Plot
In Monte Carlo, Marc, a handsome card sharp, escapes American gangsters who have been ordered to kill him by the boss of a New York gang because he had an affair with the boss's wife. Marc hides in a mission for the poor where Barbara, a wealthy widow, finds him and hires him as her chauffeur. At Barbara's chateau, Melinda, Barbara's niece, becomes attracted to him. Marc discovers that Barbara is hiding her lover, Vincent, in the secret rooms and passageways of the chateau. She and Vincent (a bank robber sought by the police for murdering Barbara's husband) plan to murder Marc so that Vincent may use his passport in escaping to South America. Marc and Barbara begin an affair but are discovered by Vincent, who then kills Barbara but is also killed by the American gangsters who mistake him for Marc. Marc and Melinda plan to dispose of the two bodies, but when Melinda learns that Marc is planning to leave without her, she tricks the police into believing that Marc is guilty and forces him to hide in the chateau's secret rooms. He is her prisoner, just as Vincent had been her aunt's.Cast
* Jane Fonda as Melinda * Alain Delon as Marc * Lola Albright as Barbara * Sorrell Booke as Harry * Carl Studer as Loftus * André Oumansky as Vincent * Arthur Howard as Father Nielson * Del Negro (actor), Del Negro as MickProduction
The film was based on a Day Keene novel published in 1954. ''The New York Times'' called the book "more conventional than usual" but said the story was "... well constructed and sharply twisted in the James M. Cain manner." Film rights were bought by MGM, who signed René Clément to direct; he had previously made ''The Day and the Hour'' for MGM, which, as with ''Joy House'', featured both American and French actors. MGM signed Alain Delon to a five-picture deal following the studio's successful collaboration with him on 1963's ''Any Number Can Win (film), Any Number Can Win''. In March 1963, it was that announced Natalie Wood would appear opposite Delon. However, Wood soon dropped out and was replaced by Jane Fonda. Filming started in August 1963. The film was partly shot in the historic Villa Torre Clementina. It was Jane Fonda's first movie in France. Of the shoot, she said, "there was chaos, rain and script changes, I fought sixty battles and won them all." She shot her part speaking English and was dubbed into French. She later recalled that Clément made the film without a script:I didn't speak very good French then, and I never understood much of what was going on. The only people who really dug that movie, for some reason, were junkies. They used to come up to me and give me a big wink. But I'm awfully glad I did it because it got me into France and I met [later husband Roger] Roger Vadim, Vadim.Fonda would marry Vadim in 1965 and live in France for several years.
Reception
The ''Los Angeles Times'' called the film "an oddball thriller."References
External links
* * * {{René Clément 1964 films American black-and-white films Films directed by René Clément French black-and-white films English-language French films 1960s French-language films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films based on American novels Films scored by Lalo Schifrin Films set on the French Riviera 1960s English-language films 1960s multilingual films French multilingual films