A bad boy accordion king meets his match in a Galeries Lafayette salesgirl — Parisian chaos ensues.
Dédé de Montmartre, former king of the accordion, has become a bad boy who lives off drug trafficking and prostitution. He sets his sights on a young girl, fresh and naive, Odette, saleswoman at Galeries Lafayette. But he is touched by the charm of this midinette.
Acting
Albert Préjean balances sleaze and brokenness with unsettling ease.
Production
Berthomieu's Montmartre feels lived-in, dangerous, weirdly cozy.
Director
André Berthomieu
Albert Préjean
Dédé-de-Montmartre
Line Noro
'La grande Marcelle'
Annie Vernay
Odette 'Trotinette' Martin
Robert Le Vigan
Fernand the American
Raymond Aimos
'Joe la Combine'
André Nicolle
Le patron du bar
Gaston Mauger
Police commission
Georges Pally
Bob
Madeleine Suffel
Juliette
Paul Villé
Monsieur Léon
Marcelle Barry
Boss of the bar (uncredited)
Albert Broquin
(uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during the Phoney War, this captures a pre-occupation Paris already nostalgic for its own underbelly.
Annie Vernay, heartbreaking as Odette, would die in a car accident within months of filming — her innocence onscreen now reads devastatingly fragile.
FR
