Retour de manivelle

I don't remember if, precisely, this film is faithful to the Chase's book, which I have read several times, ( I think it is) but the overall scheme, topic is the same in many of the writer's books. Most of them actually. CHAIR DE POULE or DELIT DE FUITE were also adapted from Chase's stuff and also in the fashion, Chase's style. Michèle Morgan is perfect in the wife character, the flawless femme fatale, and Daniel Gelin the innocent bystander, like you and me, who is thrown in a criminal diabolical scheme of a wife seeking her husband's death, then facing an unexpected issue. Make a suicide, a real suicide, looking like a crime; the reverse scheme of the usual stories. This for obvious reasons, to get the indemnity from the insurance for which a suicide is not accepted to get the dol. A pure classic from Chase, I repeat.

Robert (Daniel Gélin), an itinerant painter passing through Monte Carlo, saves the life of uber-rich drunk Eric Fréminger (Peter van Eyck) late one night and the man offers Robert a job as his companion-cum- chauffeur, much to the displeasure of his icy, elegant wife Hélène (Michèle Morgan). When Fréminger isn't playing sadistic mind games with Hélène, he's either blotto or busy going bankrupt and he tells Hélène she'll only have a couple of hours after he blows his brains out to make the dirty deed look like murder if she wants to collect on a sizable life insurance policy. Fréminger immediately makes good on his threat and after a quick tête-à-tête, Hélène and Robert agree to take the dead man's advice and hide his body in a walk-in freezer until they can come up with a plan. They begin by hiring a pretty young maid (Michèle Mercier) to convince her that the master of the house is a recluse who won't come out of his room but "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive..."

A deliciously cold-blooded, sexy French noir based on a James Hadley Chase pulp thriller that took its lead from Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Path Of Fear". Woolrich's version first saw the light of day as THE CHASE in 1946 (also starring Michèle Morgan, interestingly enough) but, as usual with J.H. Chase, there's more than enough variational surprises to allow a "twisted sister" to stand on its own and THERE'S ALWAYS A PRICE TAG does just that. A thoroughly jaundiced eye is cast on human nature and Morgan (platinum blonde here a la DOUBLE INDEMNITY's Phyllis Dietrichson) chills to the marrow as the devastating, driven femme fatale. The estimable character actor Bernard Blier is also pitch-perfect as a police inspector who's a bit smarter than he lets on. Cynical and satisfying.

I am sure this adaptatation of James Hadley Chase's 'There's always a Price Tag' will be enjoyed by Chase purists, assuming such beings exist! Director Denys de la Patelliere will never reside in the Pantheon of film 'Greats' but here everything works. The score, production design, editing and cinematography are excellent. Michel Audiard, one of the best in the business, contributes the dialogue. None of the characters is one-dimensional and all of the performances extremely good, notably Michele Morgan as a subtle 'femme fatale' and Peter van Eyck in a sympathetic portayal as her hapless husband. Another excellent performance by Bernard Blier as the detective. Interesting also to see the delighful Michele Mercier in her first credited role. She would once again work with this director in the sixties in 'God's Thunder' when she attempted, unsuccessfully, to break free from the curse of 'Angelique'. There are a few contrivances that are faintly ludicrous such as the man from Lloyds of London strolling in with damning evidence just as the police are trying to pin a motive for murder on the chauffeur, played by Daniel Gelin. This is still however a first class film noir in which typical French finesse and good taste are allied with a characteristically French emphasis on character rather than plot.

This is the title of Hadley Chase's novel which was transferred to the screen by Denys de la Patellière who made turkeys by the dozen.Nevertheless,"retour de manivelle" (=it'll backfire on them)might probably be his finest hour,relatively speaking.This movie is suspenseful,absorbing and it never loses steam.

First the screenplay:it's a model of film noir:the suicide clause was canceled from Morgan's hubby's insurance contract.And he does commit suicide.Before dying,he tells her the only way to get the dough is to use the well known suicide made to look like a crime.But you know ,they were not really in love and she had become the chauffeur's lover.The lovebirds will run into difficulties when they apply the husband's suggested ominous plan.

Then ,the cast:Michele Morgan is wonderful as a gorgeous not-so-merry widow ;"I've always been bought" she keeps on saying.She is more than fed up with men.It's quite possible that sexual relations may become something loathsome to her.Daniel Gélin is as efficient as a naive chauffeur .A superb supporting cast includes Peter Van Eyck as the "dear" departed ,Bernard Blier-strangely ,his name does not appear in the cast and credits,but at the end of the movie.I do not understand why.Maybe an user will explain it some day- as a smart ironical captain,and Michèle Mercier in her pre-Angelique days.

Fine witty lines by Michel Audiard.Recommended to films noirs buffs.

Peter van Eyck is so drunk he almost gets run over by a car. Fortunately, Daniel Gélin grabs him, then drives him to his estate in van Eyck's Cadillac convertible. Van Eyck offers him a job, and Gélin accepts. Then van Eyck's wife, Michèle Morgan tries to fire him, but fails. Meanwhile, van Eyck gets ousted from his position at his company, and decides to kill himself. As a joke, he cancels the clause in his insurance policy that lets his beneficiary collect even though he kills himself; so Mme. Morgan devises an elaborate plan to convince the authorities that he was killed by his former business associates.

It's tough, sexy, French film noir, with Gélin hot for stony-faced femme fatale Morgan, while carrying on an affair with Michèle Mercier in her first screen role. Everything seems to be working out according to Mme. Morgan's sadistic little plan.... and then inspector Bernard Blier comes to investigate the killing.

There's little that's novel in Denys de La Patellière's film; he was never considered a great auteur, but was a solid commercial film maker in the pre-Nouvelle Vague era. The parts are put together well in that gloomy magical-realism way, the actors are top-notch, and if it runs a trifle long at just shy of two hours, I didn't notice.