broadway_melody_girl This film is excellent! I don't understand why anyone would call this the "nadir" of Sirk's career, as it is far more intelligent than any of Sirk's famous melodramas. While I enjoy those films, this remains my favorite Sirk picture. The story chronicles the misadventures of pretty rascal turned gentleman thief, Eugene Vidocq, played by the eternal screen cad George Sanders. This is one of Sanders' best caddish roles, as he sidles around chateaux and graveyards, uttering lines such as "sometimes the chains of marriage as so heavy they must be carried by three". In addition to the witty, frothy humour, there is a dark undercurrent to the film that is evidenced in its noirish photography and the amorality of the lead characters. High recommended to fans of Old Hollywood who enjoy the more eclectic films of that period!

mukava991 George Sanders as Eugene Francois Vidocq, a clever French crook (and a very flimsy representation of the amazing real-life template), is both the lead actor and narrator of this film in which he neatly swindles his way from a lowly prison cell to the top of French society delivering a bounty of aphorisms along the way. The real-life Vidocq began as a rough-and- tumble child criminal and ended up a government minister.Sanders basically delivers the same polished performance seen in numerous other films, from "Man Hunt" (1941), through "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945) and "All About Eve" (1950): the cool, cultivated, continental, dry wit with just the right suggestion of the animal beneath. Carole Landis, in what may be her finest role, is both funny and chilling as a self-centered show girl who blatantly uses her beauty to catch wealthy men. Signe Hasso (who looks distractingly like Margaret Sullavan) plays the daughter of the minister of police; she falls in love with Sanders but is as lifeless and damp here as she is vivacious and crackling in "The House on 92nd Street," made the year before.The film is obviously 100% studio made, with painted backdrops to represent the French countryside. But since scenery is not the point here, this drawback can be overlooked. It's an unusual film about an extraordinary man, here reduced to a sort of Sherlock Holmes who strides both sides of the law.

whpratt1 Have always wanted to view this film starring George Sanders,(Eugene Francois Vidocq) along with Signe Hasso,(Therese De Pierremont) and Carole Landis ( Loretta). This film had plenty of comedy, drama and romance going on with sexy Loretta who doesn't mess around with Eugene Vidocq except when she lets him take her garter off her leg in those horse draw carriages in France years and years ago. Gene Lockhart,(Police Chief Richet) who marries Loretta and becomes a jealous lover and follows her throughout the streets of Paris with bird cages on his back. Gene Lockhart gave a great supporting role and was the father of June Lockhart in the series, "Lassie". Akim Tamiroff, (Emile Vernet) was a buddy to Eugene Vidocq and was another great thief and professional con-man who would steal a bind man of his pencils. It was great seeing Carole Landis looking so sexy and beautiful and who took her own life in 1948. This is a great Classic film from 1946 and well worth your time to view. Enjoy !

dbdumonteil How many "Vidocq" versions are there ? Probably more than you'd want to see.The last one was released a couple of years ago (feat Depardieu) and was a commercial and artistic flop.French versions galore are up for grabs including a miniseries in the sixties.This American version of the thief-turned -cop is a different matter cause it is probably as far as the real life character as it can be.George Sanders' suave portrayal is actually close to Arsene Lupin the French gentleman-burglar invented by Maurice Leblanc.After all Detlef Sierck (Douglas Sirk) was European .Aunt Ernestine is some kind of equivalent of Lupin's old nanny Victoire.The parallel with Saint George and the dragon is a good idea ,when a man has actually to fight against himself on the way to redemption.The film is highly praised in Vidocq's native France:Jacques Lourcelles writes that ,"lost in Hollywood ,Sirk is at home again in an old tale of good old Europa.I must confess I find "scandal in Paris" a bit cold and sometimes dull and I like Sirk best in his "Melodrames Flamboyants".