Les cinq gentlemen maudits

Five gentlemen are enjoying a cruise on René Lefèvre's recently inherited fortune. Along the way they meet Harry Baur and his niece, Rosine Deréan. Soon she and Lefèvre are an item. When the ship hits Morocco, they get off to look at the locals; Lefèvre accidentally removes a girl's veil, and a sorcerer curses them. By the full moon they will all be dead in a particular order. Sure enough, they start dying as indicated.

Julien Duvivier's potboiler has a lot of local color shot in Fez and Volubilis, and I couldn't help thinking about the setting of PEPE LE MOKO. However, despite the North African setting and the presence of a curse, there's no real sense of poetic realism, no femme fatale, and no fatality based on character. Things happen, yes, but there's a straight causal linkage without any sense of a higher power. There is Baur, who gives a wonderful, naturalistic performance, whether he's shouting at the housekeeper, mixing a weird cocktail, or saying they can just pay off the sorcerer for three francs..... maybe 3.75.