Mauvaise Graine (1933)

Synopsis: Billy Wilder's vibrant pre-Hollywood directorial debut expresses many of the sensibilities that were to be explored in his future films. Co-directed by Alexander Esway, the film features a clever and cutting screenplay written by Alexandre Esway, H.G. Lustig, and Max Kolpe, based on a... Billy Wilder's vibrant pre-Hollywood directorial debut expresses many of the sensibilities that were to be explored in his future films. Co-directed by Alexander Esway, the film features a clever and cutting screenplay written by Alexandre Esway, H.G. Lustig, and Max Kolpe, based on a short story by Billy Wilder. A ring of scrappy Parisian car thieves uses an innocent-looking girl named Jeanette (Danielle Darrieux) as a decoy. Trouble ensues when they collide with a disinherited French wastrel named Henri Pasquier (Pierre Mingrand). Henri--whose father has recently cut off his inheritance in an attempt to teach him a lesson--has responded in turn by stealing a car. The gang's leader, Jean la Cravate (Raymond Galle), quickly incorporates Henri's skills, but jealousy within the new gang inevitably gets in the way. Finding production on a shoestring budget insufferable, Wilder would not direct another film for nine years. Interestingly, the film's run-and-gun style predates the French Nouvelle Vague movement by many years. Franz Waxman provides the powerful jazzy score. The film also featutes a dose of the classic cleverer-than-she-looks bad girl with a gleam in her eye whom Wilder's future actresses would revel in playing. [More]