Quai des blondes

Those blondes are not girls but cigarettes blondes(= Virginia cigarette) :so don't be fooled ,it's not about white slave trade ,it's about cigarette smuggling ;the movie begins with a long depiction of Tanger,Morocco and Marseille,France .

One of the tycoon of the cigarettes traffic is induced to collaborate with the police because there are guys who work in another more dangerous field : heroin .

Michel Auclair as a smug buck is not enthusing at all ;an excellent actor when he's directed by giants (Clouzot's "Manon" ,Duvivier's "la fête à Henriette" ,Donen's "funny face ") or estimable directors (Delannoy 's "Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre" Deval's "l'invité du mardi" ) ,he's undistinguished when a drudge makes a film noir ersatz with a trite script , complete with music hall acts as the obligatory filler.

The only reason why this was restored (with difficulties :did they have to bother?) is the color process (gevacolor)-new for the time- and because Michel Audiard wrote the lines :some are not bad,but most of them are below par ;one can save the last one though.