Night at the Crossroads

Interesting thanks to good acting and strange characters. The story is interesting enough though it seems to develop in bursts and the ending isn't especially satisfying. Renoir's direction shows talent but isn't all that great, though that may partly be the fault of the films age.

This is listed on TSPDT's top 1000 list, but I have to think that is solely because it's a Renoir, because it just felt like a poorly made film to me, and this is normally one of my favorite genres. Middling to poor acting (Winna Winifred is especially bad) with technical problems common to the time period. Even the car chase, which looked like it could have been a very exciting scene, especially for the time, is ruined by the complete lack of lighting. It was a low budget film and it shows.

Star Rating: ★★★

Not among Jean Renoir's best work. It's a crime mystery and it's got it's atmosphere, but not the suspense. The production is deliberately rough and I have a feeling they had their fun making this, not taking it too seriously and instead experiment and see what worked. And if it didn't then never mind. At least that's the feeling I got from watching this.

# 752