Stupéfiants

One can only imagine what Peter Lorre, who had been a morphine addict since 1928 (during which time he had become an internationally acclaimed film star), made of this hystrionic anti-drug thriller in which he was cast as a wicked pusher who will stop at nothing to keep an innocent young singer as his client. As in most films in which he was cast as the putative villain, he's by far the most attractive and interesting creature in sight. His flashy pinstripes and spats (meant to mark him as a member of the criminal class) look good on him, as does his shaved head, a style that he would sport to even more advantage a few years later in "Mad Love."

Peter Lorre had starred in his lifetime part (M) the precedent year and anything he would do afterward would be necessary a letdown.

It is of course,although he only supports here ,playing the part of a drug trafficker,who drops his stuff into the sea when the ship docks.

The story begins in a very strange way:the hero(Pierre Murat) saves a child's life -he was getting drowned- and his father is a millionaire.The story does not seem to have any connection which what follows and you have to wait till the last pictures to see the two stories hang together-in a far-fetched way- The courageous young man comes home to be confronted with the fact that his sister has become a junkie.We think that the movie will be his struggle to help her sibling fight against addiction.Not only the girl does not look like a junkie at all -she is always fresh as a daisy- but the plot gets itself lost in uninteresting gangsters stories in which even Peter Lorre does not play his game well.

Why restoring this French-German co production ?