by Allan Fish
(France 1940 81m) not on DVD
Aka. No Tomorrows; Without Tomorrows
Four Seasons, Four Promises
p Gregor Rabinovitch d Max Ophuls w Kurt Alexander, André-Paul Antoine, Jean Jacot, Hans Jacoby, Max Kolpé, Max Ophuls, Hans Wilhelm ph Eugene Schufftan, Paul Portier ed Max Ophuls m Allan Gray art Eugene Lourie cos Laure Lourie
Edwige Feuillère (Evelyn Morin), George Regaud (Georges), Daniel Lecourtois (Armand), Mady Berry, Jane Marken, Michel François (Pierre Morin), Paul Azais (Henri), Jane Marken (Mme.Béchu), Georges Lannes (Paul Mazureau),
The forgotten gem in Max Ophuls’ crown, Sans Lendemain will not be found in any major movie guide, barely mentioned in any major movie tome at all unless it be as an entry in the director’s or star’s filmography. It was quickly jettisoned from public consciousness during the occupation – Ophuls’ Jewish roots made him hot foot it from France in 1940 much as he had from several other countries around Europe during the thirties. Even now, after watching it again, though I admit it’s not as important as his later fifties masterworks, it’s so typical of him in so many ways, is so distinctive and has so many attractive things about it that leaving it out was just too painful.
The setting is Montmartre one assumes in the late thirties, at the popular La Sirène (Mermaid) club, where Evelyn works as a topless dancer to support her small child through boarding school after her gangster husband commits suicide to avoid going down and her name makes it impossible to get a decent job. One day she returns to find her son has been expelled from school and also finds that the love of her life, Georges, who she ran out on ten years previously to save his life (unbeknownst to him), is back in town on a three days visit before heading back to Canada. She determines to enjoy the three days but not let Georges know how low she has sunk, enlisting shady help to make it look like she’s well to do. (more…)