She Returned at Dawn (1938)

Well, it was the 5th of the nine movies Danielle Darrieux made under the direction of her then husband, Henri Decoin. And for me, it is certainly one of the best.

Shot on locations in Hungary, this is a sort of 'Bildungsroman', of the cruel sort, based on Vicki Baum's novel. Anita, a young new-wed wife, is going to the big city, for family matters. She is supposed to return before night, by the 6.00 pm train, but she misses it... And she'll learn the hard way that she is too small for big cities.

The copy I saw was in very poor condition. Some of the efforts in the editing look clumsy, but all is redeemed by the value of the story and its growing tension, and the quality of the cast, with special mentions for Pierre Dux, Jacques Dumesnil, Pierre Mingand and Marcel Delaître.

And, above all, Danielle Darrieux. Didn't the character wonderfully played by Charlotte Kady, in Bertrand Tavernier's "Laissez-passer", said it one for all: "Darrieux ? Elle a tout !".

A last word to salute the very good Paul Misraki's score.

And now, I'm going to try to put the cast in its right order, on the IMDb file...