''Lady Killer'' () is a 1937 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Jean Grémillon Jean Grémillon (; 3 October 1901 – 25 November 1959) was a French film director. Biography Grémillon was born in Bayeux and spent his early years in Cerisy-la-Forêt in Normandy. His father was employed by the Ouest railway company. Durin ...

and starring

Jean Gabin Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976), was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films, including '' Pépé le ...

Mireille Balin Mireille Césarine Balin (born Blanche Mireille Césarine Balin; 20 July 1909, in Monte Carlo – 9 November 1968 in Paris)"Balin, Mireille (1911–1968)." ''Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages'', edited by Anne Commire ...

and

Marguerite Deval Marguerite Deval (19 September 1866 – 18 December 1955) was a French singer and actress. Born Marguerite Hippolyte Juliette Brulfer, she was a comedian, opera chanteuse, and actress of stage and film. She was born in Strasbourg and died in Par ...

. It has been classified as both a

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

and an entry into the

poetic realist Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. More a tendency than a movement, poetic realism is not strongly unified like Soviet montage or French Impressionism but were individuals who created this lyrical style. Its leading filmmak ...

group of films of the late 1930s. It was produced by the German company UFA in conjunction with its own French subsidiary ACE. Like ''

Port of Shadows ''Port of Shadows'' ( , "The dock of mists") is a 1938 French film directed by Marcel Carné. An example of poetic realism, it stars Jean Gabin, Michel Simon and Michèle Morgan. The screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert based on a novel ...

'' it drew on the tradition of

German expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

in its lighting and set design, although the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

authorities were opposed to the expressionist style. It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and on location around

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

s Hermann Asmus and

Max Mellin Max Mellin (30 January 1904 – 17 March 1977) was a German art director.Jacobsen & Prinzler p.275 Selected filmography * '' Goodbye, Beautiful Days'' (1933) * '' Happy Days in Aranjuez'' (1933) * ''The Girlfriend of a Big Man'' (1934) * '' Playi ...

. The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian filmmaker George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and ...

Plot

Cast

as Lucien Bourrache, 'Gueule d'Amour' *

as Madeleine *

Pierre Etchepare Pierre Paul Lucien Salvat Etchepare (2 October 1891 – 20 April 1943) was a French actor. Pierre Etchepare was born in Paris and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. Selected filmography * '' Happy Couple'' (1923) * '' My Aunt from Ho ...

as hotel owner *

Henri Poupon Henri Poupon (1884–1953) was a French stage and film actor.Paietta p.128 He worked a number of times with the write-director Marcel Pagnol. Selected filmography * ''The Fortune'' (1931) * '' To the Polls, Citizens'' (1932) * ''Angèle'' (1934) * ...

as Monsieur Cailloux * as Le valet de chambre *

Pierre Magnier Pierre Frédéric Magnier (February 22, 1869 – October 15, 1959) was a French actor who began on the stage in the 1890s and became a prominent silent film actor in France. He was the second actor to portray ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' in any film i ...

as Commandant *

as Madame Courtois * René Lefèvre as René *

Jane Marken Jane Marken (born Jeanne Berthe Adolphine Crabbe, sometimes credited as Jeanne Marken; 13 January 1895 in Paris – 1 December 1976 in Paris) was a French actress. She was the first wife of the actor Jules Berry. Marken began her film career u ...

as Madame Cailloux (as Jeanne Marken) * Paulette Noizeux * as restaurant manager (as Siméon) *

Pierre Labry Pierre Labry (1885–1948) was a French stage actor, stage and film actor.Capua p.122 He was active in the French film industry between 1920 and 1948, appearing in more than a hundred films. Selected filmography * ''La croisade'' (1920) * ''Gigo ...

as printer *

Lucien Dayle Lucien Dayle (1871–1952) was a French stage and film actor.Guillaume-Grimaud p.204 He made his screen debut in 1930 and often played supporting roles in films produced by L'Alliance Cinématographique Européenne. Selected filmography * '' The ...

as client *

Louis Florencie Louis Florencie (4 December 1896 – 4 December 1951) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1927 and 1951. Selected filmography * '' Make a Living'' (1931) * '' Companion Wanted'' (1932) * '' Beauty Spot'' (1932 ...

as waiter (as Florencie) *

Paul Fournier Paul Fournier (26 November 1853, Calais – 14 May 1935, Paris) was a French legal historian. He was a member of the Institut de France. Biography Born in Calais, Paul Fournier obtained a law degree before studying the history of institutions at ...

as client * as Captain *

Maurice Baquet Maurice Louis Baquet (26 May 1911 – 8 July 2005) was a French actor and cellist. He was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône and died in Noisy-le-Grand.Frédéric Mariotti Frédéric Mariotti (1 April 1883 – 22 February 1971) was a French stage and film actor whose career spanned more than four decades through the early silent film era into the early 1950s. Biography Frédéric Mariotti was born in Marseille an ...

as Le cantonnier (as Mariotti)

References

Bibliography

* Driskell, Jonathan . ''The French Screen Goddess: Film Stardom and the Modern Woman in 1930s France''. I.B.Tauris, 2015. * Spicer, Andrew (ed.) ''European Film Noir''. Manchester University Press, 2019. *Walker-Morrison, Deborah. ''Classic French Noir: Gender and the Cinema of Fatal Desire''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. * Williams, Alan Larson. ''Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking''. Harvard University Press, 1992.

External links

* * 1937 films 1937 drama films French drama films French black-and-white films Films set in Cannes Films directed by Jean Grémillon 1930s French-language films Films shot in Paris Films shot at Babelsberg Studios UFA GmbH films 1930s French films Films scored by Lothar Brühne Films with screenplays by Charles Spaak French-language drama films {{1930s-France-film-stub