Mauvaise graine (1934)

Directed by: Alexander Esway, Billy Wilder | 96 minutes | comedy, drama | Actors: Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Mingand, Raymond Galle, Paul Escoffier, Michel Duran, Jean Wall, Marcel Maupi, Paul Velsa, Georges Malkine, Georges Cahuzac, Gaby Héritier

Billy Wilder already had quite a few screenplays to his name when he arrived in Paris in March 1933, on the run from Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. He took refuge in Hotel Ansonia, where he found old acquaintances from the German film industry who were in the same boat as himself: actor Peter Lorre, screenwriters Jan Lustig and Max Colpet and composers Franz Waxman and Friedrich Holländer. Lustig and Colpet decided to help Wilder work out a script he had already devised in Berlin. To get the funding for the project off the ground, a director was needed and Alexander Esway was found willing to take on that role. On paper at least, because in practice it was Wilder himself who was forced to take the director’s chair. He himself never really mentioned how things went on the set of ‘Mauvaise graine’ (1934), but actress Danielle Darrieux would later admit that Esway had barely made an appearance. Wilder once recalled how hard he found the recording period of ‘Mauvaise graine’: ‘I can’t say that I had a lot of fun making that film… There was pressure, people depended on you. And even if you’re not really in control, you can’t show it because otherwise everyone will get nervous. I, and I alone, was responsible for everything – everything!’

‘Mauvaise graine’ – which means ‘bad seed’ – combines light humor with a touch of drama. Wilder would later perfect that into his trademark (and the humor got a lot darker in his post-World War II films), but the master’s hand is already somewhat visible in this early work. It focuses on Henri Pasquier (Pierre Mingand), a stubborn and spoiled young man whose hole in his hand drives his father (Paul Escoffier) ​​to despair. As punishment, he takes Henri’s car and stops his allowance. That doesn’t stop Henri from stealing a car, though; after all, he has a date with a beautiful girl he won’t let go! However, a gang of notorious car thieves catches him and Henri is tempted to join the motley crew. He befriends the youngest gang member Jean (Raymond Galle), who steals ties as well as cars. He also meets the beautiful Jeanette (Danielle Darrieux), Jean’s younger sister who is used as bait in the criminal activities. When Henri discovers that the gang leader (Michel Duran) does the least work but earns the most money, he gets into a fight with him and is sent off with Jeanette to find a stolen car – which has been tampered with – from Paris to Marseille. to drive.

‘Mauvaise graine’ was Wilder’s last European film. When the film premiered, he was already in Hollywood. It would be another nine years before Wilder would return to the director’s chair (for ‘The Major and the Minor’, 1942). ‘I still didn’t see myself as a director. I didn’t even know if I liked directing a movie. But with ‘Mauvaise graine’ I had at least provided proof that I could do it.’ ‘Mauvaise graine’ was made with a minimal budget, which also meant that Wilder had to do a lot himself. ‘I had to be everyone; from producer to script girl. I was even an extra. Not because I wanted to imitate Hitchcock so much, but because we simply couldn’t afford any extra body.’ Wilder had no soundstage at his disposal and shot all the scenes that took place indoors while improvising in a converted car showroom. The chases were recorded ‘live’ on the street, with the camera strapped to the back of a truck or in a car. This produces quite spectacular images, especially when viewed in the light of time. The classic Hispanos, Studebakers and Buicks are a feast for the eyes for the enthusiast.

Wilder already clearly leaves his mark here, not only in the tone of the film, but also in the shrewd screenplay that is full of niceties and running gags (the tie fetish, for example, but also the miserable driving of one of the other gang members). The ‘talkie’ hadn’t been introduced that much earlier and that is noticeable in the acting style, which is not very subtle. But that is not really disturbing, Wilder lets too much happen in his film for that. The gang’s interactions and the aforementioned chase sequences are spectacular, and the themes that emerge – crime doesn’t pay, you can learn from your mistakes, love conquers all – may be corny, but they fit right in in this entertaining snack, which, despite those rookie mistakes, already unmistakably contains a Billy Wilder film.