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{{Infobox film
| name = Magnet of Doom
| image = L'Aîné_des_Ferchaux_AKA_Magnet_of_Doom_(Film_Poster).png
| caption =
| director = [[Jean-Pierre Melville]]
| producer = Charles Lumbroso
| based_on = {{based on|''L'Aîné des Ferchaux''<br>1945 book|[[Georges Simenon]]}}
|
| starring = {{plainlist|
* [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]]
* [[Charles Vanel]]
* [[Stefania Sandrelli]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Henri Decaë]]
| music = [[Georges Delerue]]
| editing = Monique Bonnot<br>[[Claude Durand]]
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 102 min
| country =
* France
| language = [[French language|French]]▼
* Italy<ref name="bifi" />}}
| budget =▼
▲| language = [[French language|French]]
▲| budget =
| gross = 1,484,948 admissions (France)<ref>[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com.au&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/box-office-jean-paul-belmondo-c22691425/17&usg=ALkJrhhnlfJILYwRte9P6R4dEXnI2JFf2g Box office information for film] at Box Office Story</ref>
}}
'''''Magnet of Doom''''' ({{lang-fr|'''L'
==
In Paris the young ex-paratrooper and would-be boxer Michel Maudet loses his first big fight and is sacked by his manager. Needing a job, he answers an ad for a male secretary able to travel and is hired on the spot by Dieudonné Ferchaux, senior partner of a failing bank who has a criminal past. Without telling his girl friend Lina, whom he leaves penniless, that night he flies with Ferchaux to New York. Next morning, Ferchaux is able to collect millions of dollars from his safe-deposit box but cannot touch his US bank account because the French authorities are seeking his extradition. He has more money in [[Caracas]], but doesn't want to go there yet. Hiring a car, he and Maudet drive by back roads to Louisiana, shadowed by immigration agents. He makes a stop at the birthplace of [[Frank Sinatra]], in [[Hoboken]].
Along the way, Ferchaux tells him men can be either sheep, leopards, or jackals. He's impressed when Maudet plays a Sinatra song on a diner jukebox, two G.I.s come in and change it to an Elvis Presley song, and Maudet knocks them both down, and puts 'Frankie-boy' back on. But as the trip continues, Maudet becomes more and more dominant, stopping the car against Maudet's orders, to pick up a pretty blonde hitchhiker he has a brief fling with. Ferchaux realizes he must be on guard against Maudet, but grows increasingly dependent upon him. It's made clear to Maudet, by the immigration agents, that Ferchaux has no chance of escaping to Venezuela, and Maudet himself may have to stay in America for some time.
Renting an isolated house in New Orleans, Ferchaux seems to fall sick and Maudet gets increasingly frustrated at the whims of an old man with no power left beyond his attaché case of dollars. Going to the neighborhood bar for drink and company, Maudet mentions his boss's stash to the owner Jeff, a reputed crook and murderer, and then picks up a dancer Lou in a night club. Deciding he would rather be with her, he takes Ferchaux's case of money but something makes him go back with it to the house, where Jeff and an accomplice are trying to rob Ferchaux, who fights back ferociously. Though Maudet routs the villains, Ferchaux has been knifed and dies in his arms--the case of money seems to be gone. With his last breath Ferchaux urges Maudet to take his key, which will open another safe-deposit box full of dollars in Venezuela, but Maude tells him he and his key can go to hell. He's decided to follow another path. Neither Sheep, Leopard, nor Jackal. What he will become is yet to be decided.
==Production==
Jean-Pierre Melville cast [[Spencer Tracy]] as Dieudonné Ferchaux, but the actor fell ill. Melville offered the part to [[Charles Boyer]]. Though tempted, Boyer opted to make his London stage debut in [[Terrence Rattigan]]'s ''[[Man and Boy (play)|Man and Boy]]''.<ref>Baxter, John. ''Charles Boyer: The French Lover''. [[University Press of Kentucky]], 2021. 199.</ref>
Some scenes were shot on location in the U.S. However, the two lead actors were filmed in France.<ref name=Frodon/>{{rp|10}} It was Melville's first feature film shot in color and [[:fr:Franscope|Franscope]].<ref>Fournier-Lanzoni, Remi. ''French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present''. Continuum, 2002. 457.</ref><ref name=Frodon/>{{rp|15}}
== Cast ==
* [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]]
* [[Charles Vanel]]
* [[Michèle Mercier]]
*
* [[Stefania Sandrelli]]
* [[Andrex (actor)|Andrex]]
* [[:fr:André Certes|André Certes]]
==Release==
