Margarita de la noche

Before his sad cinematic decline, over which it is probably kinder to pass in silence, the consistent quality of Claude-Autant Lara's output from 'Douce' in 1943 to 'En cas de Malheur' in 1958 is truly remarkable. His take on the Faust legend made during that period however is undeniably one of his weakest and despite its unique concept is unable to justify its running time of two hours.

This director's trademark bitterness and cynicism are here encapsulated in the portrayal of Mephistopheles by Yves Montand as a drug-trafficking nightclub owner, complete with gammy leg. He is at once both monstrous and pitiable and although miscast on paper Montand's charisma and wry Gallic charm enable him to pull it off, just about.

The film really belongs to Michele Morgan, an artiste of the utmost sensibilty and grace whose performance as the title character exhibits the qualities that made her and kept her a star. One admires her even more here as she is obliged to rise above the ineffably naff acting of Jean-Francois Calvé as Georges Faust. She has compensations however in her scenes with Montand, Massimo Girotti and two stalwarts of French stage and screen, Louis Seigner and Jean Debucourt.

Autant-Lara's preferred composer Réne Cloerec supplies the score whilst the Art Déco settings of Max Douy are sensational. The final scene is stunning in its simplicity but it does take an age to get there.