autobenelux

A very serious film without Mr Hitchcocks normal "Maguffin" as he called it.I question the desolation of the Quebec streets but apart from that feel the film is one of the Directors masterpieces. The acting is of the highest order with Clift,Baxter,Haas,and Aherne with Malden making a superb cast coupled with an effort to bring realism by filming, albeit perhaps too staged on the streets of Quebec city. Maybe in those days the ability to do so was some what limited due to the interest of passers by who today would not be too concerned. A story with depth told in a solid fashion. I believe Mr Hitchcock should have been more pleased with the result maybe time does improve the interpretation.

I consider Ray Milland was a much more influential director and actor than the afficiandos estimate. A good sound actor who could carry the lead particularly well and as this film and "A Man Alone" indicate he had the ability to create watchable,logical movies that had good camera work and never over egged the pudding.The Camera work in Lisbon is particularly good as are the sets which convey the aura of the time. The story line is clever without being to complex and an air of authenticity pervades the production which was done in an age where the backlot was normally everything.Splendid acting from Claude Rains as usual with Milland and the rest matching it perfectly. A good rainy day movie even now and worth my score of 8.

As I have said previously French films can either be very good or like this one where the director seems more concerned with an esoteric format to produce what is in the end nothing.The film starts with potential but degenerates into a series of angst that the main character is attempting to resolve.This leads to a very disjointed movie where nothing of consequence happens and the viewer is left to employ some form of rational to begin to understand the story line. Experimental cinema has a place but to regard this movie as some form of new wave is a gross misunderstanding. I believe that there is a cult of film making and watching that "like the Emperors new clothes" permeates the industry where begin,middle and end are inconsequential and there more avant Gard they appear the more they are accepted.Techniques are fine but they must be employed within the frame work of a genuine story told in believable format with the enjoyment or compulsion of the watcher paramount.It is fine line between puerile rubbish and this type of film but an attempt to relate to the masters of previous successful productions would lead to far more success than this banal attempt to be modernistic and yet void of real incident.