The screenplay is very thin and the story so unlikely it is a wonder Henri Calef made an endearing movie.
This must be the cinematography(Jacques Lemare):the pictures are really a feast for the eyes .Almost all the story takes place on a barge sailing down a canal,or on the banks beneath the shady trees which seem to protect the characters.The faces are often filmed in close-shot ,which increases the tension,for the characters often move in the cabins of the barge with its low ceilings.
A woman is on the lam.Distraught,she runs across the streets of a small town ,looking for a way to get out of this place.She takes refuge on a barge where two men work .She asks them to take her to Paris and of course she is hiding a terrible secret.
Henri Vidal was the romantic young lead of the era ,a title Delon and Belmondo would take off him only after his death in 1959.He was not always given the parts he deserved .Maria Mauban,the female star ,did not often play the lead.The supporting actors,apart from Daniel Ivernel (Jean-Jean),only appear a few minutes.Watch out for a brief appearance of Louis De Funès as the lock keeper.
Like this? try these...
"L'Atalante" Jean Vigo 1933-34
"La Mesange Et L'Hirondelle" André Antoine 1920
"La Fille De L'eau" Jean Renoir 1924
