Solo una notte

Sylvie et le fantome came in a 4-pak from Criterion, along with the three other films Autant-Lara made during the war. Of the four, Douce is the only one really worth watching. The script is by Jean Aurenche, the cinematography by Philippe Agostini--the chateau is made to seem very elegant. Francois Perier and Jean Desailly are suitably ardent, Pierre Larquey is a wonderful father to Sylvie, Julien Carette as the servant Hector is everywhere, enjoyably so. Just one big problem: Odette Joyeux makes no impression on me at all, and she's the star. So I can't give a high rating to this item, because of her bland performance.