Maldone

Dullin plays Maldone, a wandering womaniser summoned to run the family estate after his brother dies. He marries, struggles with his responsibilities, but you know he's not going to stay the course. This anecdote is used mainly as a shop window for the talents of Grémillon and Périnal, then both still in their twenties. In the first part, the tramp's life (lazy afternoons by the canal, harvesting, boozy nights at country inns), and in the second his despondency and frustration are all handled imaginatively and with panache. Interesting to see Dullin, one of France's great stage actors and forceful enough, but clearly too odd-looking to get far in the movies.