Daggers Drawn (1964) User Reviews (2)

Diamonds and bust .

[ulicknormanowen · 5/10 · 27 March 2022]

A short prologue teaches us,should one have forgotten it ,that WW2 put the world to fire and sword. This useless blah-blah-blah ,just to deal again with the hackneyed subject of the Nazi treasure which would be hidden somewhere (here at the bottom of the Mediterranean) ; and in the treasure-trove , there are not only invaluable diamonds but also documents which can compromise men in high places ;this gives the story a cloak and dagger side,but ,sadly,it is not fully exploited .

For the rest ,that is to say the essential ,it's a gangsters vying for the diamonds yarn ,saved by a good cast :Pierre Mondy ,overtaken by the events , Françoise Arnoul who displays her physique, veteran Marcel Dalio in a wheelchair and his attractive nurse .

The main interest of a run-of-the-mill story is Petula Clark 's presence : she performs two songs ,backed by Tony Hatch's band ; British Clark would hit the big time in America the next year ,scoring two number ones ,"downtown" and "my love" ,written by Hatch ; her part in the movie is insignificant ,but her questioning in the police station is my favorite moment.

An interesting french B thriller

[searchanddestroy-1 · 28 December 2008]

As all the films Charles Gerard made, this one is not ambitious, not a masterpiece, but pretty well done, with a good atmosphere; sixties one, jazzy with Paris by Night, its limelight and so on...

The cast is not usual, especially Pierre Mondy as a hood of honor, a real man, hard boiled thug, but engaging. Some sequences are unexpected for this kind of features. And sometimes, the movie focuses on subordinate characters. I like that.

The film tells the story of a treasure and documents hunt, twenty years after WW2. Not really a spy film, rather a film noir "à la française". Murders, investigation, good character study for which you are surprised.

But it is not a memorable yarn. Nevertheless I keep it in my collection. For the atmosphere, not the story. This kind of plot and characters analysis should have been made by José Giovanni, who was also used to adventures dramas. And with a strong manhood atmosphere.