The black file
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The black file |
| Original title | Le dossier noir |
| Country of production | France , Italy |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Age rating | JMK from 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | André Cayatte |
| script |
Charles Spaak André Cayatte |
| production | Henri Baum |
| music | Louiguy |
| camera | Jean Bourgoin |
| cut | Paul Cayatte |
| occupation | |
| |
The Black File is a French-Italian judicial drama from 1955 by director André Cayatte, who specializes in legal issues .
action
The young, inexperienced examining magistrate Jacques Arnaud is transferred to a small provincial town one day. When he was working on a comparatively unimportant case, the witness Dutoit made a comment that made him sit up and take notice. The dog breeder believes that the extremely influential building contractor Charles Boussard broke into his home, presumably because he assumed that Dutoit would find incriminating material against the all-powerful employer in this area. Arnaud's predecessor Le Guen had collected these materials and died recently, allegedly of a heart attack ... exactly one day before the Boussard case would have become an item on the agenda of the city assembly. Dutoit fears that Boussard could now also have him eliminated because he put together a "black file" about him. Some of his dogs have already been poisoned.
In order to be certain, Arnaud has the body of his predecessor exhumed, and traces of poison are actually found in Le Guen's body. Finally, a police inspector is brought in from Paris, but Inspecteur Noblet also investigates in other directions. He suspects that Le Guen's death may have private reasons. Many leads are followed, and few seem as clear-cut as previously believed. Boussard's business methods are certainly borderline but not necessarily murderous, Madame Le Guen, the young widow, had a relationship with her brother-in-law, and Yvonne Dutoit, daughter of the witness, had a love affair with the late examining magistrate. Dutoit himself, in turn, owed his daughter's lover money. Arnaud's brisk investigative work is increasingly turning into a catastrophe: the alleged murder turns out to be none, and Arnaud's persistent investigations destroyed one or the other luck and severely damaged the reputation of several citizens. In the end, the young lawyer not only ruined his career, but was also responsible for the death of young Alain Le Guen ...
Production notes
The black nudes were filmed from January 20 to March 30, 1955. The world premiere took place on May 18, 1955 in Paris. The film opened in Germany on December 7, 1956. The first German television broadcast took place on March 23, 1964 on ZDF .
criticism
Reclam's guide reads: “This time Cayatte is investigating the issues of judicial investigation and police methods. Again the subject is effectively staged, again there are remarkable performances. But the overly subtle construction of coincidences and an uneconomical accumulation of problems take much of the film's persuasiveness. "
Kay Weniger's The Great Personal Lexicon of the Film wrote in Cayatte's biography about his judicial film productions:
“The core of these films was not so much Cayatte's confrontation with the actual crime, but rather the clarification of the background to a verdict among jury members (“ jury court ”), presentation of incidents during preliminary judicial investigations and police methods (“ The Black Files ”) as well as the screening of the social environment of a perpetrator and the social backgrounds that let him kill ("We are all murderers"). "
The lexicon of international films says: “A film that denounces the weaknesses of the judiciary. Excellently staged, impressively photographed and excellently played. "
The Protestant film observer also comes to a positive verdict: "A bitter indictment against the French judiciary, which testifies to the courage and ability of the director."
useful information
The black file was the last part of Cayatte's so-called justice trilogy. This was preceded by a jury trial in 1950 and in 1952 we are all murderers .
In this film, Cayatte repeatedly used names for the lead roles that had already appeared in We Are All Murderers : Le Guen was a convicted murderer on death row there, and Arnaud, in The Coroner's Black File , was the lawyer in We Are All Murderers of the death row inmate. Dutoit, here in the key role of a witness and burglary victim, was the name of a doctor falsely sentenced to death in the previous film.
Cayatte competed unsuccessfully with his film in the competition at the 8th Cannes International Film Festival in 1955 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jean-Claude Sabria: Cinéma français. Les années 50. Paris 1987, no.299
- ↑ Reclams Filmführer, by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. P. 287. Stuttgart 1973.
- ↑ The black file. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Critique No. 894/1955.
Web links
- The black acts in the Internet Movie Database (English)