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It is with great reluctance that Antonin Rose, a struggling young barrister in Paris, agrees to take on the case of Achille Durin, a valet accused of stealing a tie-pin from his employer, Lord Scarlett. The impecunious lawyer is duped into purloining a suitcase that will prove Durin's innocence, but in doing so he falls foul of a ruse concocted by the world-renowned burglar Mister Flow! By the time Antonin realises that Durin and Flow are one in the same man, he is in the arch-criminal's power and easy prey for Flow's even more devious partner-in-crime, the delectable socialite Lady Helena Scarlett. During her stay at the casino resort of Deauville, the latter succeeds in making the naive lawyer a willing accomplice in her nefarious exploits, with the result that Antonin soon risks being mistaken for Mister Flow...

Siodmak makes a reasonable fist at juggling the contrasting comedic and dramatic elements of this quirky Jekyll-and-Hyde film, although he is clearly more interested in atmospherics than narrative, happily playing with lighting and camera angles in a way that clearly anticipates the full-bodied noir masterpieces he would go on to make in the following decade.

Director: Robert Siodmak
Cast: Fernand Gravey, Edwige Feuillere, Jean Perier, Vladimir Sokoloff
Country: France
Genre: Drama

BD50 + DVD9 | 1080i AVC, PAL | 01:31:25 | 28.1 Gb + 7.03 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English, Francais

Extras:
-- Un coup manque (1932, 38 min), short film by Marco de Gastyne, with Roland Toutain, Fred Pasquali and Andree Lorrain
-- Album de famille (12 min), interview with Patrick Leroux