Justin de Marseille

In Marseille, Justin is a respected man of the underworld locked in a deadly feud with his rival Esposito. Esposito plans to seize a cargo of opium bound for China and to have Justin killed along the way. The film uses the port, the cafés and the districts almost as documentary; it shows the criminal organisation as part of the fabric of the city. The account does not make a hero of Justin, but draws him as a man bound by rules of his own. What stands out most is that it builds its tension out of talk and waiting rather than gunfire. It is a good example of how crime storytelling was put together in French cinema of the thirties. Maurice Tourneur’s ninety nine minute French film was completed in 1935.