Directed by Maurice Tourneur (father of Jacques Tourneur), this fast-paced proto-noir tells the story of French policemen investigating a drug trafficking case after one of them got killed. I would not consider it a masterpiece, although it is still nice to see one of the main influences of film noir "à la française" outside of later American productions. One of the best things about this film is the filming locations, which really aim at showing how the French underworld looked like in the 1930s. The intensive use of contrasting lighting, characteristic of film noir, should also be highlighted.
Review of Au nom de la loi
