Justin de Marseille

Maurice Tourneur is one of French cinema's important directors who enjoyed tremendous success not only in France but in Germany and USA too where he made some minor films. In recent times, numerous efforts have been made in France in order to give cinema enthusiasts a chance to discover his work. For example: Famous studio Pathé has recently released an important DVD box set which features some of his best known films. Among its admirers one can cite the name of French director Bertrand Tavernier from Lyon who is currently president of Institut Lumière. Justin DE Marseille is one of the earliest successful films of gangster genre in French cinema. Film critics in France have considered it as a parody thriller. Its primary focus is concentrated on establishing Marseille as the center of mafia related activities. For this film,Maurice Tourneur worked with screenwriter Carlo Rim who had directed "L'Armoire Volante" with comedy superstar Fernandel. As a perfect amalgamation of drama and love story, Justin DE Marseille depicts the perpetual struggles of two mafia men of different nationalities who would go to any extent to control their territory. From their fight, one deduces that in the field of crime, one who stands for the poor and weak emerges as a strong leader. Film critic Lalit Rao watched this film on TV5 Monde channel.

Although the son (Jack-aka Jacques- Tourneur) is more known around the world thanks to such cult movies as "cat people", Maurice (the father) was one of the good directors of the French thirties (just a notch or two under Renoir,Carné ,Duvivier,Gance,Pagnol or Gremillon)."Justin de Marseille has certainly worn much better than more recent works such as "Borsalino" and its sequel "Borsalino and co" .

"Justin" is a good cross between Pagnol's bonhomie and Duvivier's film noir.Tourneur does not reach their level,though,and the reason can be found in his scripts:the story lacks focus ,intensity ,and a brilliant dialog writer is sometimes desperately needed ,even if the last sequence has a go at poetry involving even the Polar star.

But as a director,Tourneur cannot be too highly praised: the "funeral" sequence is a classic! He knows how to render the atmosphere of every place he's filming: the brothel -where a young lad,who's too shy,"will come back on Sunday,after the mass!"-,the opium den,the harbor where women sell fish by auction,the parade which opens the movie and which shows young boys singing an old tune (probably entitled "la Canebière" ).The actions scenes are brilliant too: the attack on the hearse full of opium is treated as a silent film .

However ,something's lacking! Something that made "Pépé le Moko" a masterpiece whereas "Justin" is only a good film.

After Paris Marseilles is arguably the most popular setting for French movies. Robert Guideguian is steeped in the tradition of Marcel Pagnol but in between everyone and his Uncle Max seems to have had a go with varying results - Borsalino and the Taxi series were undoubted hits but there have been others, like this one, that are never going to make it outside France. Maurice Tourneur's track record stretches back to the days of the Silents whilst his son, Jacques, has given us such fare as 'Cat People', 'The Flame And The Arrow', 'Out Of The Past (Build My Gallows High') etc. Justin de Marseilles delivers some very 'moody' photography, 'cluttered' docksides - easy to see where Josef Von Sternberg got his ideas - and a Pagnolian sense of community. 70 years on the story make creak a tad but (Antonin) Berval as Justin and Ghislaine Bru as Totone are solid leads. For the record this was the movie that introduced Tino Rossi to an indifferent world but nobody's perfect. 7/10