Tra le undici e mezzanotte

Louis Jouvet is a Parisian police inspector investigating one murder when his dopy assistant tells him of another, a man who could be his twin. Jouvet goes to the dead man's apartment and when one of the victim's associates turns up, he is mistaken for the man. To investigate, Jouvet impersonates the dead man, and finds himself in the middle of an underworld of thieves, prostitutes, homosexual guns-for-hire and intrigue.

Writer/Director Henri Decoin was a commercially successful figure in French cinema for more than thirty years and worked with many well-remembered stars -- he was married to Dannielle Darrieux for half a dozen years. The quality of his works varied enormously, but he certainly shows the seamy side of Paris in this movie, and even if Jouvet goes through the entire movie acting as if he is suffering from an ulcer, in the end he gives one of his telling performances. Like the other well-known directors of French noir, Decoin showed a dirtier world than most American directors, still operating under the Production Code, could get away with, and the result is far more telling.

The beginning promised great things:in the space of five minutes ,the director manages to pay a tribute to two American movies ("the whole town's talking (1935),the great dictator(1940)) and to a French one too ("copie conforme",Jean Dreville,1946).While people,leaving a movie theater,complain about the implausibility of these dead ringers films,they actually meet three doubles who make them shiver.

What follows is a something of a let-down.There are still strange scenes,for instance the fashion show where every outfit is called after the name of a thriller(novel);then the gangsters bursting into the room and making a clean sweep of all the values.But Henry (in the credits ,it's a y)Decoin gives a rather satisfactory script three different treatments in turn: whodunit,film noir and comedy.And however the idea was splendid:a cop (Jouvet) realizes that he's the dead ringer of a man who's been murdered and he takes his place.Sometimes it works and the dialogue is really funny and the story suspenseful.But sometimes it doesn't and interest falls away:the scenes with Madeleine Robinson,who is a very fine actress though,are not convincing.Too many subplots and too many characters do not help.

It 's a watchable curio ,but as far dead ringers are concerned,Alfred Hitchcock did better with "the wrong man"(1956).He even transcended the topic with "Vertigo" two years after.