Le crime de Monsieur Lange (1936)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Jean Castanyer (story)
Jacques Prévert (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 January 1936 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Plot:

A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police's description...

Plot Keywords:

Belgium | Murder | Black Comedy | Character Name In Title

Cast

René Lefèvre	...	Amédée Lange
Florelle	...	Valentine
Jules Berry	...	Batala
Marcel Lévesque	...	The Concierge
Odette Talazac	...	The Concierge
Henri Guisol	...	The Son Meunier
Maurice Baquet	...	Charles, The Concierges' Son
Jacques B. Brunius	...	Mr. Baigneur (as J.B. Brunius)
Sylvain Itkine	...	Batala's cousin
Marcel Duhamel	...	The Foreman
Henri Saint-Isle
Pierre Huchet
René Génin	...	A Client at the Auberge (as Genin)
Max Morise
Charbonnier

Also Known As:

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (USA)
Das Verbrechen des Herrn Lange (Germany) [de]
El crim del senyor Lange (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
El crimen de Monsieur Lange (Spain) [es]
Herra Langen rikos (Finland) [fi]
Il delitto del signor Lange (Italy) [it]
O Crime do Sr. Lange (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

80 min | USA:77 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Le Tréport, Seine-Maritime, France

Company:

Films Obéron

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Au jour, le jour, a la nuit, la nuit

Not Renoir's greatest achievement

Jean Renoir is one of the classic French directors and films like La Grande Illusion and The Human Beast show that. This film, The Crime of Monsieur Lange, is not one of the man's best films; but it's still a more than adequate example of French film-making in the 1930's. Adapted from a story by Jean Castanyer (the same man that wrote the story for Renoir's earlier film 'Boudu Saved from Drowning'), The Crime of Monsieur Lange tells the story of a man and woman that bed down in a hotel for the night. The man is recognised by the patrons as being the same man that killed another man, but before they can turn him in; the woman decides to tell the story of exactly why her man is a murderer and then let the customers decide whether or not he should be convicted. This premise offers an interesting base for a film, as themes of justice and morality can easily be tied in; but this is the film's main problem. While Renoir presents the story behind the murder in an interesting way, we never really get into whether or not the protagonist should be convicted.

The film is left open ended, probably so that the audience can 'make their own minds up' about the events; but this idea is never really explored and it's a shame because it could have presented a very interesting backbone for the movie. Quite what Renoir's intentions were for this film, therefore, are rather quite muddled. The film is never exciting enough to be considered a straight thriller, the story isn't deep enough for it to be a deep and complex drama, and we're not presented with enough themes for it to be viewed as a cross section of justice and morality. Jean Renoir seems to have been too much of a complex man to have simply intended this film as a quick Saturday-morning style drama, and themes of living in France at the time aside, that's pretty much what this is. The actual drama in the film is good, however, with the actors giving life to their characters through realistic acting. Renoir's direction is as assured and as vivacious as ever, and you really get the impression with this man that he really puts his back into making films. This certainly isn't a bad movie; but it's not great either. Most people, like me, would probably expect a little more from Renoir...but it's still worth seeing.