It's a crime thriller with a definite film noir vibe.
Inspecteur Georges Vallois (Jean Gabin) is a Paris Vice cop. A night club called L’Oef offers hot American jazz and other things as well. It’s definitely the centre of a drugs ring. It offers girls as well.
The owner of the club, Albert Simoni, gets bumped off. Simoni was suspected of being heavily involved in the drugs racket but there are quite a few shady characters who might have had motives for having him rubbed out. And several women with whom he was sleeping would have had strong motives as well.
We see the shooting of Simoni early on. We do not know who did the shooting, but we do know that one of the key characters who becomes a suspect definitely was not guilty.
Vallois thinks Lucky Fridel (Nadja Tiller) represents his most promising lead. Lucky is a cute 23-year-old German girl. She’s a poor little rich girl whose daddy is threatening to cut off her allowance to force her to return home to Munich. Daddy fears that she will be corrupted by the wickedness of Paris. And his fears are well founded. Lucky is a junkie, possibly at least a part-time whore and a gangster’s mistress. A girl can have so many adventures in a city like Paris!
Lucky is the kind of girl who could easily end up playing the femme fatale role but she may be just an innocent out of her depth.
Inspecteur Georges Vallois (Jean Gabin) is a Paris Vice cop. A night club called L’Oef offers hot American jazz and other things as well. It’s definitely the centre of a drugs ring. It offers girls as well.
The owner of the club, Albert Simoni, gets bumped off. Simoni was suspected of being heavily involved in the drugs racket but there are quite a few shady characters who might have had motives for having him rubbed out. And several women with whom he was sleeping would have had strong motives as well.
We see the shooting of Simoni early on. We do not know who did the shooting, but we do know that one of the key characters who becomes a suspect definitely was not guilty.
Lucky is the kind of girl who could easily end up playing the femme fatale role but she may be just an innocent out of her depth.
Vallois hopes to persuade Lucky to tell him the name of her drugs supplier, which Vallois feels will get him a lot closer to solving the case. Vallois and Lucky soon end up in bed together.
Blasco (Robert Manuel) and Marquis (Robert Berri) are among the late Albert Simoni’s business associates and they’re certainly involved in Simoni’s criminal activities. There’s American jazz singer Valentine Horse (Hazel Scott) - in the 50s jazz musicians were notorious for their enthusiastic use of drugs. And there’s Thérèse Marken (Danielle Darrieux), a pharmacist and an unlikely friend of Lucky’s.
The plot is decent enough but the main interest in this movie is the relationship between Vallois and Lucky. Is Vallois just using her to help in breaking the case? Is he another middle-aged man tempted to try to rescue a damsel in distress? That’s possible, especially when the damsel is cute and sexy. Does he have genuine feelings for her? Lucky is the kind of girl who can be exasperating and adorable at the same time.
What about Lucky? Given her unhappy relationship with her father she might well be looking for a substitute father and it’s easy to imagine that she could see Vallois as ideal daddy material - he’s old enough to be her father and he exudes confident masculinity but without the obvious sleaziness of the other men in her life.
There’s certainly a genuine sexual attraction between Vallois and Lucky and whatever their original intentions they’re now in danger of getting seriously emotionally entangled.
Jean Gabin and Danielle Darrieux were established huge stars in France so it’s natural that they get top billing. Gabin is excellent, adding just enough ambiguity to his portrayal of Vallois to keep us uncertain of his motivations. Danielle Darrieux is superb as a woman with some very dark secrets.
But the movie really belongs to Nadja Tiller. She makes Lucky a very complicated girl. She’s self-destructive but only up to a point. She can be manipulative but perhaps she’s not truly aware when she’s being manipulative and when she’s being sincere. She’s a very confused young woman which makes her very dangerous. And she’s sexy in a fascinatingly ambivalent way.
This is a French film noir unconstrained by the Hollywood Production Code so it’s open about sex in a way that was impossible for American noir. And it’s willing to explore the dark primal side of female sexuality. Not being bound by the Production Code also meant that the writers had a lot more freedom - they were not obliged to give the story a morally uplifting ending.
Le Désordre et la nuit is a fine example of 50s French film noir and I like 50s French film noir very much indeed. Highly recommended.
I’ve also reviewed another extremely good Gilles Grangier noir, Speaking of Murder (1957).
The plot is decent enough but the main interest in this movie is the relationship between Vallois and Lucky. Is Vallois just using her to help in breaking the case? Is he another middle-aged man tempted to try to rescue a damsel in distress? That’s possible, especially when the damsel is cute and sexy. Does he have genuine feelings for her? Lucky is the kind of girl who can be exasperating and adorable at the same time.
What about Lucky? Given her unhappy relationship with her father she might well be looking for a substitute father and it’s easy to imagine that she could see Vallois as ideal daddy material - he’s old enough to be her father and he exudes confident masculinity but without the obvious sleaziness of the other men in her life.
Jean Gabin and Danielle Darrieux were established huge stars in France so it’s natural that they get top billing. Gabin is excellent, adding just enough ambiguity to his portrayal of Vallois to keep us uncertain of his motivations. Danielle Darrieux is superb as a woman with some very dark secrets.
But the movie really belongs to Nadja Tiller. She makes Lucky a very complicated girl. She’s self-destructive but only up to a point. She can be manipulative but perhaps she’s not truly aware when she’s being manipulative and when she’s being sincere. She’s a very confused young woman which makes her very dangerous. And she’s sexy in a fascinatingly ambivalent way.
Le Désordre et la nuit is a fine example of 50s French film noir and I like 50s French film noir very much indeed. Highly recommended.
I’ve also reviewed another extremely good Gilles Grangier noir, Speaking of Murder (1957).
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