User reviews

Florence Marly-s voice is dubbed by a too dull and over-dramatic Argentinian actress, but anyway she gets away bringing a much needed film-noir femme fatale touch to her character. Although it is difficult to evaluate her acting, she seems to manage good enough with her unoriginal character, and some close-ups show her ravishingly beautiful. Her main suitor is played by Sebastian Chiola, who has got an obscure past and suspected of a murder. Anyway he is Isabel's (Florence Marly) main love interest. Yet, there is another good-looking, younger, and also moustached suitor who for a while entices Isabel, but ends up dying in a duel with his rival. Against all odds, and social ill reputation, the surviving suitor goes to live in the huge bourgeois Patagonian mansion, in which Isabel, her sister, and a greedy aunt - who hates the ill-reputed lover - inhabit. The plot is too melodramatic but entertaining. Despite the very lousy VHS copy I managed to see (which is now "miraculously" available in youtube), photography, setting, I could notice value productions were very good and I hope one day a remastered copy will surface somehow and make justice to this interesting mix of Latin-melodrama with film noir touches. Florence Marly is actually convincing playing an Argentinian and rich woman with implied Norwegian origins, since the plot mentions a couple of experiences she had in her stays in the Nordic country. Hunky and elegant Carlos Thompson who later would also go-Hollywood has got a smaller role, as one of the friends in Isabel's parties and cocktails and other leisure activities. It is in sum a tragic love story (a couple of tortured lovers with lots of regrets and stress) with an apparently conventional ending which actually came out as a bit surprising for what it revealed about one of the characters.

When Pierre Chenal finished this movie, he immediately flew back to France to direct "la Foire aux chimères", having his great friend Erich von Stroheim in the cast being a strong persuasion. He didn't participate to the editing and has never seen it. I think what Chenal shot was enough precise that the version (poorly) available is quite faithful to his vision. And one of the interest of this criminal story is to see his wife Florence Marly, expressive beauty with wonderful eyes, she's magnificent in every shot. The rest of the cast is very fine. Chenal co wrote this criminal story, and as always, he found original points of view. Hope these Chenal movies from Argentina will get restored one day.