Bonnes à tuer

A view of the Parisian skyline (and the Eiffel Tower) from a terrace where most of the film is set, to be more specific. Neatly constructed (with flashbacks-within-flashbacks and multiple narrators), directed with flair, inventiveness (the mirror scene, the dance scene) and elegance by Henri Decoin, with a daring for the time (and welcome) emphasis on the female form: the costumes are stunning and the women (especially Corinne Calvet) are erotic by any era's standards. Only the ending is a little disappointing and pat. *** out of 4.

'Larry' (Michel Auclair) is an unpleasant character, a rich newspaper owner, but is still able to charm the four women in his life. He invites all four to a dinner at his new penthouse flat where there is an alarming health and safety issue with the rooftop railing. We learn about his history with each of the women, and we might speculate that as the baddy he has a reason to kill any one of them. It's a tense last section of the film as he sets about his plan. He certainly has the creepy ability to appear behind someone's shoulder from nowhere. Four strong performances from the women - I was impressed by Lyla Rocco's moments of young vulnerability, Corinne Calvet's scheming mood changes and Miriam di San Servolo's noir-thriller hardness (as the younger sister of Mussolini's mistress it could be that she was appropriately cast). However it was Danielle Darrieux who brought me to this film and she doesn't disappoint, the sensible, moral ex-wife who knows Larry only too well but still softens at his word.

Michel Auclair is money mad. He uses his position as the editor of a scandal magazine to kill stories for cash. He buys his friend's terrace apartment, and invites the four women in his life to dinner: his first wife, Danielle Darrieux; Miriam Di San Servolo, the woman he works with to hunt up his blackmail victim; his second wife, Corinne Calvet; and his fiancee, ridiculously wealthy Lyla Rocco. His terrace has a loose railing. It's apparent he intends to kill one of them by pushing her off the terrace. But which?

The novel it was based on was written by Patricia McGerr, and won le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière when it was translated into French in 1952. It's a fascinating, dark movie that Henri Decoin has directed, with Auclair a luxury-loving sociopath completely dominating the movie in the face of some strong acting by the women.

She was there one minute Lying in a pool of herself

And then she was gone the next

With a twisted neck.

O she fell from the roof to the ground....

A crowd gathers around the building as the cops shout " move along!" .Someone fell from the terrace of "Larry" 's luxury flat. Larry (Michel Auclair)had gathered for a formal occasion his ex-wife (Darrieux),his wife (Corinne Calvet),his fiancée and his mistress.An ominous stormy evening in a chic apartment with champagne served by a Chinese butler.There was a bad moon on the rise;it seemed that someone was going to get killed tonight.But which of the four women?

The ex-wife?

She crossed a lot of people

Some she called friends

She thought she'd live forever

But forever always ends.

Darrieux portrays a painter who remained loyal and true to her friends,which her ex-husband did not.

The fiancée?

She used to live the life she used

To live life with a vengeance

And the chosen would dance

The chosen would dance in attendance

The fiancée is a spoiled child,she thinks that her dad's money can buy her anything .She's pregnant by a student who disappeared but she won't care if Larry passes for the father in her folk's eyes.

The wife?

She used to have style

She used to have style and to use it

And they say it turned bad

When the truth came around and she refused it

She married Larry just because thanks to him,an unscrupulous journalist,her false suicide made the headlines.(It's thoroughly credible:a French actress did that in 1947) Like Larry, would do anything to get fortune and fame.

The mistress?

They did not find no killer

and they did not find no note.

Maggy is a shady lady,who seems to blackmail Larry ;he' d like to recover a receipt she owns.

This is a fine film noir by Henri Decoin,which does not equal his best in the field ("non Coupable" "La Vérité sur Bébé Donge" ),but where the suspense is sustained till the very end and its unexpected twist.The flashbacks are introduced in an unusual aggressive way.They begin with bells: they herald a wedding but they sound like a toll.

Darrieux and Auclair would team up again in Périer's "Meurtres en 45 tours" (1960)

Many lines of this comment were taken from the lyrics of Richard Thompson's extraordinarily gloomy song "Did she jump " on his "Shoot out the lights' majestic album (1982).