Jules Dassin, kicked out of the industry in America for advocating the gentle treatment of pet animals or something, went to Europe and directed some genuine thrillers like this as well as one or two examples of overreach such as "He Who Must Die." He did some successful comedies as well and died in Greece. James Joyce remarked that Ireland's greatest export was talent and, in some ways, the same could be said of Hollywood during the blacklisting period of the early 50s.
A gang of professional thieves is assembled in Paris to pull off the difficult burglary of a jewelry shop. The gang is the usual diverse group with problems at home, jealousies and intrigues in their love lives, and so forth, more or less out of "Asphalt Jungle", though without Huston's exquisite attention to personal details.
The rather low-tech but very suspenseful robbery sequence takes about twenty minutes and was wordless, which was revolutionary at the time. The gang's leader is Jean Servais, who must have the most haggard face on the screen. He looks as if somebody had just taken his lollipop away. He's not a Big Hero. He smiles only once (I counted) and he beats the woman who deserted him for another gangster while Servais was in the slams.
That other gangster, Robert Hossein, isn't in on the burglary but he finds out that Servais' band WAS involved when one of the group, played as an Italian womanizer by Dassin, hides a piece of the jewelry for his own use and gives it to a nightclub singer. Cherchez la femme. Hossein's gang finds out about the gift, recognizes it for the stolen loot it is, and beats a confession out of Dassin. Servais kills him for his betrayal. Shades of "Goodfellas." Once Hossein is onto the Servais gang everything goes to pot. There's a big reward offered for the return of the stolen jewels but Hossein is motivated by a jealous rage over Servais' woman. Other murders follow, some pretty gruesome but not shown on camera.
The climax has a dying Servais driving a convertible crazily through the city streets with an unwitting and happy child in the back seat. There's very little directorial razzle dazzle but Dassin's shots of the bare, stark overhead branches etched in black against a flat sky are almost surreal in their suggestiveness.
Very nicely done job by all concerned. Dassin would outdo himself in silent burglaries with the color-drenched gigantism of "Topkapi" a few years later. "Topkapi", though, was a thriller with an element of comedy. This story is simply tragic.
A gang of professional thieves is assembled in Paris to pull off the difficult burglary of a jewelry shop. The gang is the usual diverse group with problems at home, jealousies and intrigues in their love lives, and so forth, more or less out of "Asphalt Jungle", though without Huston's exquisite attention to personal details.
The rather low-tech but very suspenseful robbery sequence takes about twenty minutes and was wordless, which was revolutionary at the time. The gang's leader is Jean Servais, who must have the most haggard face on the screen. He looks as if somebody had just taken his lollipop away. He's not a Big Hero. He smiles only once (I counted) and he beats the woman who deserted him for another gangster while Servais was in the slams.
That other gangster, Robert Hossein, isn't in on the burglary but he finds out that Servais' band WAS involved when one of the group, played as an Italian womanizer by Dassin, hides a piece of the jewelry for his own use and gives it to a nightclub singer. Cherchez la femme. Hossein's gang finds out about the gift, recognizes it for the stolen loot it is, and beats a confession out of Dassin. Servais kills him for his betrayal. Shades of "Goodfellas." Once Hossein is onto the Servais gang everything goes to pot. There's a big reward offered for the return of the stolen jewels but Hossein is motivated by a jealous rage over Servais' woman. Other murders follow, some pretty gruesome but not shown on camera.
The climax has a dying Servais driving a convertible crazily through the city streets with an unwitting and happy child in the back seat. There's very little directorial razzle dazzle but Dassin's shots of the bare, stark overhead branches etched in black against a flat sky are almost surreal in their suggestiveness.
Very nicely done job by all concerned. Dassin would outdo himself in silent burglaries with the color-drenched gigantism of "Topkapi" a few years later. "Topkapi", though, was a thriller with an element of comedy. This story is simply tragic.