Voici le temps des assassins... (1956)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Julien Duvivier

Writers:

Julien Duvivier (story) &
Charles Dorat (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 April 1956 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

André Chatelin is a restaurant owner in Les Halles in Paris. One morning, a girl named Catherine asks to see him...

Plot Keywords:

French Noir | Paris France

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	André Chatelin
Danièle Delorme	...	Catherine
Robert Arnoux	...	Bouvier
Liliane Bert	...	Antoinette
Gérard Blain	...	Gérard Delacroix
Lucienne Bogaert	...	Gabrielle
Aimé Clariond	...	Monsieur Prévost (as Aimé Clariond Sociétaire de la Comédie Française)
Gabrielle Fontan	...	Madame Jules
Germaine Kerjean	...	Madame Chatelin mère (as Germaine Kerjean de la Comédie Française)
Robert Manuel	...	Mario Bonnacorsi (as Robert Manuel Sociétaire de la Comédie Française)
Robert Pizani	...	Le Président
Jean-Paul Roussillon	...	Amédée (as Jean-Paul Roussillon de la Comédie Française)
Gaby Basset	...	La femme de charge de la guinguette
Paul Demange	...	Le client au régime
Olga Valéry	...	La duchesse
Betty Beckers	...	Une fille
Jane Morlet	...	Madame Aristide, la caissière (as Jane-Morlet)
Gérard Fallec	...	Gaston
Maxime Fabert	...	Le patron de l'hôtel du Charolais
Camille Guérini	...	Gégène, le clochard
Jacques Fayet	...	Le copain de Gérard
Colette Mareuil	...	Madame Coutoully, la lesbienne
Roger Saget	...	Le président du club
Catherine Fath	...	Une dîneuse
Alfred Goulin	...	Armand
Nadine Basile	...	Une dîneuse
André Philip
Liliane Ernout	...	La serveuse de la guiguette
Michel Seldow	...	Gentel, le ministre des finances
Valérie Vivin
Sophie St-Rapt
Monique Vita
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jacques Bertrand	...	Félix, le livreur de la laiterie
Robert Blome	...	L'homme de passage aux Halles
Raymond Bour	...	Un curieux
César	...	Gérard's dog
Henri Coutet	...	L'homme qui annonce l'accident
René Hell	...	Le garde-champêtre
René Lacourt	...	Un pêcheur à la ligne
Laura Lor
Albert Médina	...	M. Passart, marchand aux Halles
Eugène Stuber	...	Un consommateur
Georges Tat
Paul Barge	...	Le garçon d'étage (uncredited)
Max Dalban	...	Un travailleur des Halles, ami d'André (uncredited)
Jean-Louis Le Goff	...	Ernest, le gendarme (uncredited)

Directed by
Julien Duvivier

Writing credits
Julien Duvivier		story &
Charles Dorat		story &
Maurice Bessy		story &
Julien Duvivier		adaptation and dialogue &
Charles Dorat		adaptation and dialogue &
Pierre-Aristide Bréal		adaptation and dialogue (as P.A. Bréal)

Produced by
René Bezard	....	executive producer
Raymond Borderie	....	executive producer
Pierre Cabaud	....	executive producer
Georges Agiman	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Jean Wiener

Cinematography by
Armand Thirard

Film Editing by
Marthe Poncin

Production Design by
Robert Gys

Set Decoration by
Alfred Marpaux		(as Fred Marpeaux)
Yves Olivier

Costume Design by
Jacques Cottin

Makeup Department
Georges Bouban	....	makeup supervisor
Yvonne Gaspernia	....	makeup artist (as Yvonne Gasperina)

Production Management
Charles Borderie	....	production manager
Robert Bossis	....	production manager
Georges Kougoucheff	....	unit manager: exteriors
Roger Morand	....	production supervisor
Tonio Suné	....	unit manager (as Tonio Sune)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gerard Renateau	....	assistant director (as Gérard Renateau)
Michel Romanoff	....	assistant director

Art Department
René Albouze	....	property master (as Albouze)
Marcel Protat	....	property master (as Protat)

Sound Department
Antoine Archimbaud	....	sound recordist
Jacques Gérardot	....	assistant sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Roger Corbeau	....	still photographer
Jean Dicop	....	assistant camera
Robert Florent	....	assistant camera
Louis Née	....	camera operator

Other crew
Pierre Duvivier	....	production assistant
Denise Morlot	....	script supervisor
Yvonne Rocques	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC)
• Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma
• Les Films Agiman

Distributors

• Continental Distributing (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Internazionale Nembo Distribuzione Importazione Esportazione Film (INDIEF) (1958) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Pathé Consortium Cinéma (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• René Chateau Video (2004) (France) (DVD)

Special Effects

• LAX Lab.

Other Companies

• Enoch et Cie  music published by

Also Known As:

Deadlier Than the Male (USA)
Twelve Hours to Live (UK)
Der Engel, der ein Teufel war (West Germany) [de]
Ecco il tempo degli assassini (Italy) [it]
Hon kom från Marseilles (Sweden) [sv]
Nyt on murhaajien aika (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Gare de Lyon, Paris 12, Paris, France

Company:

Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC)

Trivia:

French censorship visa #17.767.

Soundtrack:

La complainte des assassins

No Time To Kill? Make Some And Check Out This Gem

When you post as many comments on this site as I do the Law of Averages dictates that you receive a certain amount of feedback in the form of PMs and I guess I've had my share both pro and con. A little over a year ago I posted a comment on a French film made during the war and largely forgotten certainly outside France. Shortly after it appeared a received a PM from a French guy who was very pleased that someone had mentioned this film. Since that time we corresponded spasmodically then out of the blue he wrote and asked if I would like him to tape any French films from French TV and if so which. Naturally I jumped at the chance and asked for anything directed by Henri Decoin, Julian Duvivier, Claude Autant-Lara and anything written by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, Charles Spaak, Henri Jeanson and Jacques Prevert and the upshot is I have just received several great French movies including this late masterpiece by Julian Duvivier. I won't reveal the guy's name lest he is inundated with those both anxious and willing to trespass on his kindness but I am delighted to use this forum to record what positives can come from IMDb which has, alas, many things wrong with it. Now for the movie. There are those who may find it referential - Gabin's mother runs a dance hall on the banks of the Marne and a decade earlier Gabin himself as one of Duvivier's Belle Equipe built a similar establishment in a similar location; In Rene Clair's Le Silence est d'Or a young girl prevailed on an older man to take her in and here Daniel Delorme prevails on the older Gabin in much the same way - but not to its detriment. Gabin runs a restaurant in Les Halles, the wonderful market in Paris which has gone the way of London's Covent Garden but which was very much alive in 1956 when this film was made, he's a genial sort, always ready to see the good in people rather than the worst so when Delorme, the daughter of his estranged wife, turns up claiming orphan status he is happy to take her in despite the fact that he has an adoptive son already. Of course the mother is not really dead and Delorme is not half so naive or angelic as she lets on; we get our first glimpse of her darker/colder side when she coolly rejects an old lover and watches dispassionately as he throws himself under a camion, barely registering the impact before hurrying to a rendezvous with her very much alive and drink and drug-raddled mother where they fine tune plans to seduce Gabin and divvy up his money. The black and white photography complements the story perfectly and reminds us at times of that other classic Les Diaboliques and there are some lovely touches like Gabin's mother's mastery of a whip which she uses with equal dexterity for despatching chickens and chastising Delorme. In short this is one of the finest films that ever got right up Truffaut's nose and if only he'd tried to make something one tenth as good instead of slagging off these films we'd all have been a lot happier. Not to be missed.