Bonnes à tuer (1954)

Réalisateur:

Henri Decoin

Scénaristes:

Henri Decoin (dialogue)
Henri Decoin (scenario)
(suite)

Date de sortie:

17 décembre 1954 (France)

Genre:

Thriller | Drame

Accroche:

He Wanted One of Four Women...And He Wanted Her Dead! (original USA poster)

Intrigue:

Francois Roques, a power-and-money-mad editor of a Paris newspaper (who justifies his actions by calling attention to his poverty-stricken childhood)...

Plot Keywords:

Scheme | Death | Childhood | Lover | Apartment

Avis des utilisateurs:

Did she jump or was she pushed?

Ensemble

Danielle Darrieux	...	Constance Andrieux dite Poussy
Michel Auclair	...	François Roques dit Larry
Corinne Calvet	...	Véra Volpone
Miriam Di San Servolo	...	Maggy Lang (as Myriam Petacci)
Lila Rocco	...	Cécile Germain-Thomas (as Lyla Rocco)
Gérard Buhr	...	William Jordan
Roberto Risso	...	Mario Mirador
Gil Delamare	...	Forestier
Ky Duyen	...	Bao, le serviteur
Émile Genevois	...	Le postier
Jean Berton	...	Un inspecteur
Jean Sylvère	...	L'aveugle
Anne-Marie Mersen
Jean Duval
Louis Viret
Jean-Michel Rouzière
Jacques Jouanneau	...	Le flic
Raymond Gérôme	...	Un client de la boîte
reste de la distribution par ordre alphabétique:
Franck Maurice	...	Un agent (uncredited)

Réalisé par
Henri Decoin

Scénaristes (dans l'ordre alphabétique)
Jacques de Baroncelli		dialogue
Henri Decoin		dialogue
Henri Decoin		scenario
J.C. Eger		dialogue (as Jean-Claude Eger)
Pat MacGerr		novel "Follow as the Night"

Musique originale
René Sylviano

Image
Robert Lefebvre

Montage
Denise Reiss

Création des décors
Jean d'Eaubonne

Création des costumes
Pierre Balmain

Maquillage
Yvonne Fortuna	....	makeup artist
Huguette LaLaurette	....	hair stylist
Jean Paul Ulysse	....	makeup artist

Directeur de production
Michel Choquet	....	unit production manager
Raymond Eger	....	production manager

Assistant réalisateur
Michel Deville	....	assistant director

Technicien du son
Pierre-Louis Calvet	....	sound (as Pierre Calvet)

Caméra et Département Electrique
Roger Delpuech	....	camera operator
Henri Thibault	....	still photographer

Divers
Suzanne Durrenberger	....	script girl

Companies de production

• Films EGE (in association with)
• Compagnie Française Cinématographique (CFC) (in association with)
• Noria Film

Distributeurs

• La Société des Films Sirius (1954) (France) (theatrical)
• Ellis Films (1955) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)

Autre(s) titre(s):

One Step to Eternity (USA)
Quattro donne nella notte (Italy)

Durée:

90 min | USA:95 min

Pays:

France | Italy

Langue:

Français

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Rapport de forme:

1,37 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Finland:(Banned) (1956)

Société:

Films EGE

Did she jump or was she pushed?

She was there one minute Lying in a pool of herself

And then she was gone the next

With a twisted neck.

O she fell from the roof to the ground....

A crowd gathers around the building as the cops shout " move along!" .Someone fell from the terrace of "Larry" 's luxury flat. Larry (Michel Auclair)had gathered for a formal occasion his ex-wife (Darrieux),his wife (Corinne Calvet),his fiancée and his mistress.An ominous stormy evening in a chic apartment with champagne served by a Chinese butler.There was a bad moon on the rise;it seemed that someone was going to get killed tonight.But which of the four women?

The ex-wife?

She crossed a lot of people

Some she called friends

She thought she'd live forever

But forever always ends.

Darrieux portrays a painter who remained loyal and true to her friends,which her ex-husband did not.

The fiancée?

She used to live the life she used

To live life with a vengeance

And the chosen would dance

The chosen would dance in attendance

The fiancée is a spoiled child,she thinks that her dad's money can buy her anything .She's pregnant by a student who disappeared but she won't care if Larry passes for the father in her folk's eyes.

The wife?

She used to have style

She used to have style and to use it

And they say it turned bad

When the truth came around and she refused it

She married Larry just because thanks to him,an unscrupulous journalist,her false suicide made the headlines.(It's thoroughly credible:a French actress did that in 1947) Like Larry, would do anything to get fortune and fame.

The mistress?

They did not find no killer

and they did not find no note.

Maggy is a shady lady,who seems to blackmail Larry ;he' d like to recover a receipt she owns.

This is a fine film noir by Henri Decoin,which does not equal his best in the field ("non Coupable" "La Vérité sur Bébé Donge" ),but where the suspense is sustained till the very end and its unexpected twist.The flashbacks are introduced in an unusual aggressive way.They begin with bells: they herald a wedding but they sound like a toll.

Darrieux and Auclair would team up again in Périer's "Meurtres en 45 tours" (1960)

Many lines of this comment were taken from the lyrics of Richard Thompson's extraordinarily gloomy song "Did she jump " on his "Shoot out the lights' majestic album (1982).