"Razzia Sur La Chnouf" purports to be a documentary-like exposé of the drug trade in 1950's France. However, given that nobody involved in making the film has actually been - I assume - part of a drug ring in their lives, what it ends up being is a regurgitation of standard movie tropes and clichés about such organizations. Furthermore, the big "plot twist" at the end of the movie is blatantly obvious from the first few frames. Gabin's "romance" with a girl more than half his age is unbelievable, to put it kindly. The most notable feature of the film is a young Lino Ventura, impressive as a killer-for-hire; his death scene recalls to mind "Scarface"! **1/2 out of 4.

How we can reject a movie with powerful casting as Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura, Marcel Dalio, Lila kedrova just named a few them, although surprise me when I saw the hero Jean Gabin playing Henri a dealer drugs, I have confess that stayed bothered, but it's just a movie, He is French who worked for a Italian mob at America and was back after be absent for ten years, he reach at Paris always track down by Police, he is invited by the unknown Boss Paul Liski (Marcel Dalio) to manage the whole operation of heroine on France, since the early process until supplying the market with dozen dealers, having a front restaurant to misleading the police, he has two Hitmen Roger (Lino Ventura) and Bibi (Albert Rémy) as second-in-command on the gang for erase sporadic cases of insubordination or misappropriation of drugs, a journey at underworld of the drugs, this picture is blatant reproduction of American Noir, Henri has a young beauty cashier on Restaurant , soon both are involved in an affair, an American routine on Noir pictures, also the gangsters as well, fits on biotype unappealable Yankee style, the twist on the final is great although following the formulaic American noir, how we expect with Gabin & Ventura Together???

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First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

I just saw this tonight on TFO (Télévision française en Ontario) in a pristine black and white print and a very hopped-up fake stereo soundtrack that gives extra presence to the jazz music, the nightclub atmosphere, the dialog and the sound effects. Everything about this little police story is modern: the camera movements, the naturalism of the interpretation, the Paris slang, the art of the narration, the atmosphere of the criminal milieu, the non-judgemental attitudes. You really feel like you are there. The actors are all superb: Lila Kedrova, Jean Gabin, Dalio, Magali Noël... It's films like these that make you realize that the so-called Nouvelle Vague was really a step backward and a failure on every level (especially the intellectual) besides being a monumental bore. The real dream-weavers and the real avant-garde were the so-called traditionalists like Decoin.