Paris, 1937. Winckler kills his enemy Gordon, a Chicago mobster, from the stage of a Parisian music hall, where he performs telepathy. He pays another artist, Helene, so that she tells the police they've spent the night together, which doesn't fool Callas, the police officer who investigates the murder. He hires one of his fellow officers in order to seduce Helene.
Acting
Von Stroheim's hypnotic, menacing stillness—he barely moves and owns every frame.
Direction
Chenal's expressionist shadows in the backstage sequences.
Director
Pierre Chenal
Erich von Stroheim
Professor Winckler
Louis Jouvet
Commissioner Calas
Jany Holt
Hélène Ardouin
Albert Préjean
André Laurent
Véra Flory
Barmaid
Made Siamé
Calas's secretary
Roger Blin
Kretz, Winckler's henchman
Philippe Richard
John Gordon
Jean Témerson
Jojo, Dany's friend
Maurice Baquet
Gérard
Pierre Labry
First inspector
Max Dalban
Second inspector
Florence Marly
Gordon's Mistress
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Chenal's first sound film after fleeing France for Argentina during the war—his noir instincts were already fully formed.
Von Stroheim's casting as a fraudulent European 'genius' winks at his own reputation as a difficult, bankrupted auteur.
FR
