Henri Decoin

His swansong "Nick Carter Va Tout Casser" (1964) was a vehicle for Eddie Constantine and paled into insignificance next to his finest thrillers.

But the unfairly neglected "Malefices " (1961) from Boileau-Narcejac ,a story of black magic and Amour Fou on an island sometimes inaccessible ,nearly matched his best thrillers' level. Juliette Greco's beauty and mystery added to a deadly charm. His "resistance " efforts ,both episodes of "La Chatte " ,seem obsolete today and are remembered only for Françoise Arnoul who turned a questioning at the Gestapo into an erotic extravaganza. Historic dramas "L"Affaire Des Poisons" and "Le Masque De Fer " were looked upon as failures ,particularly Dumas's famous story.

Darrieux was also featured in "Bonnes A Tuer"(1954),a stifling thriller in which Larry (Michel Auclair)gathered the four women of his life,with a view of killing one of the them ,but which one?"Dortoir Des Grandes " ,in a girls boarding -school ,showed teenagers playing very strange games at night. "Razzia Sur La Chnouff" ,dealing with drugs ,opted for a quasi-documentary style. The rest is less successful: his thrillers became more and more disappointing ("Le Feu Aux Poudres" " Tous Peuvent Me Tuer" "Pourquoi Viens-Tu Si Tard?").

On the plus side:"La Verite Sur Bébé Donge"(1951)from Simenon saw Darrieux's return in her ex-husband 's world : all dressed in black(and beautiful), like a death angel, she visited her dying husband (Gabin)with a pallid face in a white room.

"La Fille Du Diable" (1945) and "Non Coupable" (1947)were the cream of Decoin's work:both Andrée Clément and Michel Simon reached peaks of cynicism and the atmosphere of those films was so black,so desperate ,that the viewer needed a breath of fresh air after watching them. With its four (or maybe five) suicides,its spoofs on marriage and religion,"Les Amants Du Pont Saint-Jean " was still Decoin's finest hour". "Les Amoureux Sont Seuls Au Monde " was more romantic,but a romantic tragedy :this time,another suicide might have seemed too much for the producers who reportedly asked for a happy end (today, only the sad ending is screened). "Entre Onze Heures Et Minuit" had a brilliant beginning (people,leaving a movie theater,complain about the implausibility of these dead ringers films,they actually meet three doubles who make them shiver. ) ,but the rest of the movie was uneven mainly because highly talented Jouvet and Madeleine Robinson were not able to make up for a weak supporting cast. The fifties were as uneven as ever.

1942 inaugurated the era of Decoin's Films Noirs :"Les Inconnus Dans La Maison" from Simenon was the story (imitated many times afterward)of an alcoholic lawyer who redeems himself ,a renaissance with a masterful Raimu. "L'Homme De Londres " (Simenon again,later remade by Bela Tarr)depicted a working man's dilemma in the gloomy atmosphere of a harbor.

However ,in 1938 ,in"Retour A l'Aube " elements of thriller bursts into what was a charming dreamlike tale ;this was the key to Decoin's future as he would make his way through the forties.

They married in 1935 and divorced in 1941.

"Le Domino Vert" (1935) was a melodramatic detective story. In both "Abus De Confiance" and "Battements De Coeur" ,Darrieux played an orphan. The Cinderella syndrome was much better applied on "Premier Rendez-Vous" which made the actress the young girls' idol. "Premier Rendez-Vous " was more of the same ,but was another fine comedy of the occupation days.

His first efforts (1933-1941) were often vehicles for Danielle Darrieux, one of the greatest stars of the French cinema.

French writer-director of popular entertainments and occasional playwright, a former athlete, pilot and journalist. In films from 1929.

A member of the French swimming team in 1912 Olympic Games and an airman in WWI. Wrote a novel entitled "Quinze combats" (Fifteen fights) located in boxers' world; the book has 15 chapters, as many as the rounds of a fight.

Partly due to the uneven quality of his work,Henri Decoin remained an overlooked director. Born in 1890,he was a sports correspondent ,a novelist ,Gallone's assistant ,and a screenwriter, As a director ,some of his Films Noirs are simply stellar and deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as those of Clouzot and Duvivier.