Director: JEAN STELLI. Screenplay: Jean Kerchner. Photography: Marc Fossard. Film editor: Jean-Charles Dudremet. Art director: Daniel Guéret. Music: Marcel Landowski. Casting director: Tonio Sane. Production manager: Jean Kerchner. Producers: Michel Kagansky, Jacques Lebaudy, Evrard de Rouvre.
A Films Serius Production, not copyright in the USA 1956. Never theatrically released in the USA but available to television stations through American-International. 85 minutes. American TV title: Nest of Spies.
SYNOPSIS: The mysterious death of a well-known criminal sparks an investigation into national security.
NOTES: First of the popular Deuxieme Bureau series, this entry was followed by Deuxieme Bureau contre Inconnu (1957), Rapt au Deuxieme Bureau (1958), Suspense au Deuxieme Bureau (1960), Deuxieme Bureau contre Terroristes (1961).
COMMENT: It's certainly odd to find the screenwriter doubling as the production manager, but that's indeed the case here.
Frankly, it is the writing that would have benefited from a more professional approach. The proceedings are not only juvenile but dull.
And despite much shooting on actual locations, Stelli's direction comes over for the most part of the movie as disappointingly leaden, though it does spark into sudden life at unexpected moments.
However, a compensating factor is the presence of two attractive blondes in the cast in the persons of Mademoiselles Kervine and Sarcey.
OTHER VIEWS: Another oddity is that Frank Villard who played Captain Thierry in the first three movies, returned in the final entry as a different character! Jean Stelli directed all entries but the film noirish "Suspense au Deuxieme Bureau" which was written, produced and directed by Christian de Saint-Maurice.
A Films Serius Production, not copyright in the USA 1956. Never theatrically released in the USA but available to television stations through American-International. 85 minutes. American TV title: Nest of Spies.
SYNOPSIS: The mysterious death of a well-known criminal sparks an investigation into national security.
NOTES: First of the popular Deuxieme Bureau series, this entry was followed by Deuxieme Bureau contre Inconnu (1957), Rapt au Deuxieme Bureau (1958), Suspense au Deuxieme Bureau (1960), Deuxieme Bureau contre Terroristes (1961).
COMMENT: It's certainly odd to find the screenwriter doubling as the production manager, but that's indeed the case here.
Frankly, it is the writing that would have benefited from a more professional approach. The proceedings are not only juvenile but dull.
And despite much shooting on actual locations, Stelli's direction comes over for the most part of the movie as disappointingly leaden, though it does spark into sudden life at unexpected moments.
However, a compensating factor is the presence of two attractive blondes in the cast in the persons of Mademoiselles Kervine and Sarcey.
OTHER VIEWS: Another oddity is that Frank Villard who played Captain Thierry in the first three movies, returned in the final entry as a different character! Jean Stelli directed all entries but the film noirish "Suspense au Deuxieme Bureau" which was written, produced and directed by Christian de Saint-Maurice.
