Director Robert Siodmak had the great good fortune to be on the last ship leaving France for America on the eve of the German occupation. 'Mollenard' is rightly regarded as the strongest film he made during his six year French period.
Harry Bauer, one of the quintet of French actors to whom the word 'genius' can easily be applied, plays the title role and is ably complemented by the brilliant Gabrielle Dorziat as his wife. There is no love lost between these two characters and their scenes together are electric. The alternative title of 'Hatred' could easily apply to their relationship or indeed to Mollenard's understandable loathing of Brussels! As a gun-runner the excellent Pierre Renoir gives his customary 'little is good, less is better'' performance. Robert Lynen is cast as Mollenard's son. He and Bauer had appeared together in Duvivier's 'Poil de Carotte' in 1932 and watching these two actors is always poignant in light of the fates they both suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
Fellow exiles Eugen Schufftan and Alexandre Trauner contribute superlative cinematography and production design.
A very fine film indeed from a director who went on to thrive under the Hollywood system whilst still retaining his 'Germanic' style.
Review of Hatred
