Un Soir De Rafle (aka Dragnet Night) (1931)

An ex-sailor (Albert Prejean, THE THREEPENNY OPERA) meets a music hall singer (Annabella) during a police raid and is immediately smitten. His fighting ability lands him a mentor (Constant Remy) who trains him as a prizefighter. His success in the ring is swift but it goes to his head and he becomes arrogant. Directed by Carmine Gallone, this is an all too familiar boxing story. We know that the boxer will have to get his comeuppance (a defeat in the ring, of course) in order for him to be humbled and realize what really matters. Of interest to cinephiles is the screenplay credit to Henri Georges Clouzot some ten years before his directorial breakthrough with films like LE CORBEAU and THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21. Prejean is very good but Remy as the broken down prizefighter who takes him under his wing and Edith Mera as the femme fatale who lures Prejean away from his true love stand out vividly. With Lucien Baroux and Jacques Lerner.