In this film Bourvil plays a judge applied to research a murder case (difficult to explain the French judicial system, one should watch the series Engranages to get an idea). There are two possible culprits: the widow and the nurse (and mistress) of the victim. Bourvil is positive that the widow is lying, and that they are sending an innocent woman to jail.
Don't Tempt the Devil is about 'the perfect murder', which was also the subject of a couple of films of Hitchcock, and of course, Witness for the Prosecution by Billy Wilder, made six years earlier. Just like in Hitchcock's Rope we learn immediately who did the crime.
In this film you'll see people talking, rather static. Bourvil who talks to Pierre Brasseur, who talks to Marina Vlady, while Virna Lisi talks to Umberto Orsini, who talks with Pierre Brasseur, and sometimes Bourvil talks to all of them. While the dialogues are good in itself, it would have been great if there had been some more variety. As this film is directed by a director with a background as well as a writer (Christian-Jacque) it might not be such a surprise this story is rather talkative.
Nevertheless, it's still a great film. What I enjoyed were the aesthetics of the film. The beautiful black and white shots, the carefully positioning of the characters at the foreground and background, the choosing between close-ups and medium shots. It is absolutely worth the time of the viewer and in my opinion even more enjoyable if you forget the story and start watching the actors. Especially Bourvil and Pierre Brasseur (with a hoarse voice, while his voice was so splendid in Enfants du Paradis) are great. In many modern films this sense of aesthetics is gone. There's hardly any logic in choosing shots, it is all about nonsensical close-ups and raw editing. Therefore I rate this 7/10.
Don't Tempt the Devil is about 'the perfect murder', which was also the subject of a couple of films of Hitchcock, and of course, Witness for the Prosecution by Billy Wilder, made six years earlier. Just like in Hitchcock's Rope we learn immediately who did the crime.
In this film you'll see people talking, rather static. Bourvil who talks to Pierre Brasseur, who talks to Marina Vlady, while Virna Lisi talks to Umberto Orsini, who talks with Pierre Brasseur, and sometimes Bourvil talks to all of them. While the dialogues are good in itself, it would have been great if there had been some more variety. As this film is directed by a director with a background as well as a writer (Christian-Jacque) it might not be such a surprise this story is rather talkative.
Nevertheless, it's still a great film. What I enjoyed were the aesthetics of the film. The beautiful black and white shots, the carefully positioning of the characters at the foreground and background, the choosing between close-ups and medium shots. It is absolutely worth the time of the viewer and in my opinion even more enjoyable if you forget the story and start watching the actors. Especially Bourvil and Pierre Brasseur (with a hoarse voice, while his voice was so splendid in Enfants du Paradis) are great. In many modern films this sense of aesthetics is gone. There's hardly any logic in choosing shots, it is all about nonsensical close-ups and raw editing. Therefore I rate this 7/10.