Ronde de nuit

In the cast of this film there are two bad lead actors and two well known good actors. The two bad actors are Gérard Lanvin and Eddy Mitchell, the latter being more of a singer than an actor. The two good actors are an actor and an actress. The actress is Françoise Arnoul, a beauty when she was young, who played in several special films, the most famous being "French Cancan" (1955) and "La chatte" (1958). The actor, the best of the whole cast, expert in the roles of gang boss, mobster, gangster, is the international Raymond Pellegrin, who played in many important films, French, American and Italian. Notable American titles: "A View from the Bridge" (1962), "Behold a Pale Horse" (1964). Notable French titles: "Le Deuxième Souffle" (1966), directed by the brilliant Jean-Pierre Melville, "Million Dollar Man", original title: L'homme qui valait des milliards (1967), "Sous le signe de Monte-Cristo" (1968). Raymond Pellegrin is also the voice of Fantômas from the 3 hugely successful films with Jean Marais and Louis de Funès. In this film that wants to be American but is just boring to death, Pellegrin has again the role of a villainous boss. Last but not least, the most successful is the unknown black actress Lisette Malidor, she plays the killer who kills in cold blood and in different original ways.

The main interest in this second Jean Claude Missiaen's film, a bit too complex to follow, is the killer lady character splendidly played by Lisette Malidor. Two cops - Gerard Lanvin and Eddy Mitchell - investigate around the murder of a VIP and are rapidly aware that this murder leads to something else, gigantic swindle concerning construction and estate business. Raymond Pellegrin is here a former outlaw adventurer before becoming a crime baron. Once more, director Missiaen gives a tribute to the film noir, French and US too; Eddy Mitchell - a moviegoer in real life - speaks of Hollywood movies in his dialogues. Not Missiaen best, I prefer TIR GROUPE or LA BASTON. Excellent bitter ending.

At the time ,pop singer Eddy Mitchell had his own emission "la Dernière Séance " (=the last picture show): once a week ,he bestowed on his audience two American films of the fifties or the forties;he had a sense of humor and a perfect knowledge of the American cinema which he loved.When he called it a day ,about fifteen years ago,it was a major loss for French TV ,which has become almost unwatchable nowadays.

So to play the part of Leo Gorce ,a cop who is also a cine buff and who keeps on repeating quotations of American classic thrillers of the golden era during the whole story,why not Eddy Mitchell?The problem is that Mitchell is a fairly good singer,a marvelous emcee when it came to presenting a movie to his ecstatic audience,but as an actor,as I cannot say something nice....Unfortunately he plays opposite Gerard Lanvin,whose first quality was not artistic ambition-his career can be quickly summed up : "Une Semaine de Vacances" (Tavernier) and "Une Etrange Affaire (Granier-Deferre) ;the rest is eminently forgettable.

Lanvin and Mitchell investigate and they find that " politics+money= "minefield"",which the average viewer did not suspect of course.Missiaen ,the director ,tried to sound "American" and his film is a turkey.