Behind the Facade

1939

1h 30m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

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Crime

Comedy

In the elevator of two large Parisian buildings, a telegraph operator discovers the body of an elderly woman, Madame Mathieu, the owner of both buildings. Boucheron, the local superintendent, is dispatched to investigate, along with his rival, Inspector Lambert of the "Sûreté". To solve the enigma, they scour staircases and corridors, visiting every floor of both buildings, courtyard and facade. Their gruff rivalry allows them to complement each other in discovering who committed the crime among a gallery of characters, humble or rich, who all have something to be ashamed of... A rare, fast-paced, picturesque comedy set against the backdrop of a police mystery.

Directors

Georges Lacombe

Yves Mirande

Writers

Georges Lacombe(co-writer by)

Yves Mirande(dialogue by)

Max Kolpé(co-writer by)

Stars

Lucien Baroux

Jacques Baumer

Jules Berry

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Top cast

Lucien Baroux

Commissioner Boucheron, district police officer

Jacques Baumer

Inspector Lambert of the Sûreté

Jules Berry

Alfredo d'Avila, dancer of these ladies

Gaby Morlay

Gaby Valrose, minister's lover

Elvira Popescu

Mrs. Rameau, wife of an industrialist and mistress of Alfredo

Michel Simon

Picking, knife-throwing artist

André Lefaur

Mr. Corbeau, kleptomaniac

Gaby Sylvia

Madeleine Martin, in love with André

Andrex

André Laurent, bank cashier, lover of Madeleine

Simone Berriau

Lydia, singer at “Perroquet”, mistress of the President

Erich von Stroheim

Eric, German naturalized French

Betty Stockfeld

English, Albert's companion, Eric's mistress

Jacques Dumesnil

Albert Durant, stockbroker and poker player

Missia

Joséphine, chicken trainer, wife of Picking

Paul Faivre

Concierge of the two buildings

Aimé Clariond

Judge Bernier, President of the Court of Appeal

Raymond Segard

Robert Bernier, eldest son of the President

Marcel Orluc

Gérard Bernier, youngest son of the President

Directors

Georges Lacombe

Yves Mirande

Writers

Georges Lacombe(co-writer by)

Yves Mirande(dialogue by)

Max Kolpé(co-writer by)

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10/10

**Behind the Facade (1939)** A crime has been committed in a very respectable Parisian apartment building... Which of the tenants is the murderer? A shocking investigation for a series of sketches. It also features a fabulous cast of stars from the 1930s/1940s: Jules Berry, Michel Simon, Erich Von Stroheim, Elvire Popesco, Carette, Gaby Morlay, Simone Berriau... Lucien Baroux as Commissaire Boucheron, a policeman from the Quariter, who investigates the murder of a building's owner, and Jacques Baumer as Inspector Lambert, from the Sûreté, a more prestigious service than the local police station... _Behind the Facade_ is undoubtedly one of the most up-to-date and revealing films of the immediate pre-war period, of which Yves Mirande was one of the princes: a man of the theater, a man of wit and a man of the salon, he, like Sacha Guitry, enjoyed every success. His plays triumphed on the boulevard, several were adapted for the screen, he wrote screenplays and dialogues, and sometimes tried his hand at directing. In 1938, he had conceived and directed the excellent _Café de Paris_ (also directed by Georges Lacombe). A crime film set in this Parisian hot spot on New Year's Eve. Perfectly respecting the classic three-unit rule, it featured a police investigation following the murder of a press magnate. The customers present at the time of the crime, forced to remain on the premises, were successively interrogated, a convenient pretext for the appearance of Mirande's star friends, one after the other and for a few minutes at a time. Jules Berry, Véra Korène, Pierre Brasseur, Simone Berriau, etc. _Café de Paris_ was a great success on release: the producers and the Régina company immediately asked Yves Mirande to undertake another work based on the same principle: Derrière la Façade, also technically supervised by Georges Lacombe, was even more brilliantly performed: like Guitry, Mirande loved actors, and knew how to make them love him. The plot is almost the same as in _Café de Paris_, only the location has changed: this time, the crime is committed in a tenement building, and it's the residents who two rival policemen will try to get to talk to each other in order to uncover the murderer of one of the tenants. Again, a pretext for sketches, but of constant interest: the film is certainly well made, and we have fun recognizing the faces, and there are many of them. Almost all of them are pre-war greats, but through them, Mirande shows the whole of self-satisfied, egotistical society, with its prejudices and pettiness. As is often the case with fashionable people, Yves Mirande is perfectly placed to be aware of the imperfections of the community in which he lives; if we can't suspect him of having wanted to stigmatize, let alone awaken, the fact remains that he showed here an astonishing, undoubtedly unconscious lucidity. If society is the place where the human comedy is played out, the boulevard, theater or cinema, is its microcosm. It's no coincidence, for instance, that Erich Von Stroheim's character is featured in _Behind the Facade_: a German, or more generally an arrogant foreigner, recently naturalized as a French citizen, who shamelessly rips off "real" citizens, is responsible for the stagnation Mirande senses, and whom the film singles out for popular vindication. Obscure feelings, muted anxieties: images of a decomposed France, soon to be brought down by a conflict it dreads but dares not confront. It's the France of Munich on parade, with comedy ministers and bourgeois, cocottes and stuffy aristocrats, in a ballet that closely resembles a dance of death.

VinceBass16 Jan, 2024