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La Tour, prends garde!
1958 History / Adventure / Drama
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Credits
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Director: Georges Lampin
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Script: Claude Accursi, Denys de La Patellière
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Photo: Jean Bourgoin
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Music: Maurice Thiriet, Georges Van Parys
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Cast: Jean Marais (Henri La Tour),
Eleonora Rossi Drago (La Comtesse Malvina d'Amalfi),
Nadja Tiller (Mirabelle),
Cathia Caro (Toinon),
Liliane Bert (Duchesse de Châteauroux),
Robert Dalban (Barberin),
Paul-Emile Deiber (Duc de Saint Sever),
Raoul Delfosse (Bravaccio),
Christian Duvaleix (Passelacet),
Dominique Davray (Invitée de Taupin),
Jean-Pierre Léaud (Pierrot),
Yves Massard (Marquis de Marmande),
Renaud Mary (Pérouge),
Sonja Hlebs (L'impératrice Marie-Thérèse),
Jean Lara (Louis XV),
Jean Parédès (Taupin),
Roger Saget (Noailles),
Andrej Gardenin (Fencer),
Bernadette Lafont
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 82 min
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Aka: Killer Spy; King on Horseback
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Summary
La Tour, a member of a troupe of travelling actors, disgraces himself before King Louis
XV of France. To redeem himself he makes a valiant assault on the Austrian army,
with whom France is presently at war. La Tour’s reward is to fight a duel
with the Duke of Saint Sever, the man who ordered his earlier flogging. During
the duel, the two men are surprised by a band of Austrian soldiers. In the ensuing
confusion, Saint Sever is killed, stabbed in the back by an ambitious rival. Before
he dies, the Duke implores La Tour to find his illegitimate daughter and ensure she inherits
his estate. La Tour sets off on his mission, realising that he will be blamed for
Saint Sever’s death…
Review
Jean Marais stars in this big budget historical fantasy directed by Georges Lampin.
The film’s extravagant production values are not matched by the quality of its script
nor its direction, however. So, whilst the film is visually stunning – particularly
the lavish location filming (in Yugoslavia) – it feels a somewhat dry and shallow
substitute for a more serious historical drama. Marais is, as ever, magnificent
as the swashbuckling hero, although his romantic pairing with an actress who looks less
than half his age appears more than a little suspect. The film is probably best
known for marking the screen debut of a certain Jean-Pierre Léaud, a child actor
who would, one year later, star in Francois Truffaut’s
Les 400 coups and subsequently become one of the faces most closely identified
with the French New Wave.
© James Travers 2004
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