L'Embuscade (1941)
Directed by Fernand Rivers

Film Review

Adapted from a stage play by Henry Kistemaekers, L'Embuscade is a middle-of-the-road melodrama that fails to sparkle, in spite of its admirable ensemble of acting talent.  Pierre Renoir is well-cast as the despicable industrialist who resembles more a fascistic tyrant than an employer, bringing a fierce sense of drama to the film's climactic showdown.  Rising star Georges Rollin makes a sympathetic lead but is far more impressive in his later confrontation with Renoir, in Robert Vernay's Le Père Goriot (1945).  Despite strong performances from both Renoir and Rollin, with capable support from Valentine Tessier and Jules Berry, L'Embuscade is an easily forgettable piece which struggles to keep its banal plot from sending the spectator to sleep.  Even in the hands of a more creative director than Fernand Rivers, it is hard to see how this spluttering and contrived melodrama could have interested a 1940s audience.

Film Synopsis

Robert Marcel is a young man who is still troubled by the fact that he was given up for adoption by his parents shortly after he was born.  To prove himself, he accepts a managerial job at a factory run by the successful industrialist Jean Guéret but soon finds himself caught in the crossfire between his boss and the employees he ruthlessly exploits.  When Robert takes sides and lends his support to the workers in their claims for better pay and working conditions, Guéret is outraged.  In a heated argument between the two men Guéret's wife drops her bombshell.  She is Robert's mother...