Mauvaise Graine (France, 1934) 86 min B&W DIR: Alexander Esway, Billy Wilder. PROD: Georges Bernier. SCR: Jan Lustig, Billy Wilder, Max Kolpé. MUSIC: Allan Gray, Franz Waxman. DOP: Paul Cotteret, Maurice Delattre, Fred Mandl. CAST: Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Mingand, Raymond Galle, Paul Escoffier. (Pathé Consortium Cinéma)
The legendary writer-director Billy Wilder is best known for films with a cynical look at humanity (Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend) or comedies that also have an acidic undercurrent (Sabrina opens with a suicide attempt, The Apartment climaxes with one). In his element, he was usually making masterpieces: Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Blvd., The Big Carnival (ignored at its time, now regarded as prime Wilder), Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment and One Two Three. (These are from what is generally agreed to be his prime period; he continued to make great films, but not in everyone’s opinion.) Even the light-hearted of his major works challenged some kind of taboo. Whatever their tone, his films were full of suicide, blackmail, infidelity, murder, corporate back-biting, avarice, ruined lives, secrets and lies. What, then, to make of this obscure French film called Mauvaise Graine, which recently had a free screening as part of Cinematheque’s Billy Wilder retrospective?
This little-known curiosity was made during a transient time in the career of the young Viennese writer-director, who in 1933 had fled Nazi Germany for France. It was made prior to his arrival in Hollywood where he would write and eventually direct, making his solo directorial debut with 1942’s The Major and the Minor. It was made after his participation in the impressionistic People on Sunday (which now has quasi-legendary status due to its importance as a benchmark in the careers of its filmmakers to be: Wilder, Robert and Curt Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinneman).
Although co-directed by Alexander Esway (maker of 17 light features from 1927 to 1947), the film is interesting Wilder material, with its irreverent tone and not-too-flattering look at the rich. But it is little more than a curio in the writer-director’s long career; there is no missing link here. Mauvaise Graine stands as enjoyable, gauzy hokum- it is the French equivalent to an RKO or Warner B-Grade programmer of its day. Henri Pasquier (Pierre Mingand) is the spoiled son of a rich doctor who takes his kid’s car taken away from him to teach him some responsibility. It is a lesson ill-learned, however; Henri simply steals the car from its new owner, then he gets it pinched by some real car thieves. Our boy gets involved with the colourful lowlifes at the chop shop, specifically Jean La Cravate (Raymond Galle) and his sister Jeanette (played by 17 year-old Danielle Darrieux in her ninth role!), to whom Henri is attracted.
The trio is put through typical turmoil, culminating in an extended climax once the law cracks down on the chop shop and a countryside chase ensues. Unlike Wilder’s later works, the bad deeds of this corrupt bunch are played lightly in tone. Even though the master would later do films which celebrated dubious goings-on, the dark tone was unmistakable. There is an amusing vignette midway where the chop shop has to fill a large work order for foreign customers, so the thieves run an ad in the paper which instructs owners of a certain make of automobile to report to this bogus office they have designed, and then auto theft on an epic scale ensues! It would have been interesting to see a film like this circa Double Indemnity or The Big Carnival.
As it stands, Mauvaise Graine is a lightweight caper film that is merely a romp. Taken in comparison with Wilder’s oeuvre to come, one could say that this is a satire taking shots at capitalism, where the antagonist is really a spoiled brat who still gets to suck up to his dad, and the main entrepreneurs are crooks. In the mid-1950s during the familiar “executive suite” phase of Americana (where so many suburban denizens are nameless drones in these concrete and glass corporate towers), with some performers playing it to the max, this may have been a biting satire. Instead, it remains an amusing artifact from a writer-director who had yet to find his style.
Originally presented in Vol. #1, Issue #2, “The First Annual Drive-In Issue”. (God knows why I decided to add it here. The next issue would’ve been more appropriate.)
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.