In Montmartre wird es Nacht

This little gem is far more than a drama. It's a real french film noir set in Paris By Night, in the Pigalle district, the tourists in Paris know very well...

It tells the story of a bar owner who has to deal with racketeers. One night, he kills one of them in self defense. So he has to run, because he doesn't want to be accused of an ordinary murder. But he is friend with a cop - Bernard Blier - a man whom he saved life during the war. The cop brings his pal to justice, and to his trial. A fair one, as he promises to his friend. And during the trial, even the victim's friends, hoods of course, come to testify FOR the accused, and not against him, as we could expect. Do you know why? To get the accused discharge, so that... You guess the following...

As I saw this very scheme in CONTRE ENQUETE, made in 2006, starring Jean Dujardin.

I won't get any further about EN LEGITIME DEFENSE. The climax, in a garage, is exciting. It reminds me Joseph Pevney's SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS, starring Tony Curtis, or maybe I confound with another item. An American one.

Anyway, this little french thriller is perhaps old fashioned, with french slang from the fifties, but it is certainly not charmless.