The Rhine Virgin (1953)

The Rhine Virgin (La vierge du Rhin), directed by Gilles Grangier and released in 1953, is included in the recent Kino Lorber French Noir 2 Blu-Ray boxed set.

We get voiceover narration by a guy named Pietr. He’s a crewman on a barge on the Rhine. A somewhat battered stranger (played by Jean Gabin) talks his way into a job as the second crewman. The skipper of the barge is Meister (Olivier Hussenot), Also aboard is Meister’s daughter Maria (Nadia Gray). 

The stranger claims to be a German named Martin Schmidt but oddly he has no trace of a German accent.

The barge belongs to a man named Labbé and his wife. When the founder of the company, Jacques Ledru, was killed in the war Labbé married his widow Geneviève (Elina Labourdette) and took over the business. Labbé seems to be mismanaging the company and selling off its assets.

Martin Schmidt is broody and taciturn and gives the impression of being a dangerous man haunted by a mysterious past. Naturally Maria falls madly in love with him. What girl wouldn’t?

Slowly we realise that Martin Schmidt has some very big secret which is the reason he was so anxious to secure a berth on the barge. Not just any barge, but this one. He has been away and he has returned because he has unfinished business to take care of. 

There is a reason he has bought a gun.

There is also a reason why someone tries to kill him.

It all connects with his past but obviously I can’t be more specific without risking spoilers. And there will be some major misdirection. And a murder.

This is a movie in which information is concealed not just from the audience but from the key characters.

A word about the movie’s title. The name of the barge is the Rhine Virgin but there is a deeper significance. There is a huge cliff jutting out into the Rhine known as the Lorelei and when the barge passes it our attention is drawn to it. There is a legend attached to this rock - a beautiful young maiden was betrayed by her lover, she drowned herself in the river and was transformed into a kind of siren, luring boatmen to their doom. This siren is known as the Lorelei. She is the Rhine maiden (or virgin if you prefer). This is clearly a sign that we should we should be on the alert for the appearance of a femme fatale.

And there is a femme fatale. Three women will play important roles in this story.

Jean Gabin was a huge star in France at this time. He made all kinds of movies but especially crime movies. He was a kind of French Bogart - weather-beaten and hardboiled with plenty of charisma. Like Bogart he was not an obvious sex symbol but women loved his air of brooding masculinity. He’s in fine form here.  

Elina Labourdette provides the glamour and feminine danger. She gets to wear some exquisite Jacques Fath gowns.

Nadia Gray is excellent, playing Maria as a woman who gets more and more interesting as the movie progresses.

The Rhine Virgin is not a film noir. It’s a murder mystery with some suspense thriller touches, but personally I’m not complaining because I love murder mysteries and this is a good one with a rather interesting structure. Highly recommended.

Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray pesentation looks terrific and there’s an audio commentary featuring Max Allan Collins.

Gilles Grangier directed some superb noirs, including Speaking of Murder (1957) and Le Désordre et la nuit (The Night Affair, 1958), both of which I’ve reviewed. At this point I will watch any movie directed by Gilles Grangier that I can get my hands on.