La dame d'onze heures

Saw this on late-night French tv, with the notion that if it was programmed, it must be an overlooked gem from the post-war period. But a gem it definitely isn't.

Basically it plays like a 1930s Hollywood b-movie in the madcap mystery vein. But a key positive part of those movies was that they were fast-paced and short. La Dame d'Onze Heures, though, is way too long, and suffers from many dull moments.

A veteran cast performs adequately, but without the gusto that this type of film requires. Most of the players, including top-billed Paul Meurisse, are obviously walking through their roles.

Also on the negative side is the tinny sound, which plagues many French pictures filmed before 1955 or so. And if you're an animal-lover, be warned that halfway through the story, the treatment of a kitten in this film is abominable.

Must admit though, that getting nicely-photographed glimpses of post-war France was definitely a pleasure. But in truth, that's about all this picture has going for it.

Jean Devaivre was one of the characters of Bertrand Tavernier's "Laissez-Passer" ,a film about French cinema during the Occupation years.He began as an assistant with notably Maurice Tourneur ,then made a few movies,none of them was particularly memorable.

"La Dame de Onze heures " is probably his most satisfying effort.In spite of a muddled screenplay,it succeeds in laughing at the clichés of the detective film.Paul Meurisse,many users saw in Clouzot's celebrated "Diabolique" is the sleuth ,and he gets good support from Micheline Francey,Jean Tissier,Gilbert Gil and others.It also predates something that would appear later in the movies:no cast and credits before the ending.

Along with"la ferme des sept péchés" , the best film Jean Devaivre offered .Both movies are basically murder mysteries ,verging on whodunit ,both include flashbacks and "la dame d'onze heures" begins in a very intriguing and engaging way : it is as though the director summarized mysterious events and estimating the affair too complex for his audience, he plays it backwards and starts all over again ; hence the absence of cast and credits (which appear at the very end ,like most of today's movie)

Stanislas Octave Seminario, an explorer back from Africa ,is confronted to a series of murders and becomes an occasional detective (everyone calls him SOS ); the plot is complex, sometimes muddled , but the director creates a threatening offbeat atmosphere : hints at an "eleven o' clock lady" , anonymous letters , the ruins of a town destroyed in the war, a conjurer who knows one of the member of his audience's name and predicts he 's going to die the day after , the lady in the morgue who resembles his sister ,the cemetery where the undertaker paints crosses with names of people who are not dead yet , a gloomy hospital with a shady doctor and his strange nurse .....

Blending melodrama with murder mystery (beware of staphylococcus!) ,it leaves some space for comic relief, humor,thanks to the indefatigable Jean Tissier as the servant who enjoys eavesdropping (a role in he would take on in Devaivre 's latter "l'inspecteur aime la bagarre " , but in a more tongue- in- cheek work) and has some funny lines :" in this place ,all the animals are raw !(before they are cooked of course!) " or "this keyhole doesn't work :I cannot see clearly" !"

I agree with GodeonWay's post on this movie. I'd registered it because I wanted to see Paul Meurisse as young actor and I like to see rare movies on French TV and Pierre Renoir was in the movie too. I saw it yesterday night. Unfortunately, I am an animal-lover and was not prepared to see the treatment of the kitten in this movie in the middle of the film. SOS takes normally the cat in his arms and a few minutes later he got rid of the cat unceremoniously (on the floor). Just after, the kitten is playing with something on the floor and suddenly dies instantly. After that, SOS put the cat in a briefcase ! I was shocked and I thought the cat was only asleep. But GodeonWay's post deprives me of my illusions. Sadness.