Mauvaise Graine (DVD)

A sly, bouncy comedy set in the back alleyways and sunlit avenues of 1930s Paris, Mauvaise Graine (Bad Seed) is the remarkable directorial debut of Billy Wilder, the sharp-witted, inimitable creator of such American classics as Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment and Double Indemnity . Shot in France during Wilder's migration from Germany to the U.S., Mauvaise Graine centers around Henry Pasquier (Pierre Mingand), the spoiled son of a wealthy doctor, who discovers high-octane thrills, jazz-era romance and a sense of purpose in life when he unwittingly falls into the company of an organized ring of car thieves. After befriending Jean (Raymond Galle), a dapper young chap with a curious fetish for men's neckties, Henry falls in love with Jean's sister Jeannette (legendary screen diva Danielle Darrieux), who works as car-bait for the gang, luring love-hungry Parisian gentlemen away from their chrome-plated carriages. Cleverly weaving suspense with risque comedy (as he would 26 years later with Some Like It Hot ), Wilder and co-director Alexander Esway concoct an effervescent cinematic highball, garnished with a lively jazz score by Franz Waxman. SPECIAL FEATURES: La Joie de Vivre (The Joy of Living) -- A delightful 9-minute animated fairy tale made in France (1934) by Hector Hoppin and Anthony Gross. Two female dancers are pursued by a mysterious man on a bicycle as they move through graphically complex settings ranging from webs of industrial wires and train tracks to country fields of flowers. It's an exceptional film and an animation landmark!

• comedy