Marie-Octobre (1959) aka Secret Meeting

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053050/





Version watched - the 2016 Blu-Ray DVD:



From IMDB:
fifteen years after WWII, a group of ex-resistance fighters are brought together by Marie-Octobre, so that the former members of the network can finally relive one fateful night and find out who betrayed their murdered leader, Castille.
This is a good movie except the characters, all 10 of them, spent the entire film in a mansion talking and recollecting and reminiscing about their war experiences and the events that lead up to the murder of their leader by the Nazi SS, just a few days before the liberation of Paris by the Allies.

There are no flashback scenes set during the war: none!! As the viewer, you will just have to pay attention to what is being said and use your own imagination to visualize the past events as described by the 10 characters.

By the time they speak of how their leader was murdered, you don't feel the same emotion and loss as the characters felt because there is nothing visual for us to see it happening.

The film could had used some flashback scenes to powerful convey what this group of French resistance fighters went through during the war.

Alas we don't get any and that by itself is the only fault this movie has. So instead of it being a Great movie, it's only a Good movie.

Maybe the producers were trying to keep the budget low?

The strongest character is the movie title lead character, played by Danielle Darrieux, who by the way is now 100 years old and she is still alive and working in movies and TV as recently as last year.

I hope I will still be able to do what I want when I am 100. :p

4/5