There's much to admire here - atmosphere, jazz-influenced soundtrack, noirish photography, Hazel Scott and, last but not least Jean Gabin and Danielle Darrieux (who gets a 'with the participation of ...' credit which means she doesn't turn up until halfway through the fourth reel and even then it's little more than an extended cameo). By the late fifties Gabin had made the transition from hood to flic - he played Maigret three times - and here he portrays a semi maverick Inspector investigating the murder of a nightclub boss. He enjoyed a long association with director Gilles Graingier who this time around seems to be under the influence of Jean-Pierre Melville, especially Bob, Le flambeur, although there's not a lot wrong with that. The one jarring not is the plot or lack of same which is unsatisfactory to say the least however there are compensations in the shape of Darrieux - who, if she makes it to the first of May, will celebrate her one hundredth birthday - and Gabin.

Although it is not based on a Simenon novel,the atmosphere recalls that of the Belgian writer.And Audiard comes up with one good line or two particularly when Gabin tells Darrieux that ,with her medicine,she can calm her protégée forever.Another proof positive that Grangier was a good director in the fifties and if this one is not as exciting as "Danger De Mort" or "Retour A L'Envoyeur " ,it's because the writers hesitate between detective story and psychological drama.The two sides of the plot do not hang well together ;besides,Darrieux's part,very important,is underwritten and it's 45 minutes before she appears.Grangier knew how to show the big city at night with its lights ,its darkness on the edge ,its shady places .He was not afraid,like Decoin in "Razzia Sur LA Chnouff " to show an already drug-addicted youth.The Commissaire /Young girl relationship is as much father /daughter as it is lovers .This loser is actually from a wealthy German family,a subject which would be trendy ten years later in the wake of May 68.

They form a couple that you don't forget: Inspector Georges Vallois (Jean Gabin) and Lucky Fridel (Nadja Tiller), the latter being a former miss Austria. Her beauty and her charm change the mind of the inspector and turn him away from his duties. There is a game of attraction and repulsion between both as never seen in French cinema. He could be her father. There is a scene where Vallois answers tho her father that she could end up in prostitution if her father does not give her money anymore. Does Valois feel pity for her? The novel by Jacques Robert inspired the experienced director Gilles Grangier to this movie with a peculiar ending. Also Thérèse Marken (Danielle Darieux) give the dialogues between her and Vallois a captivating tension. Vallois is a bit Maigret-like but he has his own touch and is more human. It is also remarkable that the writer Jacques Robert adapted later a novel of Georges Simenon for the screen (Maigret voit rouge). This movie has kept all its freshness after those years but the problem of junkies has still grown more.

Jean Gabin is not playing Inspecteur Maigret here, but he is a detective investigating the murder of a night club owner who also deals heroin. Nadja Tiller plays a glamourous habituee of the club who falls for Gabin; she is also a junkie. Her scene of withdrawal is far from the gritty reality, she just seems to have a hangover and sweats a bit.I was impressed with Hazel Scott in a small part as the club's pianist-singer. This Barbadian-born performer married Adam Clayton Powell and had to leave the US in the Fifties because of her leftist politics. She was played by Vanessa L. Williams in a recent made for TV movie. On the basis of this small part, she could have had a career like Dorothy Dandridge's.