Signé Arsène Lupin (1959)
Directed by Yves Robert

Film Review

Two years after Jacques Becker's Les Aventures d'Arsène Lupin (1957), Robert Lamoureux reprises the role of the famous gentleman thief, this time under the capable direction of Yves Robert. Signé Arsène Lupin is very different to Becker's film, and not only because it is photographed in artfully atmospheric black and white rather than garish colour. Even though he is played by the same actor, the Lupin of Robert's film is a somewhat more sinister and mercurial figure, much closer to the character in Maurice Leblanc's original stories.  That said, there is still a yawning chasm between Leblanc's Lupin and Lamoureux's portrayal - the actor is just too suave and genteel ever to be completely convincing as Lupin, although he fits the part somewhat better than Jules Berry in Arsène Lupin détective (1937) and Romain Duris in Arsène Lupin (2004).

Signé Arsène Lupin was the third film that Yves Robert (previously a busy actor) directed, following the likeable comedies Les Hommes ne pensent qu'à ça (1954) and Ni vu, ni connu (1958). Robert's skill as a director is evident although the film owes just as much to the witty script from Jean-Paul Rappeneau, who also had some success as a director with such films as Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) and Le Hussard sur le toit (1995). Rappeneau's penchant for plot and character contortions helps to make this Arsène Lupin's best screen outing to date. In the original Leblanc novels, Lupin is a figure whose identity is constantly changing - you never really know who the thief is. In Robert's film, the identity of Lupin is stolen from him and he is forced to play detective to regain it.  It is a nice twist which helps to disguise the fact that the film is much nearer to Sherlock Holmes than to Arsène Lupin. After this amiable little film, Yves Robert would go on to direct his first box office smash, La Guerre des boutons (1962).

Film Synopsis

After World War I, the French gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin, emerges from his convalescence in a hospital to resume his criminal activities.  Unfortunately, somebody else has already embarked on a series of Lupinesque crimes, even going so far as to sign one of his crimes with Lupin's name.  Whilst investigating who his imitator is, Lupin discovers a dastardly plan to steal a priceless state treasure which he is duty bound to foil.