Service de nuit

Gaby Morlay had just made the biggest blockbuster of the occupation days (the tear-jerker called "Le Voile Bleu" which made thousands of Frenchies cry a river)This part of a sob sister made Morlay self-conscious and almost inscrutable and uncommunicative.In direct contrast with this,we have this marvelous part of a switchboard operator :Morlay is beaming,full of joie de vivre,ready to lend a helping hand to anyone ,from a cat (at the beginning,and even the cat's case is solved in the end)to an escaped prisoner.However ,only her and Gabrielle Fontan (the grumpy servant, a role she would play again in Duvivier's "Voici Le Temps Des Assassins " really live on the screen,all the others characters -although portrayed by seasoned actors:Jacques Dumesnil,Carette,Louis Seignier;there's even Simone Signoret in a small part of a dancer - are rather flat.

There is not a plot,but many subplots which finally become an almost seamless whole with gusto .In its own special way ,it's Duvivier's "Sous Le Ciel De Paris" in miniature in a village in the mountains.Duvivier's work is highly superior,but Faurez's one is to be recommended.