La febbre del possesso

Special film like anything signed Henri Verneuil! Any film directed by him is an event, he was and remains one of the greatest French directors (actually, he was Armenian, born in Turkey). The best role I've seen Henri Vidal. The best role I saw Mylène Demongeot, in the role of a young woman greedy for money. She looks very sexy only in a swimsuit, when she shows her breasts in the water. Isa Miranda is also very good in the role of a woman who is desperately looking for love, willing to pay anything (in the end she pays with her own life). Henri Verneuil was and remains a great filmmaker, check all his films, especially "The Sicilian Clan" (1969)Le clan des Siciliens(original title), "The 25th Hour" (1967)La vingt-cinquième heure (original title), "The Night Caller" (1975)Peur sur la ville (original title), "The Burglars" (1971)Le casse (original title), "The Serpent" (1973)Le serpent (original title), all masterpieces, starring the greatest actors of all time. This "A Kiss for a Killer" (1957)Une manche et la belle (original title) is one of his first feature films, made after a novel by the famous thriller novelist James Hadley Chase, the pseudonym of René Lodge Brabazon Raymond.

James Hadley Chase has always been my favourite writer, besides some others, and his adaptations always been for me the movies to search for. The overall atmosphere and plot are here faithful to the book. But not the inner feelings of the characters, the suspense, the best emotional moments of the book. In the novel, the rich woman is nearly ugly, not beautiful at all, whilst here, it is not the case. And, I repeat, in the book, among the greedy and ruthless feelings of the characters, there are some poignant elements, which are totally absent here. The Chase's career offered us novels very gripping during the forties, fifties and a bit sixties, and it slowly disappeared for the seventies and eighties.

A solid film noir with strong echoes of Sunset Boulevard (the "kept man" who comes to hate his keeper) and Double Indemnity. The dialog lacks the crackle of the best noir, and I found the performance by leading man Henri Vidal lackluster. Some of the rear-projection driving scenes are unintentionally hilarious -- they reminded me of a sequence in Airplane! And a scene at a wrestling match -- possibly a failed attempt at foreshadowing -- seemed badly out of place, more appropriate for Nothing Sacred or (Zucker Brothers again) a Police Squad! episode. But Mylène Demongeot is terrific (not to mention hot) in a fresh-faced variation on Barbara Stanwyck's femme fatale role in Double Indemnity. The plot has several nice twists. Hard to find (I happened to spot a poorly transferred VHS copy at a library book sale) but worth checking out.

Prolific crime writer, Rene Raymond, wrote over 80 thrillers under the pseudonym, James Hadley Chase. These dime novels were extremely popular in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly in England and France. One of the least known and least promising of Chase's tales would appear to be "The Sucker Punch", but Henri Verneuil turned it into this excellent movie, which not only has the advantage of his engrossing screenplay (written in collaboration with Annette Wademant and Francois Boyer) but his inspired, powerful direction. The acting of the stars, Henri Vidal, Mylene Demongeot, Isa Miranda and Alfred Adam, cannot be faulted; while the photography by Christian Matras is, as we might expect from Matras, absolutely outstanding.

Henri Vidal works for a bank and has a chance to chisel some francs from rich Isa Miranda. When it turns out she knows, he turns it on its head, and eventually she proposes to him. Vidal, however, is already having an affair with her secretary, Mylène Demongeot, who is mulling a proposal from her other lover, a rich guy. Vidal and Mlle. Demongeot fantasize about killing his wife and enjoying the money, but two people like them could never get away with it. Then Vidal comes up with a perfect murder scheme.

It's a handsome little policier co-written and directed by Henri Verneuill; he was not a great talent, but he was a redoubtable craftsman, and this movie, from a novel by James Hadley Chase, has lots of twists and turns, with an ending that surprised me.... and of course, seemed inevitable afterwards.