Movie Review Secrets of the French Police 1932

In the late 1980s, a purchased a volume called More CLASSICS OF THE HORROR Motion picture. It was written by esteemed film historian William G. Everson. This volume was a follow-up to Everson's CLASSICS OF THE HORROR FILM, ane of the very get-go picture show books I ever bought.

In MORE CLASSICS OF THE HORROR Flick, there is a affiliate entitled "Horror As a Bonus--Horror in the Non-Horror Film". In that chapter Everson examined a number of films from the early on to mid-20th Century that were not considered straight horror features, but nevertheless had elements of the genre. One of the films the author mentioned was a 1932 RKO production entitled SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE. Erstwhile in the early on 1990s, I saw this movie on the AMC Tv set channel (back when AMC really showed classic movies).

My long-ago AMC viewing was the only time I had seen SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE, until TCM showed information technology this weekend. It's a wild pre-code potboiler which has plenty plot for ii movies, despite the fact that it runs a little less than an hr.

In contemporary Paris, a mysterious Russian named Moloff (Gregory Ratoff) is scheming to accept command of the Romanov fortune. He intends to pass off a poor bloom girl (Gwili Andre) every bit Anastasia, the young girl of the Czar who supposedly survived the massacre of her family. Moloff'due south plot is stopped by cunning and determined French police investigator (Frank Morgan).

The basic plot description is simple, but the fashion the bodily flick plays out is decidedly not. SECRETS OF THE FRENCH Police force throws out a number of confusing strands that eventually come up together. At that place's various vehement deaths, intricate police procedure, and the evil Moloff's activities, which include taxidermy, scientific experimentation, and a personal hobby of turning some of his victims into statues and displaying them in his home.

Some of the sets used in RKO's THE Near DANGEROUS GAME testify upwardly in SECRETS OF THE FRENCH Police, as exercise some of the costumes. Gregory Ratoff's Moloff could easily exist a cousin of Count Zaroff. He could also be related to Bela Lugosi. Ratoff gets a few Bela-like closeups, and his Moloff also happens to be a main of hypnotism. Ratoff even recites his lines in a very wearisome and deliberate fashion, much like Lugosi would at times. If Lugosi had played Moloff, SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE would be far more renowned among film geeks today.

Gwili Andre in SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE

The willowy Gwili Andre makes a very fetching damsel in distress, although it'due south hard to believe in her as a poor flower girl. Future Wizard of Oz Frank Morgan is surprisingly serious and adamant every bit police official St. Cyr. Morgan does practice some of his patented eccentric quondam man human activity when his character is underground and in disguise. Morgan's St. Cyr would have been a great candidate for a detective movie series of his own.

SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE moves along at a rapid pace, and it has many clever ideas...but this is an example of a pic that isn't long enough. The climax in item seems very rushed, and it doesn't have the effect that it should. 1 wants to know more nearly Moloff and his bizarre actions (his manor house in Paris feels similar an old castle, and it comes with clandestine rooms and a underground laboratory). There's some definite Pre-Code kinkiness in the subplot of Moloff turning women into statues (at one point it appears i of his victims is naked). Moloff even intends to practice the same matter to Gwili Andre at the end.

SECRETS OF THE FRENCH Constabulary was directed past Edward Sutherland, who is better known for his one-act films, including several with Due west. C. Fields. (He also had a short marriage with Louise Brooks.) Sutherland indulges in a number of atmospheric photographic camera set up-ups, and he would soon get a take a chance to helm an even wilder Pre-Lawmaking horror, the notorious MURDERS IN THE ZOO with Lionel Atwill.

If you get a chance, check out SECRETS OF THE FRENCH Law. Information technology'southward an unusual Pre-Code thriller which tries to exercise too much in well-nigh an 60 minutes, merely that's better than not doing enough.

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