Mélo (1932) watch online HD

Director Paul Czinner was reportedly a violinist extraordinaire and it's really a pity he did not use music with good effects in "Melo" .Only the scene in the theater shows his skills and even this is dwarfed when compared to the way Frank Borzage (among others) combined score with drama in such works as "I'll always love you" .

"Melo" has not worn well.Based on a play ,it looks like a filmed stage production.Acting is very old-fashioned :Pierre Blanchar is almost unbearable,giggling in the first part and groaning in the second one;you should see him with a thermometer in his mouth .Gaby Morlay and Victor Francen are just okay ,the latter lacking in charm for this kind of part (he looks too old although he was only 44)

"Melo" was remade in the eighties by Alain Resnais ;as I'm allergic to Sabine Azema and to post-"Muriel" Resnais,I haven't seen it and I don't feel up to it.But Resnais' numerous fans might be interested in the first version of their "classic".

The angel in question of course being Gaby Morlay - and if you don't believe me check out her performance in Le Voile bleu, a copy of which should be wending its way to me even as we speak, courtesy of my more than generous French friend - a rock of thirties and forties French cinema who, like other standout performers, fell out of favour with fickle audiences when she formed a close relationship with a Minister in Petain's puppet government during the Occupation. The fact that they later married cut little ice with ticket-buyers but eventually, just like Gabin, Arletty, Darrieux, Morgan etc, her talent could not be denied. She's more or less the only reason for watching this creaking War Horse which was dated even in 1932. Paul Czinner was one of the 'old' school inasmuch as he loved nothing better than a wallow through schmaltz and had a penchant for directing his wife, Elizabeth Bergner. You'd be justified in dismissing this as total ephemera but for me it represents yet another tile in the rich mosaic that was French Cinema in the thirties.