Le baron de l'écluse

... but it never seems to come. The script is literate, the actors are the cream of French cinema--Gabin, Presle, Brunoy, Desailly, Dalban--the direction is assured (Delannoy directed some of my very favourite films, such as Maigret tend une piege). But the last ounce of pleasure seems to be missing. The gambler who wins at the most unlikely times is a hard story to bring off, and the casino scenes go nowhere. Filmmaking by rote. Things pick up when the boat ties up at the little town and Presle can meet her love interest, and Gabin his, but the film has suffered.

About ten years before, Gabin and Brunoy teamed up for La Marie du port, and they then looked like a romantic pair. Carne showed them in their best light, it was another Simenon story, yet still the spark failed to ignite. That's life.