Whirlpool 1959

 

Director: Lewis Allen

 

Writers: Lawrence P. Bachmann (his novel "The Lorelei"), Marcel Stellman

​

Rôle: Georg Reke

​

Release Date: 26 March 1959

 

Synopsis: On the run from her murderous wartime partner in crime, Hermann (William Sylvester), Lora (Juliette Gréco) hides on a cargo barge captained by Rolph (O.W. Fischer). Two of the crew of three, Georg (Marius Goring) and Derek (Richard Palmer) quickly accept her but Georg's wife Dina (Muriel Pavlow) has serious reservations. Both Hermann and the police are on her trail.

​

Comment: I quite enjoyed this film but thought Muriel Pavlow's character of Georg's wife was a real cow and didn't treat him very nicely. He comes to resent this and her treatment of him. One reviewer on IMDb, however, complained about Juliette Gréco: "Lora is an anti-heroine, granted, but Juliette Gréco makes her so coldly unsympathetic throughout the action that it's hard to see how anyone could find any potential for redemption in her". I disagree. She was a bit abrupt at first but as she got used to life on the barge, she mellowed a lot as she realised that there was a better way to live and I liked her.

​

It's a bit of a shock at first to see Marius dressed in cheap suits and overalls and with his auburn hair all wild. But after all, he's playing the role of a bargeman, so we can't expect him to be wearing his usual tailored German uniforms or his three piece English suits with a pocket handkerchief and a flower in his buttonhole. He still smokes heavily throughout the film but this time it's a pipe instead of his usual cigarettes or cigars! I love one of the publicity photos with him cheekily smoking a pipe while sitting in front of a big No Smoking sign in four languages!   J.D.O'B

​

Availability: DVD (Phoenix) Release Date: 15 February 2006.