Reign of Terror

Anthony Mann: Reign of Terror (US 1949) with Richard Basehart as Robespierre.

Le Livre noir / Yllämme giljotiini / Över oss giljotinen.

Anthony Mann

États-Unis / 1949 / 89 min / 35 mm / VOSTF

Avec Robert Cummings, Arlene Dahl, Richard Basehart.

Helsinki premiere: 24 Feb 1950 - Savoy - released by Parvisfilmi Oy.

Sous-titres français on print by Michel Herbuveaux.

Rétrospective Anthony Mann

Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes, 14, 6, dimanche le 14 avril 2024.

La Cinémathèque française : " Les codes du film noir au service d'un épisode de la Révolution française : la disparition du « livre noir » de Robespierre où sont inscrits les noms de ses ennemis. Dans un Paris éclairé aux flambeaux, un thriller en costumes, impeccablement interprété, méconnu et palpitant. "

AA: Revisited Reign of Terror which I last saw in 1998 in a 16 mm print.

La Terreur (the Reign of Terror, 5 September 1793 - 27 July 1794) conveyed as a film noir. 

It was a special thrill to see this Anthony Mann masterpiece in Paris.

Set on the last day of la Terreur (26 July 1794), the movie is dramatized as one big chase, dynamic and relentless. Essentially, it is one ride in the night for life and death - for the protagonists and for France. It is a well made play with suspense moments, false identities, stunning revelations and last minute rescues. The decisive clue in the impossible search of the elusive Black Book is provided by Robespierre's dog. A person who stays in control during every twist is Fouché (Arnold Moss) the survivor, the chief of the secret police. In the finale, Robespierre meets his end at the guillotine and "La Marseillaise" sounds for the only time. A soldier whose back is turned remarks to Fouché that the art of being a Frenchman is knowing what comes next. Fouché asks his name. "Bonaparte, Napoléon Bonaparte". Follows the text frame "The End of the Reign of Terror".

Mann and his cinematographer John Alton create pure visual poetry in the Expressionist idiom. The mise-en-scène is magisterial. It all plays out in darkness, physical and metaphysical. The composition in depth is electrifying. Mirrors expand the field of vision. High angles and low angles enhance drama. Much of the action is covered in silhouettes and shadows. 

The subjects of a reign of terror, dictatorship, mob rule, mass killings, sadistic tortures and pervasive fear feel acute in a movie made in the 1940s. As well as the cynicism of the villains, their callousness in front of extreme suffering and their hard-boiled dialogue. In the Mann retrospective, I have felt a special cold fury in scenes of brutal violence. It is about looking into the blackest darkness and transcending it.

Robert Cummings and Arlene Dahl carry the leading roles. Richard Basehart who had just played the cold-blooded burglar-killer in He Walked by Night returns to play Robespierre in a great ensemble cast with Wade Crosby (Danton), Richard Hart (Barras), Norman Lloyd (Tallien) and Jess Barker (Saint-Just). It is a pleasure to glimpse the 15 year old Russ Tamblyn in his second movie. He returned to an Anthony Mann production as Cherokee Kid in Cimarron.

This good 35 mm projection did justice to John Alton's extremely ambitious high contrast cinematography with impressive black levels.