''Trap for the Assassin'' (french: Roger la Honte) is a 1966 film directed by

Riccardo Freda Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror film, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films. Freda began directing ''I Vampiri'' in 1956. The f ...

and starring

Georges Géret Georges Géret (18 October 1924 – 7 April 1996) was a French film actor. He appeared in over 80 films between 1954 and 1992. He was born in Lyon, France. Selected filmography * ''The Unfrocked One'' (1954) - Un militaire à l'Oflag et à ...

Irene Papas Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...

and

Jean-Pierre Marielle Jean-Pierre Marielle (12 April 1932 – 24 April 2019) was a French actor. He appeared in more than a hundred films in which he played very diverse roles, from a banal citizen ('' Les Galettes de Pont-Aven''), to a World War II hero (''Les Milles ...

. It is an adaptation of the 1886 novel ''Roger la Honte'' by

Jules Mary Jules Mary (March 20, 1851 – July 27, 1922) was a French novelist. His melodramas were traditionally popular subjects for adaptation by filmmakers, and his best-known work '' Roger la Honte'' has been made into films five times.Goble p.311 Sele ...

Cast

as Roger Laroque *

as Julia de Noirville *

as Lucien de Noirville *

Jean Topart Jean Topart (13 April 1922 – 29 December 2012) was a French actor. He was considered one of the best known voices on French television for decades. In addition to providing the voices and narration for television series and animated films, Topa ...

as Luversan *

Sabine Sun The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divide ...

as Victoire * Gabriele Tinti as Raymond de Noirville *

Germaine Delbat Germaine may refer to: Given name *Germaine Arnaktauyok (born 1946), Inuk printmaker, painter, and drawer *Germaine Cousin (1579-1601), French saint *Germaine Greer (born 1939), feminist writer and academic *Germaine Koh (born 1967), Malaysian-born ...

as La mère Brun - la servante de Larouette

Production

''Trap for the Assassin'' was based on '' Roger la Honte'', one of the most popular ''

feuilletons A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criti ...

'' by

. The script for the film was adapted by

Jean-Louis Bory Jean-Louis Bory (25 June 1919 – 11/12 June 1979) was a French writer, journalist, and film critic. Life Jean-Louis Bory was born on 25 June 1919 in Méréville, Essonne. The son of a pharmacist and a teacher, he came from a family of teacher ...

, who was an admirer of Freda's work, having met him in 1962 in Paris. Bory claimed that he wrote the adaptation and dialogue exclusive to function with Freda's direction. According to Freda and his assistant director

Yves Boisset Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 Fren ...

, ''Trapped for the Assassin'' was a project Freda really cared about. Shooting for the film took four weeks and used three cameras at once.

Release

''Trap for the Assassin'' was released in France on 17 May 1966. It was distributed theatrically in Italy by Regional as ''Trappola per l'assassino'' on 21 October 1966. Italian film historian Roberto Curti stated that the film had poor distribution and was hardly noticed by critics or audiences. It has been given an English title ''Trap for the Assassin'' despite that the film does not appear to have been released overseas.

Reception

In France, ''s reviewer praised Freda's direction in the film "We would like that all...knew as much as Freda how to handle a camera (see the trail sequence) and its spectacular potential. That's what makes this cheap little film such a beautiful illusion and a definite pleasure"

Gilles Jacob Gilles Jacob (born 22 June 1930) is a French film critic and essayist, who served as president of the Cannes Film Festival between 2001 and 2014. Life and career Born in Paris, the son of an entrepreneur, Jacob studied at the Lycée Louis-le- ...

praised the film, but noted that "let's face it, we would not go see

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

were it signed by Cayatte or

Maurice Cloche Maurice Cloche (17 June 1907, Commercy, Meuse – 23 March 1990, Bordeaux, France) was a French film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. Best known for his Oscar-winning film ''Monsieur Vincent'' (1947) he won a 1948 Special Ac ...

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

External links

* 1966 films French historical drama films Italian historical drama films 1960s historical drama films 1960s French-language films Films directed by Riccardo Freda Films based on French novels Films set in the 19th century 1960s Italian films 1960s French films {{historic-film-stub