''Magnet of Doom'' was released in France in 1963.<ref name="bifi">{{cite web|url=http://cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=50135&_ga=1.21809787.1144870515.1435149737|publisher=Bifi.fr|title=L'Aîné des Ferchaux|accessdate=July 9, 2015|language=French}}</ref> It was also shown at the inaugural [[List_of_films_shown_at_the_New_York_Film_Festival#Films_at_the_first_New_York_Film_Festival_(1963)|New York Film Festival]] in [[David Geffen Hall|Philharmonic Hall]].<ref>"[https://nyti.ms/3yDwevm New York's Film Festival Presents]", ''The New York Times''. September 8, 1963.</ref>
The film was released as ''An Honorable Young Man'' on [[DVD]] by Video Dimensions.<ref name=Frodon>Frodon, Jean-Michel. “Jean-Pierre Melville: The Filmmaker as Undercover Dandy.” ''[[Cinéaste (magazine)|Cinéaste]]'', vol. 45, no. 3, 2020. 8–15.</ref>{{rp|15}}
==Reception==
The film was well received in France. It cemented Melville's status in the pantheon of French [[auteur]]s.<ref>Zimmer, Jacques and Chantai de Béchade. ''Jean-Pierre Melville''. Paris: Filmo. 1983. 111.</ref> ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]'' praised the superficiality of Melville's film, relying on appearances to say what it wants. The reviewer compared Melville's eye to [[Claude Monet]], concluding "[Melville] knows how to detect the essential...he is a terribly demanding spectator".<ref name=Cahiers/>
[[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]] of ''[[The New Leader]]'' saw ''Magnet of Doom'' at the New York Film Festival. He dismissed the film as 'more than usually trashy Simenon turned into a would-be thriller, with Belmondo perpetuating his irresistible, smilingly evil, stereotyped self'.<ref>{{cite book |title=Private Screenings|last1=Simon|first1=John |publisher=The MacMillan Company |year=1967 |page=85|url=https://archive.org/details/privatescreening0000john/page/85/mode/1up}}</ref> Melville's depiction of America was seen as anachronistic.<ref>[[Vincent Canby|Canby, Vincent]]. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/13/archives/the-godson-no-relation-to-godfather-opens.html 'The Godson' (No Relation to 'Godfather') Opens]", ''[[The New York Times]]''. July 13, 1972.</ref> The relationship between Maudet and Ferchaux has been described as homoerotic, a common trait of Melville's films.<ref>[[Ginette Vincendeau|Vincendau, Ginette]]. ''Jean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris''. British Film Institute, 2003. 21.</ref> ''Magnet of Doom'' has been described as a "mood piece" where "Very little actually happens in the film, other than the ambience: seedy, squalid, aimless, listless, stirred by Michel’s discontent, boredom and sexual longing."<ref>Bradshaw, Peter. "Jean-Pierre Melville: Cinematic Poet of the Lowlife and Criminal". ''[[The Guardian]]''. August 8, 2017.</ref>
When [[Bertrand Tavernier]] disparaged the film to Melville, the director responded, "It's my best movie".<ref>Dupont, Joan. "Lighting the Way”. ''[[Film Comment]]'', vol. 52, no. 5, 2016. 48.</ref> He once remarked that it was his most personal film and that it could serve as his [[Will and testament|will]] if he were to disappear.<ref name=Cahiers>Domarchi, Jean. "[https://archive.org/details/CahiersDuCinma/Cahiers%20du%20Cin%C3%A9ma/149/page/n66/mode/1up L'homme des cavernes]", ''[[Cahiers du Cinéma]]''. Tome XXV, No. 149. November, 1963. 65–6.</ref> At the [[Institut des hautes études cinématographiques]] in 1964, Melville lectured about the importance of [[Scenic design|set design]] and [[Art_director#In_film|art direction]] using scenes from the film as demonstrations.<ref>Breitbart, Eric. “Call Me Melville.” ''[[New England Review ]]'', vol. 27, no. 3, 2006. 179.</ref>
The pilgrimage to [[Frank Sinatra]]'s birthplace and the "hypnotic car rides" in the film are seen as the most emblematic of Melville's "mystical Americanophilia".<ref>McArthur, Colin. "MISE-EN-SCÈNE DEGREE ZERO: Jean-Pierre Melville’s ''Le Samouraï''", ''French Film: Texts and Contexts''. Edited by Susan Hayward, and Ginette Vincendeau. Taylor & Francis Group, 2000. 191.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|56845}}
* [http://www.lefilmguide.com/review/l-aine-des-ferchaux-1963.html ''Magnet of Doom''] at Le Film Guide
* [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/502781/laine-des-ferchaux#articles-reviews?articleId=1471657 Essay on ''L'aîné des Ferchaux''] by Rob Nixon at [[Turner Classic Movies]]
* [http://www.frenchfilms.org/review/l-aine-des-ferchaux-1963.html 2011 review essay by James Travers at frenchfilms.org].
* {{amg movie|133147}}
{{Jean-Pierre Melville}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnet Of Doom}}
[[Category:French crime drama films]]
[[Category:Italian crime drama films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jean-Pierre Melville]]
[[Category:Foreign films set in the United States]]
[[Category:Films based on Belgian novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Georges Simenon]]
[[Category:Films scored by Georges Delerue]]
[[Category:1960s French films]]
[[Category:1960s Italian films]]
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