Engel oder Sünderin?

An Italian -French co production inspired by "Rashomon" (remade by Martin Ritt as "the outrage" ).Actually,the scene seen from two points of view was not that new.After all,the two male principals are French and in this country,"La Vie De Plaisir" (1942) by Albert Valentin had already used the trick.

Michel Auclair,the very same year, played a multi faced imaginary guy in Julien Duvivier' s "La Fete A Henriette" and this part was tailor-made for him.A very talented actor,he is as convincing as a bastard who perverts an innocent young thing and as a hung-up dude under his over possessive mom's thumb.Michel Simon is equally efficient as the lawyer in a part strongly recalling that of Raimu in Decoin's "Les Inconnus Dans La Maison" : a fallen lawyer who became a tramp and who makes his "come back" to save a (maybe) innocent man.His appearance is too short though.

In the French version,you can hear their voices (plus that of Valentine Tessier ,excellent as a madam) but the Italian actress was dubbed by two different voices :one for the ingénue,and one for the bitch.

The screenplay is gripping ,but direction is just OK ,although the director goes out of his way in the finale ,trying to show the hero's obsessions .One can dream of what Duvivier or Clouzot would have made with such a story.Above average.