Review of Les Espions (aka The Spies)

Introduction

A spy film set in a psychiatric hospital isn`t a typical spy film. Glamour is not on the menu; nor exotic locations, advanced weaponry, femme fatales, or white cats. We plump for the secrecy of an atomic physicist, the identity of whom any spy for hire is after, and he`s hidden away in a run down clinic. The clinic itself is in financial difficulty so when the doctor in charge is offered a big wad of cash to look after a `patient`, he readily agrees and unwittingly becomes involved in a game of deception.

He doesn`t know who and what this `patient` is supposed to be except that all of a sudden there are changes around him such as new clinic staff and a bunch of nosey neighbours in this normally quiet part of town. This new patient has valuable atomic secrets, worth a killing, for the highest bidder. If only the poor doctor can keep the hounds at bay...

Video

Presented with what looks like the original 1.66:1 letterbox aspect ratio, the video transfer for an old black & white film is as you might expect. It has dirt and shows minor amounts of wear & tear, but is still very watchable. The black in the transfer looks strong, but some of the darker scenes look a little too dark. Detail looks good throughout though.

Audio

Presented with the original mono soundtrack, Les Espions fairs quite well bar some hiss and crackle. Dialogue and music are clear from the front and sound fine.

Features

Easy to navigate static menus with not much in the way of extras:

• Les Diaboliques original French trailer (1:35) - A French classic, this old style 50s trailer is OTT with some frightening sound and equally frightening captioning. Plus it`s only in French.

• Biographies - This covers Curd Jurgens, Peter Ustinov, Henri-Georges Clouzot and wife Vera Clouzot. These make for interesting reading with most of Ustinov`s one taken up by the awards and acclaim he`s achieved.

• Gallery - A mixture of production and film stills.

• Booklet - This contains a short biography for director Henri-Georges Clouzot along with a list of other C`est La Vie DVDs.

The optional English subtitles work well and remain clear through the whole film. Les Espions is packaged in a standard DVD keep case.

Conclusion

I`ve admired Henri-Georges Clouzot`s paranoid suspense Les Diaboliques for a long time and enjoyed the L`Enfer script he wrote, directed by Claude Chabrol in `94. However, I`m not so sure that Les Espions is as good as his other work. The awkwardness of character and situation that I felt in those other films don`t really present themselves here. Les Espions is more a slow burning black comedy thriller than a frightening and suspenseful film. I still find it somewhat enjoyable however.

For me, Peter Ustinov is really the only recognisable actor here and he performs well. The other actors perform well too and are never distracting. Story wise, the game of spies spying on spies has its amusing moments. It`s a testament to the casting and general light heartedness in the film that I think warrants a viewing. As Clouzot films go, I like Les Espions, it`s different to The Wages of Fear (1953) or Les Diaboliques (1955), and it`s enjoyable to watch.