1950 Winner, The Walls of Malapaga

The Walls of Malapaga

Director:  René Clément

Distributed by:  Films International

Released:  March 1950 (in U.S.)

Country:  France/Italy

To this point, beginning with the 2015 Best Foreign Film Son of Saul going backward to 1950, I've been able to locate and watch, either from a library or online, every Best Foreign Film with English subtitles.  1951 winner The Walls of Malapaga is my first fail, as it were.  I looked on Amazon and Overstock and eBay; and I looked on every rare film website and library site I knew of; and I even asked for help on Reddit.  Nothing.

However, my efforts weren’t a complete loss, as good ol’ YouTube has the French film posted . . . but with Portuguese subtitles instead of English.  I don’t speak Portuguese, but I did take five years of French in high school and college, so I know some colors, numbers, swear words, and food words.  I also know how to ask where the swimming pool, beach, and bathroom are—pretty much the essentials if you go abroad.  But past that I’m pretty lost.  Still, my goal has been to watch them all and review them all, so I watched every bit of the 90-minute film, directed by René Clément, who directed the wonderful Best Foreign Film Forbidden Games from two years later.  You’ll have to give me a little slack on this one.  Here goes:

Pierre and Marta

Our story starts with a guy on a ship, and IMDb tells me his name is Pierre.  Pierre gets off and it is apparent he has a toothache because he holds his mouth and utters a “Zut alors” a time or deux while walking down the street.  He gets to the dentist, who seems to fix him up in no time; then he pops into a restaurant and makes eyes at a waitress named Marta (again, thanks, IMDb!).  He can’t pay his bill but they let him go anyway.  It’s about then we realize Pierre is somehow wanted by the law because the cops are after him.  He gets away and eventually spends the night at Marta’s house, where he meets Cecchina, Marta’s young daughter, or else just some random girl that seems to be living with Marta.  Suddenly . . . . a chicken falls out of the ceiling, which leads Pierre to decide to take a nap.  The chicken falls out of the ceiling again, although I am uncertain if it was the same chicken.  I’m positive it is a chicken, by the way, because the word poulet is used several times and I remember that one from high school.  Merci, Pere Petkash!

Cecchina about to smart off

The next morning, Marta walks her daughter to school as a cop follows her.  Next thing you know, the cop is grabbing Marta, but a nun from the school fights him off.  Marta goes back home, where Pierre is, and has an argument with a guy, either a judge or her husband?  The daughter comes in and realizes her mom is hiding Pierre, but plays along.  Mom shows Cecchina a dress she got for her; then the daughter smarts off and mom smacks her across the chops.   The French of 1949 apparently believe in corporal punishment.

So for some reason, despite the cops on Pierre's trail, they are all okay to walk around down by the pier and Marta pops in the restaurant, maybe to get her check?  The policeman is still looking for Pierre and goes into talk to the dentist to see if the dentist can fill him in on his whereabouts.  The policeman goes to the restaurant too, but they pretend or don’t pretend to have no idea where he is.  Meanwhile, Pierre seems to feel free to walk anywhere he wants, so it would seem he’s not really worried about the police all that much. 

In Genoa, this is how we say Shut Up.

At some point, while they are all sitting around at home, the daughter runs away, I guess thinking she’ll rat out Pierre.  Pierre and Marta look for her.  Much to their chagrin, it leads to Pierre getting nabbed by the cops and Marta and her daughter walking away.  Someone shouts, "Pierre!  Pierre!"  Suddenly, out of nowhere a big fat “FINE” is next and that’s the end of that.  Talk about a shock ending.

If there are The Walls of Malapaga fanatics out there that want to disagree with me on my synopsis, I am open to it, but I have to tell you, I know that was a chicken falling out the ceiling that I saw.  It was suggested that I look to Wikipedia or other websites to get a better handle on what happened, but the pickings were slim online.  Wikipedia’s total summary goes like this:  “[Jean] Gabin is a French criminal, Pierre Arrignon, on the run who finds himself in Genoa, Italy, and falls in love with a local girl, Marta Manfredini (played by Isa Miranda). The film is set in Italy but the dialogue is primarily in French.”  Zut!  No spoilers in that summary.

The film's startling conclusion

The Title: Au-delà des grilles, or Beyond the Gates.  Urbandictionary.com says a “malapaga” is someone who owes money or is a bad credit risk.  So it would stand to reason that Pierre is caught in the end for owing people money, especially given his track record of not paying for his food at the restaurant.

The culture:  What I knew about Genoa before this movie was that Christopher Columbus was born here and that’s pretty much it.  Now I know they have defensive walls around the city and that some people keep their chickens in the ceiling.

Agenda danger:  “Crime does not pay” isn’t really a bad message, except that all I know Pierre did wrong is to be delinquent in not paying for his meal and possibly for some dental work.

Best Picture that year:  All About Eve

Rating:  I guess “Incomplete” is the best grade I can give this one, but I can again recommend Clément's earlier film, Forbidden Games.