Pecadoras de Tunis

Before Brigitte Bardot there was Martine Carol and before her came Viviane Romance whose sensuality, in keeping with the times, was more subdued. Unlike the two subsequent sex sirens Mlle Romance could really act! Indeed, from the mid-1930's to the mid '40's she reigned supreme and virtually cornered the market as vamp, femme fatale, satanic seductress and all round naughty baby.

In this adaptation of Jean Vignaud's novel she is more sympathetic as a prostitute plying her trade in Tunisia who ends up in Parisian high society as the wife of rich archaeologist André played with his usual 'edge' by Pierre Renoir. They have a child but unbeknown to André the father is actually Matteo, a penniless Arab mystic whom she has left behind believing him to be dead. Needless to say her past comes back to haunt her.......

Marcel Dalio is as mysterious as ever as Matteo but is also extremely moving. This was a marvellous period for Dalio but alas short-lived as he very wisely made a speedy exit from France before the Germans moved in.

As a bonus we have superlative scene-stealer Louis Jouvet as a blackmailer. He does not appear for an hour but is well worth the wait. The dynamic between him and and his wonderfully wicked partner in crime, played by the director's current wife Florence Marly, is fascinating and one is left wanting more.

The film itself holds few surprises but is eminently watchable and one accepts the studio-bound locations thanks to art director Georges Wakhévitch and the atmospheric cinematography of Curt Courant.

The post-war films of Pierre Chenal are a mixed bunch to say the least but a handful made during the 1930's are simply splendid and typify French cinema during its L'Age d'Or. This one is also a fine example of the type of film later labelled by academics as 'orientalist'. It is to be lamented that even his best films from the period have since been deemed by critics in their infinite wisdom to be mediocre and overrated. True cinéphiles know better.

A first version was filmed in 1927,but it seems forever lost.Now only Chenal's version is relatively easy to see.Made just before "le dernier tournant" (the first version of "the postman always rings twice"),"la maison du Maltais has got a pretty good reputation.Does it deserve it?Much more than "l'alibi' (1937)...but much less than "la foire aux chimères" (1946).

In a chocolate box Arabian country -which recalls Duvivier's "pepe le moko" which also features chanteuse Frehel- a poetic young dreamer falls in love with a whore,Safia, with whom he dreams of a home and a family,in his father's house ,the magic "maison du Maltais".He gets Safia pregnant but ,as he does not come back from a dubious voyage (smuggling),she leaves the country for France where she marries a chic wealthy man.

This is pure melodrama and John Stahl would not disown it;everything's here:the prostitutes in their brothel,trying to make ends meet;the unfortunate girl,dying in her hospital bed;the gentleman who believes the little girl is his daughter;a blackmailer.

Matteo lives in another world,the world of the tales from the Arabian nights;when he awakes ,it's too late.Safia is told that the only way to get by is not to tell the truth to men.

As always in a Chenal's movie,the cast is first-class:Dalio,Renoir's favorite actor as Matteo;Vivianne Romance,who often gets parts of a bitch displays a lot of humanity here:she almost plays two parts,the hooker and the socialite;Louis Jouvet in a short part of a private eye(and blackmailer).

Some scenes are close to fantastic and predates Chenal's towering achievement "la foire aux chimères" :Safia,leaving her hard-won bourgeois manners home ,and playing the hooker again to fool Matteo;the "maison du Maltais" which seems to come from the Arabian tales;the strange dummy which Matteo's pals use to ridicule him.

Marcel Dalio in the son of a sponge diver in Sfax. He is a dreamy fellow who tells tales in the market, fed by the merchants, dreaming of a beautiful princess. He finds her in Viviane Romance, a prostitute, who is charmed by his mystic manner. For eight days they are happy, while he toils in unaccustomed labor in the harbor. Then she tells him she has fallen pregnant. To raise money, he goes on a gun smuggling run, but he is gone too long. Convinced he is dead, she goes off to Paris with wealthy archeologist Pierre Renoir, first as his mistress, then his wife and mother of what he thinks is his daughter. But after three years, Dalio follows her to Paris.

Pierre Chenal's movie is yet another variation on the Erde, the beautiful woman who destroys the foolish men who love her, but it's certainly evolved from earlier versions like Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL and Louise Brooks in PANDORA'S BOOK. Although Mlle Romance is a prostitute at the beginning, she does care about her fellow sex worker, Jany Holt, and she is transformed by Dalio's love. But when he disappears, gloomy thoughts about the child's future sear away the transformation. Her changes are not noble, but they are understandable, and Louis Jouvert as a blackmailing private detective she hires when she catches wind of Dalio's presence in Paris reminds us that no matter how we may wish to change, the world will not let us.

I read dbdumonteil, my favourite reviewer —I usually agree with him and I love to disagree too— and well… I felt compelled to add something to pump-up his enthusiasm.

For if "Le dernier tournant" is good, if "La foire aux chimères" is very good, twisty and enthralling, this "Maison du Maltais" is one of the most flamboyant melodramas I've ever seen. And, to my eyes, the best thing Pierre Chenal ever made.

The story is classic melodrama with enough turns to entertain and appeal you all 87 minutes long.

The characters are clichéd at first sight, but finding redeeming features in their parts to finally become original.

The good-hearted hard working whore becomes a lady then finds herself compelled to inhabit for some minutes, twice, her whore's clothes and behaviour. The dreamer, Dalio, also knows transformations, three times in his case.

The two-fold story benefits of an excellent pace, great set-ups —the first reel's exotic ambiance is exceptionally well created— and great cinematography too, the best I've seen for any Chenal's works.

About the cast, the other reviewers said it already, but let me add this : Viviane Romance is here just as good as she'll be in Duvivier's "Panique", and maybe better. Isn't it enough?

If no, I'll say more : it's Dalio's part for his life-time. Jany Holt is cast in her category, and she does it just at her best.

More? Jouvet, stellar in less than ten minutes screen-time, astonishing, amazing…

OK, enough, you see my point: try to watch this one, along with the two other Pierre Chenal's movies named earlier, and admit with me that he was one of the great "petits maîtres" of French cinema, when he had the chance.

And for this peculiar movie, Stahl or Sirk didn't do better. Yes indeed!

(Didier_fort@hotmail.com)