by Allan Fish
(France 1932 73m) not on DVD
Aka. The Night at the Crossroads
All those foreigners should be deported
p Jean Renoir d/w Jean Renoir novel Georges Simenon ph Georges Asselin, Marcel Lucien ed Marguerite Renoir art William Aguet
Pierre Renoir (Inspector Jules Maigret), Georges Térof (Lucas), Winna Winifried (Else Andersen), Georges Koudria (Carl Andersen), Dignimont (Oscar), G.A.Martin (Granjean), Jean Mitry (Arsène), Michel Duran (Jojo), Jean Gehret (Emile Michonnet), Jane Pierson (Madame Michonnet), Manuel Raaby (Guido), Lucie Vallat (Michelle),
Jonathan Rosenbaum called it “the sexiest film Renoir ever made.” At first Renoir disowned it, referring to how he deliberately left things vague and often incomprehensible, and yet that’s the very reason we love The Big Sleep and one of the reasons we would love this. Sadly, however, it’s another one of those gems that exist in a permanent fog, hardly ever seen in an English friendly print, and generally forgotten in English testimonies to Renoir and dismissed as the pot-boiler he made between La Chienne and Boudu, the two seminal Michel Simon movies. While Jean Gabin (and later Rupert Davies and Bruno Cremer on TV) would make the role their own, this remains the best single Maigret film and one of the pivotal pre-noir noirs, predating even the poetic realists by a few years.
The crossroads in the title is at the sleepy by-water of Avrainville 30 miles or so from Paris. At the crossroads there are three houses and a garage and nothing else but the crossed-roads themselves, lined by rows of trees and acres of deserted farmland. One morning, a local insurance agent finds his car has been replaced by another and, believing it to be a swindle perpetrated by the local Andersens (Danes who the agent, Michonnet, is bigoted towards) opens their garage door and, sure enough, finds his six cylinder car inside. One problem, there’s a stiff at the wheel.
Carl Andersen is interrogated by police, but they have to let him go, leaving Maigret and his assistant Lucas to head to Avrainville to look into things themselves. There they find Michonnet and his loud wife, a group of very suspicious mechanics at the local garage with a fondness for tyres and, last but not least, Andersen’s sister, the seemingly drug-addled Else.
The mystery was never the main point of interest here, that was merely the, ahem, mechanics of the plot. He’s more interested in the characters, the atmosphere, the faintly dreamy, ghostly mood and the visuals. Shot entirely in natural sound it belies its early talkie origins quite wonderfully, and for fans of car chases, there’s a wonderful early example where the cops speed after a gang of crooks through the windy streets of the French countryside, passing through small villages on the way to the inevitable arrest. Not that the arrest clears anything up; it rather makes the picture murkier still, though we know the Commissaire will solve it before he has to refill his pipe.
Take some of the simple techniques to show the passage of time during Carl’s interrogation, with juxtaposition of shots of a news stand offering morning, afternoon and evening editions. And take the look of the film. All those exteriors shot at night in such a way as to literally descend an impenetrable cloak over the characters. Not only does the mood prefigure poetic realism, it prefigures the traditional birth of film noir.
Tony D’Ambra’s Review Of La Nuit de Carrefour…Over There at Film Noir.Net
[Postscript:Allan, Sam Juliano, and Jamie…Check -out Tony’s last screenshot…Which evokes the mood that Ed Howard, points out in his comment…“I love this film, too. Its fragmentary plot (caused, at least in part, by a now-missing reel) only adds to its foggy mood…”]
In the lead, Renoir is delicious, making the audience believe he wasn’t perturbed by the developments even when the audience is. Yet more memorable still is cocaine addict Winna Winifried, a haunting-faced creature who would only make a few more films, including a few in Britain, before disappearing off the radar in 1940. She was only 17 when this was shot, as delectable a piece of skirt as you will find offered in early thirties French film, a femme fatale in every sense of the word but who, it would seem, falls in love with her Sûréte quarry. She wants him, he obviously wants her, but that doesn’t matter. “You won’t need make up where you’re going”, he tells her, before adding later, more sympathetically, that her two year sentence will soon be over and then she’ll be free.
Bonjour! Allan Fish…
Tony, D’Ambra, reviewed this film on his blog too…I find both reviews very interesting…yet, very different in a “positive” way, but Of course!
Fish said,”this remains the best single Maigret film and one of the pivotal pre-noir noirs, predating even the poetic realists by a few years.
