christopher-underwood
Likable if rather wistful James Hadley Chase adaptation. The first half particularly is light and verging on the comedic, albeit with stunning b/w photography and ultra cool soundtrack. Things get a bit more serious as things get a bit more serious, but considering the subject is blackmail and murder, this is a mostly mannered interpretation. Jean-Paul Belmondo, great as ever and so relaxed, throughout.Sexy Sophia Daumier is very effective as his very close sister and Geraldine Chaplin, in her first role, does well as the captive. Not as rough and tough as it might have been and plenty of decent dialogue instead, well this is a French film after all.
MARIO GAUCI
The first half of this crime thriller, involving a kidnapping and based on a novel by James Hadley Chase, is generally light-hearted - but then it turns serious when the criminals fall out and two of them end up dead! In itself, unremarkable but enjoyable, benefiting from the crisp photography of its sun-drenched countryside locations and a fine cast - Jean-Paul Belmondo, Adolfo Celi, Geraldine Chaplin (in her film debut!), Gabriele Ferzetti, Georges Geret (from Luis Bunuel's DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID [1964]) and Akim Tamiroff.Still, perhaps the most striking presence in the film is that of Sophie Daumier (whom I hadn't recognized from the Spaghetti Western I watched recently, FORT YUMA GOLD [1967]!) as Belmondo's sexy sister, and with whom she shares an unreserved complicity hinting at an incestuous relationship - though this being an old-fashioned black-and-white film, the matter isn't taken any further than that!!
AD
