Die Nacht hat dunkle Schatten

Edouard Molinaro was a great director, not for his successes in comedies, but for his first noir movies : "le Dos au mur" (1958), "un Témoin dans la ville" (1959), "des Femmes disparaissent" (1959), and "la Mort de Belle" (1961). I hadn't seen this "Mort de Belle" for more than 30 years, it's still not available in cassette vidéo, dvd or br, but was on channel a few times. Unbelievable, the three others Molinaro noir movies are available on dvd but not this one, his very best. Everything is stunning. The story, first, is adapted from Simenon by Jean Anouilh, telling the story of a teacher (Jean Desailly, touching as a simple and modest man) accused of murder of a young beautiful american student at his own place. And his worst ennemy is the local judge played by Jacques Monod (specialist of judge and lawyer characters) who wants his head even if the teacher seems innocent. Drama's inevitable. Lot of perverted details bring that drama. What a disgrace.

We want justice, bring back this french noir treasure in a restored print on dvd br. There are too many forgotten and unavailable french gems, by dozens, release them before they totally disappear forever. Like another Molinaro masterpiece "l'Ironie du sort" (also advised by the only reviewer of "Mort de Belle").