56, rue Pigalle (1949)
Directed by Willy Rozier

Film Review

56, rue Pigalle is a curious blend of film noir thriller and romantic melodrama that proved to be an unexpected box office success for its director, the independent and controversial Willy Rozier. There are sympathetic performances from Jacques Dumesnil and Marie Déa, but the film is weighed down by a plot that feels too hackneyed and contrived for its own good.  The film's charms include some luxuriously noirish cinematography - presumably inspired by American film noir, very much in vogue in France at the time - and two heavenly musical numbers sung by Marie-José (Georges Ulmer's Pigalle and Ce n'est jamais fini).

The film received some poor reviews when it was first released, notably from François Chalais.  Willy Rozier was so incensed that he challenged Chalais to a duel, which the critic foolishly accepted.  Not only did Rozier win the duel (a swordfight which ended when Chalais was wounded on the forearm), but he had the satisfaction of seeing his film become a popular success with the public. Subsequently, Rozier went on to have some phenomenal successes with his gently erotic dramas L'Épave (1949) and Manina, la fille sans voile (1952), which brought to French cinema two of its legendary sex bombshells, Françoise Arnoul and Brigitte Bardot.

Film Synopsis

Jean Vigneron is a draftsman and yachting enthusiast who for some time has been pursuing a secret and passionate love affair with Inès, the wife of one of his friends, Ricardo de Montalban.  When some compromising love letters are discovered by his manservant Lucien Bonnet, Vigneron soon finds himself a victim of blackmail.  To pay off his blackmailer, Vigneron needs to raise a large sum of cash, which he plans to do by selling his yacht.  Bonnet's sudden death would have been welcome were it not for the fact that all the evidence points to Vigneron being his killer.  After her lover has been arrested for the murder of his blackmailer, Inès realises she has no choice but to reveal her love affair with him, even though this is likely to incur her husband's wrath.  Knowing there is no future for them now in France, Inès and Vigneron flee to Africa, but it soon becomes apparent that escape is impossible...