Cinq tulipes rouges

The famous annual cycle race,le Tour de France,takes about 3 weeks to complete in daily stages of approximately 110 miles.The leading cyclist wears a yellow jersey (the Maillot Jaune).The race always ends on the Champs Elysées in Paris .

On the tour de France,a mysterious criminal is doing away with the "yellow jersey" men ;he leaves a red tulip on their dead bodies.Fortunately,there's a journalist called "Colonelle" (sic) and she plays some kind of French Miss Marple .Like Agatha Christie's lady detective she 's smarter than the cop and it's her who will solve the enigma.

A mystery which is not very mysterious.We guess who the culprit is about halfway through the movie.Charles Exbrayat's story recalls Steeman's novel "Six Hommes Morts" which was transferred to the screen as "le Dernier des Six" an exciting thriller by George Lacombe (with more than a little help from HG Clouzot).Besides,Jean Stelli whose Occupation's melodramas were notorious ("la Valse Blanche" "le Voile Bleu") is not up to scratch and he simply cannot direct actors,who,left to their own device,overact as much as they can.In the last scene ,René Dary -who began his career in the silent era with Louis Feuillade- verges on ridicule.