A Parisian dance hostess, blackmailed into providing an alibi for a murderer falls in love with a secret police agent sent to win her trust. Other thrillers of the period were as sharply directed and written, but few had the inestimable advantage of the sparks between Stroheim’s killer and Jouvet’s police chief. ‘L’alibi’ is stylistically and thematically the closest of his [Chenal] films to the work of Carne and Prevert, he all but abandoned his habitual moving camera, while multiplying (studio shot) expressionistic effects of lighting and composition. Chenal has the dubious distinction of being the major filmmaker of the decade (1930s) most thoroughly forgotten by the film community after WWII for reason from which prejudice may not, perhaps, be excluded.” Reference: Alan Williams. “Republic of Images: a history of French filmmaking”. Harvard University Press, 1992.
Credits: Producer, Joseph Nash ; director, Pierre Chenal ; writers, Marcel Achard, Jacques Companeez, H. Juttke ; photography, Ted Pahle ; music, Georges Auric.
Cast: Louis Jouvet, Erich von Stroheim, Albert Prejean, Jany Holt, Margo Lion, Max Dalban, Maurice Bacquet, Roger Blin, Florence Marly, Margo Lion.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
X000404
Languages
English
French
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)