The comparison between Julien Duvivier's masterly 1959 drama and Sidney Lumet's equally impressive 1957 film, 12 Angry Men struck me immediately on seeing Marie-Octobre. OK, the 'immediate' issues at stake may appear somewhat different - the US' very justice system in Lumet's film, national pride and honesty in Duvivier's 'resistance drama'. Digging deeper, however, and we find both films are essentially about the honesty and integrity of the human condition - Henry Fonda's principled stand in 12 Angry Men reveals the personal prejudices of his 11 fellow jurors, whilst Duvivier similarly delves into the backgrounds and personalities of his ten protagonists (eleven if we include Jeanne Fusier-Gir's governess Victorine) in an attempt to uncover who among the group might have, over a decade ago, betrayed (to the Nazis) their now deceased leader. Being essentially two films that are 'stagebound' (literally in the case of Lumet's adaptation of Reginald Rose's famous play) there is an argument that they must be 'cinematically limited', but the quality of the acting, the twists and turns of the narrative and Duvivier's exemplary character-building, belie such an analysis. Equally, Duvivier and his cinematographer, Robert Lefebvre, demonstrate the highest levels of visual skill, in the framing of Mare-Octobre's drama, Lefebvre's camera gliding seamlessly amongst the protagonists, delivering stunning close-ups and periodically capturing all ten of the 'judged' in single frames - elements in a visual construction which represents a key component in the film's approach to slow-build tension.
Acting-wise, Duvivier's film must rate as one of the finest I've seen, in this respect Lumet's 12 Angry Men is an obvious comparator, alongside a film like Elia Kazan's On The Waterfront. It would be easy to rate two of Duvivier's cast, Lino Ventura's hot-headed, ex-wrestler, now night club owner and Serge Reggiani's printer, as standouts given their pivotal roles at the heart of the drama, but I would tend to regard those in more supporting roles as at least as impressive, in particular, Bernard Blier's Lawyer, Paul Meurisse's industrialist, Paul Guers' priest and Noel Roquevert's tax inspector (Roquevert's profession drawing the expected ribbing from within the group). Danielle Darrieux (as the titularly code-named resistance woman, now haute-couturist), as one might expect, impresses too, if without quite the impact (partly down to her slightly more tangential role here) of her Countess Louise in Max Ophuls' 1953 masterpiece, Madame de.... The comparison between Duvivier's film and Lumet's appears to get even closer with two detailed plot points in Marie-Octobre - namely, Duvivier's choice of including a secret ballot to determine who amongst the ten is the guilty party and the inclusion of a 'distraction' (to the film's 'serious' themes) in the form of Paul Frankeur's salesman (and joker's) obsession with watching the wrestling on the TV (akin to Jack Warden's salesman in Lumet's film with his baseball obsession). Perhaps the film's only weak point is the, at times, overly melodramatic score by Jean Yatove.
Aside from the comparison with 12 Angry Men, the other comparator film that occurred to me in which a group of protagonists are forced to examine their potential guilt on an issue of morality is Guy Hamilton's version of J B Priestley's play, An Inspector Calls. In addition, Duvivier's film stands up well as another focusing on the French resistance, alongside classics by Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Silence de la mer, Léon Morin, Priest and Army of Shadows) and Louis Malle (Lacombe, Lucien and Au revoir les enfants), as well as being another impressive entry in Duvivier's filmography (La Belle Équipe, Pépé le Moko, Un carnet de bal, Deadlier Than the Male).
Acting-wise, Duvivier's film must rate as one of the finest I've seen, in this respect Lumet's 12 Angry Men is an obvious comparator, alongside a film like Elia Kazan's On The Waterfront. It would be easy to rate two of Duvivier's cast, Lino Ventura's hot-headed, ex-wrestler, now night club owner and Serge Reggiani's printer, as standouts given their pivotal roles at the heart of the drama, but I would tend to regard those in more supporting roles as at least as impressive, in particular, Bernard Blier's Lawyer, Paul Meurisse's industrialist, Paul Guers' priest and Noel Roquevert's tax inspector (Roquevert's profession drawing the expected ribbing from within the group). Danielle Darrieux (as the titularly code-named resistance woman, now haute-couturist), as one might expect, impresses too, if without quite the impact (partly down to her slightly more tangential role here) of her Countess Louise in Max Ophuls' 1953 masterpiece, Madame de.... The comparison between Duvivier's film and Lumet's appears to get even closer with two detailed plot points in Marie-Octobre - namely, Duvivier's choice of including a secret ballot to determine who amongst the ten is the guilty party and the inclusion of a 'distraction' (to the film's 'serious' themes) in the form of Paul Frankeur's salesman (and joker's) obsession with watching the wrestling on the TV (akin to Jack Warden's salesman in Lumet's film with his baseball obsession). Perhaps the film's only weak point is the, at times, overly melodramatic score by Jean Yatove.
Aside from the comparison with 12 Angry Men, the other comparator film that occurred to me in which a group of protagonists are forced to examine their potential guilt on an issue of morality is Guy Hamilton's version of J B Priestley's play, An Inspector Calls. In addition, Duvivier's film stands up well as another focusing on the French resistance, alongside classics by Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Silence de la mer, Léon Morin, Priest and Army of Shadows) and Louis Malle (Lacombe, Lucien and Au revoir les enfants), as well as being another impressive entry in Duvivier's filmography (La Belle Équipe, Pépé le Moko, Un carnet de bal, Deadlier Than the Male).