User reviews

The theme of theater and life coming together is not revolutionary, nor is that of Shakespeare influencing the lives of the protagonists ("A Double Life" by Cukor, André Cayatte's "The Lovers of Verona") but it could not but appeal to such theater enthusiasts as André Barsacq (the great figure of the Théâtre de l'Atelier, successor to Charles Dullin) and his friend Jean Anouilh (the famous playwright). "Crimson Curtain", the product of their collaboration (Barsacq co-wrote and directed, Anouilh was co-writer), while being a true detective movie is above all their common declaration of love for the means of expression they have dedicated their whole life to. Unfortunately, if love for theater is conspicuous in "Crimson Curtain", their film as a whole is nothing but a mixed bag.

Among the good points is the way the two authors pass on their love to the spectators: as theirs is a crime story, they deftly make their spokespersons two police detectives who while investigating, discover the world of theater, totally unknown to them. First merely astonished, they prove more and more captivated by the play, by the story it tells, by the suspense it generates, by the actors, by the wings and its workers, and finally by Shakespeare himself. Jean Brochard and Olivier Hussenot, who embody them, while working seriously at solving a murder story, marvel like kids unwrapping their presents at Christmas.

There are also a few good sequences involving the living performance of "Macbeth", especially the scenes of the confrontation of Macbeth with the ghost of Banquo paralleling that of Ludovic, the actor who plays the role, with the lookalike of the man he and his Lady Macbeth have just murdered.

On the minus side, André Barsacq fails in conveying an important aspect of the story, the poisonous interdependence between husband, wife and lover: first because there are no expository scenes to put us in the mood before the action begins, second on account of Monelle Valentin (Anouilh's life companion)'s unprepossessing looks and bland acting, which prohibits any sensation of fascination.

On the whole, besides, the performances are uneven. Beginning with Michel Simon who has a double rôle but only... half convinces: excellent as the obnoxious actor-director of the drama company, he is less convincing as his understudy: it is not his fault, simply, his double looks too much like him even if his voice has been changed. As for Pierre Brasseur, he is curiously self-conscious, except when he plays Macbeth on the stage and becomes his impetuous self again. I'll say nothing more about Monelle Valentin, the black spot of the story. In contrast, one will take unmixed pleasure in the acting of Olivier Hussenot, as a police inspector who discovers the magic of the theater with a childish joy, of Jean Brochard, very natural as a chief inspector with popular wisdom, and of his regular opposite, Noël Roquevert as a vindictive ham.

In the end, the film can be watched without displeasure but with the feeling that Anouilh and especially Barsacq have missed the great film that "Crimson Curtain" could have been.

As a theater in Montmartre is opening a play based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, the lives of the director-star and two more actors mirror the events in the play. But the filmmakers are so intent on emphasizing this point - that the on-stage and the off-stage stories parallel each other - that they forget to develop "their" story (the off-stage one); there are too many scenes of the play being enacted. Apart from one scene, there is not enough passion between the lovers; Michel Simon, in a dual role, steals the show from both of them. As a whodunit, it is competent but talky: there are really only three suspects. **1/2 out of 4.

Generally considered a Jean Anouilh work (the playwright directed two movies and would have directed three (the third one would have been "Pattes Blanches" if he had not fallen ill),"Le Rideau Rouge" is a thriller based on Shakespeare's "Macbeth".

A group of thespians are to play the famous tragedy.One of them ,a nasty old actor (Michel Simon) is slain and they have to use his understudy ;the resemblance between the two men is striking and it seems to the leads (who play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)that the dead is not dead and asks them for an explanation.

Shakespeare's scenes are smartly integrated into the plot and give substance to what would have been a banal love triangle .Pierre Brasseur is a superb Macbeth .The French cops are ignorant and do not know anything about "Macbett "but they learn to appreciate it.Anything but derivative.

"Le Rideau Rouge" is an investigation on the murder of an actor-director (Michel Simon) murdered by his wife and her lover (Monelle Valentin and Pierre Brasseur) before the representation of Macbeth in which this trio plays. The fiction joins reality. French policemen investigate during the representation (Michel Simon being replaced) and discover the story of Macbeth.



"Le Rideau Rouge" is the unique direction for cinema by André Barsacq who became the Director of the Théâtre de l'Atelier in 1940 after Charles Dullin left it. The movie is naturally shot in the theatre (stage, dressing rooms, backstage) and on the place in front and certainly a bar around. It is surely one of the rare shooting by a director on his own place. Anouilh and Barsacq describe what they might have lived in their entourage in use of drugs and alcohol. "Le Rideau Rouge" is an impressive and lucid testimony of theatre, with a scene not censored who tells much on the decadence of theatre. This weird movie has to be rediscovered urgently despite of a police part weaker than the theatre part.

André Barsacq is more wellknown in cinema as a decorator (for Jean Grémillon) but mostly worked for theatre wih great names.