Que la bête meure

Thanks to Eddie Muller and the Film Noir Foundation, TCM viewers were treated this fall to a restoration of The Beast Must Die (aka. La Bestia Debe Morir).

This is a cleverly constructed murder mystery with a bevy of suspects, all with sufficient motive. But you could say that about a lot of movies.

Refreshingly, motivations in this one are clear and the movie is devoid of implausible coincidences or ''dumb people making dumb decisions." I was so absorbed that after a while I forgot I was watching a Spanish-language film with English subtitles.

The cast are uniformly excellent. Narciso Ibáñez Menta doesn't strike a single false note as the writer bent on revenge. I hope to see more of his work on TCM. As for Laura Hidalgo, her career was short, but you're not likely to forget her after seeing this movie. She is the very definition of smouldering.

I've said it before and I will say it again: Eddie Muller and TCM are worth the price of my cable subscription.

Don't get me wrong, I love classic cinema. Hawks, Ford, Wilder, Hitchcock, you name it.

But the fact that a film is old, in black and white and with good photography doesn't mean that it's good. The way this film is put together is representative of a very naive and simple-minded way of storytelling.

The main culprit (though not the only one), is the script. Characters are not believably defined, it's all broad strokes. The main concern is the plot, instead of the humans that make it move. And the structure, while risky, has its problems too.

I can offer some examples of this:

1) When the hero woos Linda, there is nothing playful about the way he does it. Instead, he merely overflatters her. He makes himself look silly, in no way charming. This man is supposed to be intelligent.

2) Later in the film, when Rattery mistreats Linda, who is supposed to be the hero's girlfirend, he witnesses it and does nothing about it. And Linda basically accepts it.

3) At the beggining of the movie, we have a scene between a lawyer, called Nigel, and his girlfriend. It's a very long scene whose only purpose is to give us plot information. The girlfriend is never seen again, and the Nigel character is almost irrelevant to the plot.

There's good cinematography here and there, but the technique at times is also quite clumsy. There is a scene where a woman is shaking up a child, and the way it's shot and edited, it feels completely awkward. In some shots the child doesn't move but shouts off-camera, and the scene feels unreal.

Most of the performances are very broad, a lot of the times the plot moves via uninteresting and unsubtle dialogue, and the characters are simply not clearly defined. Rattery is simply a very bad person, there's very little that we can say about him, aside from that. And the hero is, well, a perfect guy: smart, elegant, well-natured... There are no nuances, no moral ambiguites, nothing. So it all plays like an old fashioned mystery stage play, where everything is naive, dumb and phony.

Ibáñez Menta, of course, was a great actor, but he didn't have a clear charater to play here, and as a leading man he's terribly unattractive.

An Argentinian film noir from 1952. A boy has just poisoned the patriarch of a family w/an investigator assured of his guilt (he catches the boy trying to dispose of the incriminating potable). We then flashback as to how we got here as we meet a popular crime novelist enjoying a day out sailing w/his doting son. It's his birthday & instead of being a joyous occasion it turns tragic when he dies due to a fatal hit & run. Despondent, the novelist, played by Narciso Inbanez Menta, drowns his sorrows in booze & wayward travel but when his car gets stuck on the road near a farm, the caretaker takes him in for the night & relates to him (as he notices hanging movie star pics on a wall) about her prized autographed photo from an actress who was in the area briefly when she & her companion were stuck in the area due to a fender bender. Menta is sure this is his man (since their accident & his son's death took place at the same time). Inveigling his way w/his notoriety into the actress's orbit, his investigation leads to her man, the same poisoned fellow from the film's onset & after discovering his masochistic, arrogant nature, Menta sets out on a road to revenge (he details his conclusions & actions in a comprehensive diary) where he gets his goal but not in the way he expected. Other than the ill fitting opening (putting an unnecessarily weird time signature on a story which doesn't need it), the film ranks as an excellent contender to American counterparts w/a French version & a British mini-series made afterwards confirming the sweep of such a well told tale. The English translation of the title is "The Beast Must Die."

I caught this on TCM's Noir Alley with Eddie Muller, thanks to its restoration. What an entertaining film all around. This movie is one of those examples of when every aspect comes together for a cohesive offering.

The story is cool, enough so it's been remade not only into a French film but also into a British TV series, neither of which I've seen. The direction and editing are superb. The acting is genuine. The cinematography, music, costuming, makeup, lighting, etc., all blend together quite seamlessly.

I agree with the reviewer mentioning the subtitles being difficult to impossible to read during certain frames. After a while, I simply had to rewind to try to discern what the words were or just plain "let it go" and try my best to figure it out by context.

Although I would classify this is a must for die-hard noir fans, I would highly recommend it to someone who either likes foreign film or, well, just a darn good film!

Very simply, it's a sin that 'The beast must die' (or as the Spanish title would have it, 'La bestia debe morir') isn't more well known - this is an absolutely incredible film noir, handily matching the best of Hollywood or any comparable industry. Accordingly co-written between hard-working star Narciso Ibáñez Menta and director Román Viñoly Barreto, the adapted screenplay is truly outstanding - rich, dynamic, charged, and rife with robust detail in all regards. Characters are wonderfully deep and complex, and the dialogue is fantastically brilliant - sharp, and clever. Scenes are exquisitely arranged - finding the perfect balance between what to show, and what to withhold, as to build marvelous uneasy tension and suspense. And the narrative is superbly engrossing - compelling, and deftly weaving in impactful emotional beats and just enough mystery to keep us unsure of just how it will all unfold.

The cast is exceptional in bringing their characters to life. Each and every actor demonstrates great range and nuance - even the child actors - and even in parts with much less time on screen. Jorge Rattery is a truly despicable villain, one of the worst devils I've seen in a movie, and Guillermo Battaglia embodies him with immediately loathsome spite in every word and action, and even in presence alone. Linda Lawson is a troubled woman caught at an unenviable crossroads, and Laura Hidalgo inhabits the role with fabulous poise and emotional breadth. Though not seen quite as much, it's also well worth mentioning Milagros de la Vega and Beba Bidart, both bringing a certain conniving viciousness in very different ways to their respective roles as Señora Rattery and Rhoda, respectively. And then of course there's Ibáñez Menta. In realizing protagonist Felix Lane, Ibáñez Menta illustrates profound, calculated subtlety and poise, feeling everything but betraying very little. Lane is a man of very careful intelligence - and clearly, so is Ibáñez Menta; so naturally does he slide into the role that one may at times forget the portrayal and the player are not one and the same. Hats off to them all!

Great care is put into every little aspect - set design and decoration, hair, makeup, costume design, and so on. A few instances with especially strong consideration for lighting, editing, or effects are done very well. And it's all tied together with a keen eye from Viñoly Barreto in his capacity as director, with some especially great shots making use of unconventional angles, close-ups, and more. The screenplay itself and the whole cast do so much to bring the picture to fruition, but Viñoly Barreto can surely also be credited with helping to draw out such excellent performances, and ensuring 'The beast must die' turned out as the wonderfully affecting, absorbing, satisfying tale that it is.

I find it difficult to write more without going in circles or revealing plot points. It was really only by chance that I came across this; Argentinean cinema isn't exactly a common sight in the US in any way. I'm so glad I did, though - it's clear that the production was approached with substantial passion and fastidiousness from everyone involved, and their dedication paid off handsomely. Once again: I think this stands tall with the best film noir that any country's film industry to offer, and it's hard not to think that it's broadly overlooked simply on account of originating from the global south. With all this having been said, it's a terrible mistake to pass on watching 'The beast must die' if you have the chance - wherever and however you can, this is well worth your time. Very highly recommended!