/Lugosi type character in this one is a Russian who uses his powers of hypnosis to control a young girl and convince her she is the Princess Anastasia! At the same time, a high class crook has reported that a flower girl has disappeared. Thinking the two women might be one in the same, the French police inspector (Frank Morgan) convinces the robber to do a bit of breaking and entering to learn the truth.

This story is filled with silly elements--such as disposing of bodies by entombing them in plaster, the whole hypnosis angle and more. You never can take it very seriously and the story seems more like a cheap movie serial crammed into a one hour time slot. Moderately engaging at best.

Long before Ingrid Bergman won her second Oscar for Anastasia RKO did a much smaller production on the subject as expatriate Russian-Chinese Gregory Ratoff tries to pull an Anastasia scam on the Romanoff exiles in Paris. Only he's not nearly as sympathetic a figure as Yul Brynner.

Secrets Of The French Police has Ratoff as a Karloff/Lugosi like villain who is both a scientist and a hypnotist and he uses both to work his plot. The hypnotism is for his subject Gwili Andre who he is trying to pass off as Anastasia.

She's the girlfriend of John Warburton noted cat burglar who is forced into alliance with Inspector Frank Morgan of the Paris PD. Back in the day before he was typecast as bumblers Morgan did play serious roles like this.

Ratoff is appropriately sinister. Warburton who slipped into character roles eventually is a weak romantic lead here. This needed the charm of a Cary Grant.

Still Secrets Of The French Police is not a bad B film from RKO.