Marlène

Director Pierre de Hérain , Marechal Pétain's son-in-law works on a screenplay written by Jean -Paul Le Chanois,whose behavior in the French resistance during the war was exemplary ,it's a rather curious team! It does not amount to much enough ,being a vehicle for bel canto singer Tino Rossi.

Plot:coming back from South America after fifteen years, Manuel meets again old pals, notably M.Luciani ,who runs a private detectives agency : he asks him to help investigate in a low-life night club :it will be easy for he has a good voice and can be hired as a singer .But the private eye is murdered ,and Manuel has to undertake to do the investigation on his own ,with a little help from Luciani's collaborator ,Harris (Raymond Bussières) and a girl (Micheline Francey) whose brother was involved in a jewelry theft and with whom he falls in love .

Tino Rossi sings several songs (including "mama " "Marianna" "serenade sur Paris" ) ,but his performance as a detective leaves a lot to de desired : film noir,it's definitely not his field -see also the hopeless "destins" the precedent year - .Raymond Bussières effortlessly upstages him.

It was to be Hérain's last effort though he only died in 1972:his filmography is small (five works in total) ,only two of them are worth watching "Monsieur De Lourdines" and "Le Mannequin Assassiné" .