Secrets of the French Police

A combination of mystery and chills, well directed by A. Edward Sutherland, who specialized in both comedy (WC Fields) and adventures. He was the right person to head this film, even adding a slice of dark comedy to the proceedings.

Beautiful Gwili Andre, who very much resembled Marlene Dietrich, promoted to be the next Greta Garbo, plays a poor flower girl along the streets of Paris, who MAY be the lost Princess Anastasia, believed killed during the Revolution.

But... her body was never found!

Enter Parisian master detective and chain smoker Frank Morgan to investigate the baffling case. I agree with the last reviewer, Morgan shows off some shades of his famous Wizard character, soon to make him a star. On other side is dramatic actor Gregory Ratoff, playing the crafty general, drawn to the millions of dollars Andre may inherit. Money the root of all evil!

Eddie Sutherland is creative with this high drama slash adventure, gradually changing gears to a horror film, somewhat in the tradition of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. The mad doctor (in his secret lab) wishing to cover women with a plaster substance to become statues?, replete with some brief frontal nudity, obviously a pre-code production hard at work.

Early film appearance of pretty Rochelle Hudson, playing K-31 ( a character name reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich's DISHONORED), also young John Warburton, as Leon.

Not to disappoint mystery buffs and thrill seekers alike, to be sure. A short film, under 60 minutes, but very entertaining and a showcase for Gwili Andre, who at the time was a top fashion model.

Released on dvd and a very good print. Thanks to TCM for occasionally showing this diamond in the rough.

This film starts out with a shot of a magazine article about the modern methods adopted by the Paris police department. Then it switches to a secret burial ceremony of a Paris policeman implying that it would be a breach of national security if his death were made public. Next is Frank Morgan as a Paris police detective about to track the killer based on cigarette ash found near the corpse which he finds to be from a brand sold only at a certain bar in Paris. Then he goes to the bar disguised as a drunk to cleverly get the proprietress to tell him who buys that brand of cigarette. It seems to be a mysterious monocled gent who then disappears from the movie.

Interesting, but all this has almost nothing to do with the rest of the movie, which is concerned with the legend of Anastasia, the Russian princess killed during the Revolution whose body was never recovered, leading to several false claimants pretending to be her and collect an inheritance. This story was also the basis of a1997 animated cartoon and a 1956 film starring Ingrid Bergman as the claimant and Yul Brynner as the con artist trying to fob her off.

Here the claimant is played by Gwyli Andre, a Danish actress reminiscent of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, whose lack of critical success led to a brief career in Hollywood. I thought she was pretty good, actually.

Her mentor is one General Moloff, a White Russian emigre played by Gregory Ratoff, one of the most multi-faceted villains in movie history, kidnapper, murderer, hypnotist, and surprisingly wealthy for an escapee from the revolution. On top of all this, in the end he turns out to be a sadistic mad scientist foreshadowing some of the grade-Z movies Bela Lugosi made toward the end of his career. You will be amazed, if not convinced, by the high-tech methods by which he causes a car crash by remote control.

Everyone in France speaks English, of course, occasionally remembering to attempt a French accent. English actor John Warburton has some amusing moments as another multi-tasker, both burglar and pickpocket. In fact, all the actors do a good job.

At least the film keeps moving right along and won't bore you. OK time killer if you're quarantined. Just don't expect anything to think about afterwards. Even better if you're into camp.

Despite the presence of Frank Morgan in the lead, this is a cheap B-movie all the way--with a plot that seems like the stuff you'd see in a Monogram cheapie of the 1930s or 40s--the sort of thing that George Zucco, Lionel Atwill or Bele Lugosi would star in and which would have terrible production values.

The Zucco/Atwill/Lugosi type character in this one is a Russian who uses his powers of hypnosis to control a young girl and convince her she is the Princess Anastasia! At the same time, a high class crook has reported that a flower girl has disappeared. Thinking the two women might be one in the same, the French police inspector (Frank Morgan) convinces the robber to do a bit of breaking and entering to learn the truth.

This story is filled with silly elements--such as disposing of bodies by entombing them in plaster, the whole hypnosis angle and more. You never can take it very seriously and the story seems more like a cheap movie serial crammed into a one hour time slot. Moderately engaging at best.

Secrets of the French Police is a horror crime hybrid that muddles early and never really recovers. The story revolves around a plot by an ex patriot Russian (Gregory Ratoff) trying to pull off an Anastasia scam to get his hands on Romanoff cash. Joining forces with a thief, French police set a trap to expose fraud.

As inspector St. Cyr, Frank Morgan chains smokes and forgoes an accent while Ratoff sounds like he is fresh out of the Lugosi school. John Warburton in the key role of the second story man lacks charm and comes across smug in the process negating the decent work done by Gwili Andre as his girl and the phony Anastasia.

Police has some jarringly violent and ghoulish moments along with a cynical grittiness in which the law employs illegal means to solve its case but director Ed Sutherland's anemic direction wavers between genres and ultimately fails at both.

Long before Ingrid Bergman won her second Oscar for Anastasia RKO did a much smaller production on the subject as expatriate Russian-Chinese Gregory Ratoff tries to pull an Anastasia scam on the Romanoff exiles in Paris. Only he's not nearly as sympathetic a figure as Yul Brynner.

Secrets Of The French Police has Ratoff as a Karloff/Lugosi like villain who is both a scientist and a hypnotist and he uses both to work his plot. The hypnotism is for his subject Gwili Andre who he is trying to pass off as Anastasia.

She's the girlfriend of John Warburton noted cat burglar who is forced into alliance with Inspector Frank Morgan of the Paris PD. Back in the day before he was typecast as bumblers Morgan did play serious roles like this.

Ratoff is appropriately sinister. Warburton who slipped into character roles eventually is a weak romantic lead here. This needed the charm of a Cary Grant.

Still Secrets Of The French Police is not a bad B film from RKO.