..and if their wings burn ,I am not to blame. During the final trial,the lawyer quotes this famous song "falling in love again" ,a nod to the movie which made Marlene Dietrich a star ,"das Blaue Engel".
Four men flutter to her in "Martin Roumagnac":the hero (see the title )(Jean Gabin) ,a consul (Marcel Herrand) ,a man married to a shrew (Noël Roquevert) and a supervisor (Daniel Gelin,whose part is reduced to that of a deus ex machina).Actually the movie has a pre-war flavor.This nice fellow (here, a bricklayer),Jean Gabin played it a lot of times before (see Gremillon's "gueule d'amour" ,Carné's masterpiece "le jour se lève" )The sociological side -working class hero versus society man- is only skimmed over and Marlene Dietrich is miscast:how can we believe her part of a seeds woman?But there 's some humor and it mainly concerns the supporting cast:the postman is colorful and the scene when he gives evidence is great fun;Dietrich's uncle provides an excellent contrast with his niece.
SPOILER Georges Lacombe made two good films noirs :" le Dernier des Six" (1941) which owed a lot to Henri Georges Clouzot's adaptation of a Steeman novel and "la lumière d'en face"(1955) which enhanced Brigitte Bardot's sex appeal.His flair for film noir only shows up in the last scene of "Martin Roumagnac" ,the only one which is really potent:Martin has just been shot and his sister -who did not see the scene- says "your pals say you goodbye Martin" while a news paper falls on the ground :it announces "Roumagnac released" .Indeed.END OF SPOILER
Marlene Dietrich and Jean Gabin -who lived together at the time- were to be the stars of Marcel Carné's "les Portes de la Nuit" but finally they gave up -they were replaced by Yves Montand and Natalie Nattier ,which did no good to Carné's work,since his new actors were totally inexperienced- and made "Martin Roumagnac.They never teamed again afterward.
Four men flutter to her in "Martin Roumagnac":the hero (see the title )(Jean Gabin) ,a consul (Marcel Herrand) ,a man married to a shrew (Noël Roquevert) and a supervisor (Daniel Gelin,whose part is reduced to that of a deus ex machina).Actually the movie has a pre-war flavor.This nice fellow (here, a bricklayer),Jean Gabin played it a lot of times before (see Gremillon's "gueule d'amour" ,Carné's masterpiece "le jour se lève" )The sociological side -working class hero versus society man- is only skimmed over and Marlene Dietrich is miscast:how can we believe her part of a seeds woman?But there 's some humor and it mainly concerns the supporting cast:the postman is colorful and the scene when he gives evidence is great fun;Dietrich's uncle provides an excellent contrast with his niece.
SPOILER Georges Lacombe made two good films noirs :" le Dernier des Six" (1941) which owed a lot to Henri Georges Clouzot's adaptation of a Steeman novel and "la lumière d'en face"(1955) which enhanced Brigitte Bardot's sex appeal.His flair for film noir only shows up in the last scene of "Martin Roumagnac" ,the only one which is really potent:Martin has just been shot and his sister -who did not see the scene- says "your pals say you goodbye Martin" while a news paper falls on the ground :it announces "Roumagnac released" .Indeed.END OF SPOILER
Marlene Dietrich and Jean Gabin -who lived together at the time- were to be the stars of Marcel Carné's "les Portes de la Nuit" but finally they gave up -they were replaced by Yves Montand and Natalie Nattier ,which did no good to Carné's work,since his new actors were totally inexperienced- and made "Martin Roumagnac.They never teamed again afterward.