Twin Pawns

Perret first worked with Feuillade as an actor, and obviously picked up a flair for poetic hokum which is displayed to great effect in this fast-paced melodrama (made during a four-year spell in America). The 'twin pawns' are identical sisters whose fortunes are manipulated by a greedy bookmaker suitably called Bent. The story (from Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White) may be nothing special, but the treatment certainly is, for Perret shows astonishing mastery of all the elements of cinema. The lighting, sets, compositions (impeccable use of doors, windows, and mirrors), editing, use of close-ups, even the design of the linking titles - all are pertinently stylish, full of the kind of visual texture usually associated with Sternberg, Sirk or Welles.