First film by a Jewish Czech actor /director who fled away from Nazism; "pickup " sets a pattern for some other of his works " strange fascination" and "bait" notably.
The man subject of the middle-age crisis who falls for a girl who could be his daughter and who marries him for his dough is a well-known tale ; she's a great pretender ,but her dream won't last long ; when she enters the place where she's about to live,she echoes Bette Davis' line (" what a dump!") in "beyond the forest" (1949) : "what's that shack!" "what a charming view! ":the window looks onto the railroad track and the railroad man has still six years to do before he retires ; enter the middle-age man's young handsome nephew ,and then you expect a development a la "the postman always rings twice" (3 versions, the second one by Garnett was released in 1946),for there's a question of insurance.
Hugo Haas a tendency to dwell on the sordid side of life : almost a masochist,particularly in the films I mention above ,his parts are not unlike those of Erich Von Stroheim after he stopped directing (particularly his roles in France) and Emil Jannings ' in Sternberg's " das blaue Engel" (1930); But, and this is what makes the difference with the usual deadly love triangle, the unfortunate hubby becomes a great pretender too, pretending he is deaf .The young lover is not completely fooled :"I tell you he hears it all , he reads on our lips" .
The ending may have been imposed by the producers ,for ,now that the cheated man has come to dominate the game in his way ,and considering his rival's weakness,the ending could have been true film noir ,and moral at that.
The man subject of the middle-age crisis who falls for a girl who could be his daughter and who marries him for his dough is a well-known tale ; she's a great pretender ,but her dream won't last long ; when she enters the place where she's about to live,she echoes Bette Davis' line (" what a dump!") in "beyond the forest" (1949) : "what's that shack!" "what a charming view! ":the window looks onto the railroad track and the railroad man has still six years to do before he retires ; enter the middle-age man's young handsome nephew ,and then you expect a development a la "the postman always rings twice" (3 versions, the second one by Garnett was released in 1946),for there's a question of insurance.
Hugo Haas a tendency to dwell on the sordid side of life : almost a masochist,particularly in the films I mention above ,his parts are not unlike those of Erich Von Stroheim after he stopped directing (particularly his roles in France) and Emil Jannings ' in Sternberg's " das blaue Engel" (1930); But, and this is what makes the difference with the usual deadly love triangle, the unfortunate hubby becomes a great pretender too, pretending he is deaf .The young lover is not completely fooled :"I tell you he hears it all , he reads on our lips" .
The ending may have been imposed by the producers ,for ,now that the cheated man has come to dominate the game in his way ,and considering his rival's weakness,the ending could have been true film noir ,and moral at that.