ulicknormanowen

A prostitute, in agreement with the man of her life, has developed a tactic to extract money: announcing to the victims she has just seduced that she is expecting a child, they, after leaving a more or less large wad of bills, flee with no hope of return. However, one day, one of them trembles with joy and emotion at this announcement....

Henri Lepage,a third-rate director , tries to imitate the great ones; the depiction of the prostitutes and their pimps recall the classic "hôtel du nord" ,while the spoken prologue (and epilogue) about destiny rips off Duvivier's "sous le ciel de Paris"

The best part is the central one;Henri Vilbert is touching as the old beau ,elated at the future birth ; a joy that becomes an obession : the child's nursery ,complete with pram ,toys and even a clock (so he can know the time !);as soon as truth is out, he becomes the laughing stock of the block;even when Mado reveals the truth, he cannot believe her .The scene when the failed father contemplates the room which will never be used verges on drama.

Unfortunately ,the movie considerably loses steam after Mado's departure and the ending is exactly the one you expect .

"Walk like a dragon" was made just after Fuller's "the red kimono", both feature the same actor (James Shigeta) and both ending are,in their way,similar.

"Walk like a dragon " ,masquerading as a western , looks like Larry Pearce 's "one potatoe two potatoe " and even Logan 's "sayonara" ; Jack Lord (who proves that he was able to play more interesting parts than a Hawaiian cop ) portrays the noble hero, whose firm beliefs in American values lead him to fall prey to his town's gossips and to lose his work (freight line) ; to him , " nobody can be sold or bought" -(one gathers that the action takes place after the Civil War); the slave market scene takes place in the fog , at night, as though they were ashamed of their dirty deeds .Link's ma ,after being ashamed of that heathen creature , eventually stands by her son, probably inspired by the Holy Scripts.

Cheng Lu is a more complex character : his values are still his native country's and he cannot understand his opponent ,so learns to shoot with a little help of the local deacon (perhaps the weakest link of the movie) to defeat his rival and to "walk like a dragon"

Gorgeous Kim Sung learns the English language( perhaps a little too quickly ,no pidgin English after a very short time )AND seems to embrace the American way of life but atavism is not far away.

An interesting work, but not for western buffs;it's really something else.

Bearing more than a distance resemblance to Du Maurier' s "Rebecca " ( the late woman 's presence, that can be felt all over the house,the Gothic atmosphere, the sinister-looking old woman who recalls Mrs Danvers), "the late EB" aka "obsessed" has enough qualities to keep the viewer glued to his chair ;the late Edwina was poisoned and the surviving couple begins , slowly by inexorably ,to suspect the person he(she)loves ; well acted by Geraldine Fitzgerald and David Farrar, the best moment happens when the young woman thinks that her lover has poisoned her (good use of close shots). I could do without the final picture,but the movie is to be recommended for people who like psychological thrillers.