''The Spider and the Fly'' is a 1949 British crime film directed by

Robert Hamer Robert Hamer (31 March 1911 – 4 December 1963) was a British film director and screenwriter best known for the 1949 black comedy ''Kind Hearts and Coronets''. Biography Hamer was born at 24 Chester Road, Kidderminster, along with his twi ...

and starring

Eric Portman Eric Harold Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969) was an English stage and film actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in several films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the 1940s. Early life Born in Halifax, ...

Guy Rolfe Guy Rolfe (born Edwin Arthur Rolfe, 27 December 1911 – 19 October 2003) was a British actor. Career Rolfe was born in Kilburn, London. Before turning to acting at the age of 24 he was a professional boxer and racing driver, making his stage ...

and

Nadia Gray Nadia Gray (born Nadia Kujnir; 23 November 1923 – 13 June 1994) was a Romanian film actress. Biography Gray was born into a Jewish family in Bucharest. Her father moved to Romania from Russia, and her mother was from Akkerman (Bessarabia). ...

. The screenplay concerns an unusual love triangle that develops between two criminals and a policeman on the eve of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Hamer made it immediately after ''

Kind Hearts and Coronets ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' is a 1949 British crime black comedy film. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness; Guinness plays nine characters. The plot is loosely based on the novel ''Israel Rank: The Auto ...

''.

Plot

In 1913, Fernand Maubert, the dedicated chief of police of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, is pursuing Philippe Lodocq, a suave bank robber suspected of a series of thefts, but the criminal always has an

alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

. After the latest robbery, Maubert does capture Lodocq's accomplice, Madeleine Saincaise. When she is released from prison, Maubert warns her to stay away from Lodocq (though he has a certain admiration for the man). Impressed by her intelligence, beauty and courage, he begins to court her himself. When Lodocq visits her, she professes her love for him, but he tells her that it is too dangerous for them to be seen together and that they would eventually tire of each other anyway. Later, however, during one of their cordial occasional meetings, Maubert tells Lodocq that he can tell that Madeleine is different from Lodocq's other women; she has gotten under his skin. Later, the police are tipped off by an informant and arrive during an attempted theft. Lodocq gets away, but his assistant Jean Louis is killed, along with a policeman. Lodocq persuades Madeleine to provide him with an alibi. Maubert knows she is lying, but cannot prove it. However, he does stop seeing her. Finally, Maubert gets the break he has been waiting for. Lodocq employs Jean Louis's brother Alfred for his next theft. Maubert gets Alfred to betray Lodocq, not out of revenge for his brother's death, but by telling him falsely that Lodocq did not give his mother Jean's fair share of the loot. Lodocq is imprisoned just as World War I breaks out. During the war, Maubert becomes a major in French

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ...

. When the Minister of War tells him that they urgently need a list of German spies in France being kept in a safe in the German embassy in neutral Bern, Switzerland, Maubert states there is only one man for the job. Maubert is authorized to offer a pardon to Lodocq in exchange for his services. The prisoner agrees after Maubert dangles the prospect of seeing Madeleine. The theft goes off without a hitch. However, when Lodocq goes to Madeleine's flat, he finds a despondent Maubert already there. In a surprise twist, it turns out that Madeleine's name was on the list they stole. She is taken away, with the implication that she will be executed for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. In the final scene, Maubert watches Lodocq, now an anonymous French soldier, board a train for the intense fighting at Verdun, both knowing that Lodocq stands little chance of survival.

Cast

Production

It was the first film from the producing team of

Maxwell Setton Maxwell Setton (born 24 October 1909, date of death unknown) was a British film producer, notably active in the 1950s.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 688-689; ...

and Aubrey Baring, who set up their operation at

Mayflower Pictures Mayflower Productions was a British-based film production company of the 1930s and 1950s. Mayflower Pictures Mayflower Pictures was formed in July 1937 by German-born film producer Erich Pommer and British actor Charles Laughton. John Maxwell wa ...

. Mayflower had been established by Charles Laughton and Eric Pommer in the 1930s and made three films but became dormant with the advent of World War Two. Setton and Baring decided to re-activate the company and the two men would make six movies together, most of which were written by

Robert Westerby Robert Westerby (3 July 1909 in Hackney, England – 16 November 1968 in Los Angeles County, California, United States), was a writer of novels (published by Arthur Barker of London) and screenwriter for films and television. An amateur boxer in ...

, who wrote ''The Spider and the Fly''. Mayflower received a government grant to underwrite part of the cost. Robert Westerby's story was based on a true story which he had been told by a member of the French police. (In October 1948 Alfred Hitchcock announced that he would make three films for Transatlantic Enterprises after he finished ''Under Capricorn'': ''I Confess'', ''Dark Duty'' and ''The Spider and the Fly''.) The leads were Eric Portman, Nadia Gray and Guy Rolfe. It was Eric Portman's first film in over a year, during which time he enjoyed a great success on stage in a double bill of

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

plays called ''Playbill''. Nadia Gray was a Romanian actor who had spent part of the war in a German concentration camp; she was cast in the film partly due to her appearance on the Paris stage in a production of Noël Coward's ''

Present Laughter ''Present Laughter'' is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 but not produced until 1942 because the Second World War began while it was in rehearsal, and the British theatres closed. The title is drawn from a song in Shakespeare's ''T ...

'' (she was seen by Anthony Havelock-Allan who recommended her). It was Guy Rolfe's third leading role. Filming started in May 1949 and took place in Paris over three weeks, then at Pinewood studios in London. Sets were by the art director

Edward Carrick Edward Carrick (born Edward Anthony Craig; 3 January 1905 – 21 January 1998) was an English art designer for film, an author and illustrator. Carrick was born in London. His father was Edward Gordon Craig, the theatre practitioner and stage d ...

. The period costumes were designed partly by

Elizabeth Haffenden Elizabeth Haffenden (18 April 1906 – 29 May 1976) was a British costume designer who won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, for '' Ben-Hur'' at the 1959 Academy Awards and '' A Man for All Seasons'' at the 1966 Academy Awards. She al ...

. It was

Seth Holt Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. Ac ...

's first film as lead editor, although he had worked as an assistant for a number of years.

Reception

The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "The film falls between melodrama and something deeper - a study of human relationships. Though there are some tense scenes, it is as a whole not sufficiently exciting for a thriller, and Hamer's bitter intelligence is not quite sharp enough for a real drama of character."Review of film
at Monthly Film Bulletin

References

External links

* *
The Spider and the Fly
at BFI {{DEFAULTSORT:Spider and the Fly, The 1949 films British crime drama films 1949 crime drama films Films directed by Robert Hamer 1949 romantic drama films 1940s historical romance films British historical romance films Films shot at Pinewood Studios British romantic drama films Films scored by Georges Auric Films set in Paris Films set in 1913 Films shot in Paris 1940s English-language films 1940s British films