Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Pièges (1939)
Director: Robert Siodmak
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A likeable policier, with Déa as a taxi-dancer persuaded by the police to act as a decoy when a friend falls victim to a serial killer who snares his prey through lonely hearts ads. Her adventures while responding to likely ads are a trifle too picaresque (they include taking down a gang of white slavers), but they do hang together in mood and manner until Chevalier turns up as romantic lead and chief suspect: in effect playing himself with repellent complacency, indulged with two trademark songs, he very nearly destroys the ambience. At its best, though, the film captures the same sense of brooding menace as Siodmak's later work in film noir, with terrific performances from Stroheim (as a pathetically batty couturier, ruined by a rival, who stages fashion shows for imaginary audiences) and Pierre Renoir (as the enigmatic éminence grise behind Chevalier's business interests).Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Siodmak
Producer: Michel Safra
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Pierre Renoir, Marie Déa, Erich von Stroheim, André Brunot, Jean Temerson, Jacques Varennes full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 115 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now