... this has to be ranked as one of the finest films about Acting as a Profession and Actors as human beings. Noel Coward gave us his own take on the subject in his 1960 play Waiting In The Wings and whilst he may have got more mileage out of his multi-layered title - "The Wings" is the name of the theatrical Retirement Home where Coward's actors wait to die and, of course, actors wait in the 'wings' of a theatre for their cue to enter - he didn't eclipse this great Duvivier-Spaak collaboration shot in the shadow of World War II which gives it yet another strata. Duvivier was at his best with large ensembles and here he excels once again with a cast largely unknown outside France with the obvious exception of Michel Simon, outstanding as the joker of the establishment but living a lie inasmuch as he spent his entire career as an understudy rather than an actual performer, and Louis Jouvet, the Errol Flynn-lite ageing swordsman. Whilst the ensemble may be relatively unknown to non-vintage French film buffs they will be a revelation to anyone stumbling on this movie by chance; Spaak and Duvivier chronicle all the minutiae of egos trapped by age and condemned to live out their days together like members of a Touring company in Blossom Time, back-biting, fighting over scraps of food, reliving their triumphs, boring others and being bored BY others. A barrel of laffs it's not but it IS a masterpiece. (Once again I am hugely indebted to the guy from Norway who is so generous with his massive film library.
Review of La fin du jour
