La maison du Maltais (1938) Online

A first version was filmed in 1927,but it seems forever lost.Now only Chenal's version is relatively easy to see.Made just before "le dernier tournant" (the first version of "the postman always rings twice"),"la maison du Maltais has got a pretty good reputation.Does it deserve it?Much more than "l'alibi' (1937)...but much less than "la foire aux chimères" (1946).

In a chocolate box Arabian country -which recalls Duvivier's "pepe le moko" which also features chanteuse Frehel- a poetic young dreamer falls in love with a whore,Safia, with whom he dreams of a home and a family,in his father's house ,the magic "maison du Maltais".He gets Safia pregnant but ,as he does not come back from a dubious voyage (smuggling),she leaves the country for France where she marries a chic wealthy man.

This is pure melodrama and John Stahl would not disown it;everything's here:the prostitutes in their brothel,trying to make ends meet;the unfortunate girl,dying in her hospital bed;the gentleman who believes the little girl is his daughter;a blackmailer.

Matteo lives in another world,the world of the tales from the Arabian nights;when he awakes ,it's too late.Safia is told that the only way to get by is not to tell the truth to men.

As always in a Chenal's movie,the cast is first-class:Dalio,Renoir's favorite actor as Matteo;Vivianne Romance,who often gets parts of a bitch displays a lot of humanity here:she almost plays two parts,the hooker and the socialite;Louis Jouvet in a short part of a private eye(and blackmailer).

Some scenes are close to fantastic and predates Chenal's towering achievement "la foire aux chimères" :Safia,leaving her hard-won bourgeois manners home ,and playing the hooker again to fool Matteo;the "maison du Maltais" which seems to come from the Arabian tales;the strange dummy which Matteo's pals use to ridicule him.

I read dbdumonteil, my favourite reviewer —I usually agree with him and I love to disagree too— and well… I felt compelled to add something to pump-up his enthusiasm.

For if "Le dernier tournant" is good, if "La foire aux chimères" is very good, twisty and enthralling, this "Maison du Maltais" is one of the most flamboyant melodramas I've ever seen. And, to my eyes, the best thing Pierre Chenal ever made.

The story is classic melodrama with enough turns to entertain and appeal you all 87 minutes long.

The characters are clichéd at first sight, but finding redeeming features in their parts to finally become original.

The good-hearted hard working whore becomes a lady then finds herself compelled to inhabit for some minutes, twice, her whore's clothes and behaviour. The dreamer, Dalio, also knows transformations, three times in his case.

The two-fold story benefits of an excellent pace, great set-ups —the first reel's exotic ambiance is exceptionally well created— and great cinematography too, the best I've seen for any Chenal's works.

About the cast, the other reviewers said it already, but let me add this : Viviane Romance is here just as good as she'll be in Duvivier's "Panique", and maybe better. Isn't it enough?

If no, I'll say more : it's Dalio's part for his life-time. Jany Holt is cast in her category, and she does it just at her best.

More? Jouvet, stellar in less than ten minutes screen-time, astonishing, amazing…

OK, enough, you see my point: try to watch this one, along with the two other Pierre Chenal's movies named earlier, and admit with me that he was one of the great "petits maîtres" of French cinema, when he had the chance.

And for this peculiar movie, Stahl or Sirk didn't do better. Yes indeed!

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