Sérénade au bourreau (1951)

movie

(12)

Country: France
Genres: Crime
Release: 1951-05-31
Director: Jean Stelli
Writers: Maurice Dekobra , Pierre Laroche , Albert Valentin
Language: French
Stars: Paul Meurisse , Tilda Thamar , Antonin Berval , Julien Bertheau , Solange Varenne , Henry Murray , Jean Pignol , Lucien Hector , Lisa Dorel , Jacques Bougheriou
Runtime: 93 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: Sérénade au bourreau (France, French Republic) , Giustizia senza processo (Italy) , Sérénade au bourreau , Serenade to the Executioner (United States of America)
Plot: Some critics think that Jean Stelli had a gift for thrillers.I don't.His only claim to fame,so to speak ,is a tear jerker called "Le Voile Bleu" which made lots and lots of people cry in the Occupation years.At least,"Le Voile Bleu" had a gifted actress,Gaby Morlay.Here the screenplay is so far-fetched that ,after thirty minutes,the viewer takes no further interest in it.One can ,at a pinch, save two things: -the hero,Didier ,(Gerard Landry),who was traumatized in WW2,gets mad every time he hears a motorcycle or a firework,noises which look like machine guns.-a curious "flashforward" shows Didier on the train,with his sweating brow,remembering the acrobat's fall when the accident is occurring.Word to the wise: take Stelli's "Les Cinq Tulipes Rouges" instead;no masterpiece,but a solid screenplay and a nice documentary side on the Tour De France,sixty years ago.
IMDB:tt0160945