…Not only does the mood prefigure poetic realism, it prefigures the traditional birth of film noir.
Two very interesting quotes…Therefore, I shall seek this film out…through a DVD collector (My collector don’t have it listed, on his list…However, that means “nothing”…Because he still may own a copy)…
Merci, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉 🙂
Dee Dee: You wanna laugh? I was just at Tony’s place to link to his review, and I’m not finding it. Oh I know he wrote it, as I placed a comment under it, and remember his great admiration for it. But I have used the search engine to no avail, and can’t find in among this review listing. If you are able to find it, would you please insert it in this comment immediately after this sentence?
Many thanks. I very much appreciatiate that excellent qualification, which contends that the film “pre-figures film noir and poetic realism.”
As to the “availability” of the film, please check your e mail my friend.
This is no question in my mind that you will connect to the film in a big way.
You’ll like it, Dee Dee, it’s black and white and pre-noir. Seek it out 🙂
I love this film, too. Its fragmentary plot (caused, at least in part, by a now-missing reel) only adds to its foggy mood, and it’s remarkable how much it seems like a fully developed, prime noir: virtually all the elements of the genre are there, and the femme fatale in particular is a great character.
There are also some wonderfully surreal little moments, like the rather random insert shot of the girl lying on her bed with a turtle crawling around next to her.
Ed, Allan is on a short sabatical from the site as far as comments go. His bi-weekly reviews are all up and ready to go, and he will no doubt be entering the discussions soon enough. Hence I’m filling in here. I do well remember your great love for this film, which manifested itself in a masterful essay at ONLY THE CINEMA, a review that expounds on a number of the points Allan mentions here:
http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2010/05/la-nuit-du-carrefour.html
Perhaps it’s largely because it so much unlike anything else Renoir ever done, or maybe even as a result of that missing reel my first viewing of the film left me perplexed and unmoved. The piece began to come together the second time around, though I won’t deny I’ve yet to discover the magic (that almost deliberate ‘foggy mood’ for one) that you, Allan and others have experienced. I adore Renoir, I am aware of the film’s vaunted reputation, and know it was made at a time this great artist was at the peak of his powers. So I must return again (and again) to find what I am clearly missing. My major issue I guess was getting around that incomprehensible quality Allan points to in his excellent capsule.
Anyway, many thanks for your customary stellar enlightenments!
Thanks, Ed, and thanks Sam. I knew you loved this, Ed, and rightly so. One of my favourite of all Renoirs. And one of his most underrated, along with Friday’s choice.
Count me in as another fan of this one… I’m excited to seek out and read Rosenbaum’s review of this that you speak about in the opening.
I think this films inclusion in the ‘Guess the Pic’ series (by Ed if I recall correctly) had me seek it out. It’s moody and extremely evocative.
Jamie, that’s right, this was a most memorable entry in the ‘Guess the Pic’ series. (which I hope we can again ressurect at some point)
Hi! Allan, Sam Juliano, Ed Howard, and Jamie…
Sam Juliano, I found the link and have added Tony’s link to Allan’s post…
DeeDee 😉 🙂
Very nice work there Dee Dee!!!!!!!!!
I must mention that Allan made me aware of this film. Allan captures the film’s atmosphere nicely. I have one minor quibble though. I don’t see Else as a femme-fatale. She is as Renoir himself described her, a “bizarre gammin”. A tainted innocent who is (to paraphrase Jim Morrison) “stoned, immaculate”.
My ode to Else and her charms is here – I do seem to have a ‘labia’ fixation: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/winna-winifried-in-jean-renoirs-la-nuit-de-carrefour-1932-a-bizarre-gamin.html.
PS: Sorry DeeDee I should have first and foremost thanked you for mentioning my review and for the link!
PPS: I should also mention that a penetrating essay on La Nuit de Carrefour Essay by Raymond Durgnat can be read on-line – http://books.google.com/books?id=WMIEVKbbLxMC&printsec=frontcover – go to page 76.
Looks very interesting Tony. I’ll have to take a look!
Hi! Sam Juliano, Allan and Tony…
Tony, You’re very welcome…Thanks, for the link too…I can tell you one thing about that site Google Books…they will not let a person copy and paste one word…yet along one sentence from their site.
Just try it…you will experience the hand!
Now, I digress, but is this a duh! moment or what?!?
Egypt Braces For March Of Million
DeeDee 😉 🙂