Toi... le venin

This is much better than i expected. A very good mystery/drama movie which didn't had an open ending like so many mystery movies. On the contrary, every question here was answered. It kept me guessing until the end, and this is not something common for a 1958 movie, i mean, movies of this era were not so complicated and you can easily guess what is happening, especially if you have watched thousands of movies. I am not saying it is brilliant neither mindblowing. This is clever, not just enjoyable but exciting, nice music and cinematography, very good actors and most of all, these women are really beautiful :)

Easy to follow, not convoluted, kinda "light". I am so glad i found it.

Two sisters live in a lonely mansion by the sea. One of them (Marina Vlady) is confined to a wheelchair. One of them, unknown to the other, goes out at night to entertain random strangers in the front seat of their convertible. But which one?

The question acquires a fresh urgency when the latest "victim" (Robert Hossein) shows up on their doorstep. The sisters look so similar he can't decide which one he encountered the previous night. Neither seems the type. The sisters invite him to stay and an awkward ménage à trois develops - awkward because the unanswered question remains: which of the two is lying about her nocturnal excursions?

This is the premise, and it's a thin one, but Hossein (who also directs) does a great job with the material, keeping the suspense going till the final scene. The direction is sleek and stylish, Vlady (Hossein's wife at the time) is jaw droppingly gorgeous, and there's a nifty jazz score by André Hossein. Put your disbelief on hold and enjoy.

A man looks for the mysterious young lady who tried to crush him one evening

One night, while he promenades in the streets of Nice, Victor Menda is accosted by a fair young lady in the steering wheel of Cadillac. The attractive creature, whose face stays in the shadow, invites Victor to rise, give herself fervently to him then stick him the cannon of a revolver on the temple and order him to get off. While he goes away, she tries to crush him. Victor just escapes death. Furious, he has the reflex to note the number of the car. A fast inquiry leads him around a big house where live two very resembling sisters, both fair.

"Toi le Venin" is Robert Hossein's masterpiece,and one of the great thrillers of the fifties.Based on a Frederic Dard novel,a writer the director often worked with (see also "le Monte-Charge" which Hossein did not direct but in which he was the lead too),the screenplay grabs you from the first pictures on a desert road by night where a beautiful blonde might be the fieriest of the criminals to the mysterious house where he finds his femme fatale ..and her sister.Then begins a cat and mouse play .One of the sisters is in a wheelchair .But is she really disabled?Which one is the criminal who tried to kill the hero on that night?

The two actresses,Marina Vlady and the late Odile Versois were sisters.

Turn off all the lights before watching.Highly suspenseful.

A gripping start (accurately described by the lurid English title - "Nude in a White Car") for an intriguing, unpretentious mystery: it introduces three characters, it makes clear that one of the two is lying, and it puts you in the place of the third, trying to figure out which one. In an inspired bit of casting, real-life sisters Odile Versois and Marina Vlady, who bear a striking resemblance to each other, are cast as (half) sisters in the movie as well, which produces a Hitchcockian "blurring the lines" effect. **1/2 out of 4.