Assassinat du Père Noël, L' (1941)

Director:

Christian-Jaque

Writers:

Charles Spaak (writer)
Pierre Véry (novel)

Release Date:

22 April 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Harry Baur	...	Gaspard Cornusse
Renée Faure	...	Catherine Cornusse
Marie-Hélène Dasté	...	La mère Michel
Raymond Rouleau	...	Le baron Roland de la Faille
Robert Le Vigan	...	Léon Villard, le maître d'école (as Le Vigan)
Fernand Ledoux	...	Noirgoutte, le maire
Jean Brochard	...	Ricomet
Jean Parédès	...	Kappel, le sacristain (as Jean Paredes)
Héléna Manson	...	Marie Coquillot (as Helena Manson)

Also Known As:

The Killing of Santa Claus (UK)
Who Killed Santa Claus? (USA)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

Continental Films

Trivia:

Was the first film produced by Continental Films, the infamous French production company financed by the Germans.

Death may be your Santa Claus.

Unlike the precedent user,I will not speak of the political background but of Christian-Jaque's intentions.It was obviously intended to match the brilliance of his former work "les disparus de Saint-Agil" (1938),the script of which having been written by Pierre Very too from his two novels.In both works two worlds coexist:the adults on one side,the children on the other."Les disparus de Saint-Agil",which was a small miracle in itself succeeded in perfectly blending the two worlds .In "l'assassinat du père noel' the two sides do not hang very well,the "grown-ups " and the "brats " plots go their separate ways and only a tenuous line desperately tries to connect them:Baur's daughter,dreaming of fair knights and Princes Charming of fairy tales ,an adult who's still a child.

The best is the atmosphere:the village surrounded by snow,where they gather for the feast of Xmas ,wrapped in mystery:a strange woman,searching for her cat-she will be searching for almost the entire film- ,a handsome baron who hides one of his hands in a glove (leprosy?),an anticlerical schoolteacher (almost a pleonasm in those years),a shady chemist ,and the gendarmes who cannot ,until the very end reach the isolated place where a Santa Claus has been killed.Besides ,a bedridden child is eagerly waiting for his father Xmas.

The movie is mainly worthwhile for its atmosphere;the detective plot is disappointing;the solution is given in about 2 minutes and it's very trite.Some of the yuletide charms are preserved though,and the last pictures finally connects the two stories ,albeit a bit artificially.