- An adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, Magnet of Doom relates the tale of a washed-up boxer named Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who becomes personal secretary to a criminal banker named Ferchaux (Charles Vanel). As the authorities close in on Ferchaux, he flies with Michel to America on the way to a country less interested in extradiction. As they meander southward from New York to New Orleans, Michel meets a few women (Stefania Sandrelli, Michèle Mercier) whom he treats more or less like Lina (Malvina Silberberg), the girl he left behind in Paris. As Michel himself notes, he's developed something of a pattern.
- Considering the involvement of Simenon and Melville, the audience might reasonably expect Michel and Ferchaux to be involved in a mystery or a heist, but no! They just sit around in New Orleans while Ferchaux grows increasingly ill and Michel grows increasingly restless. To be perfectly honest, I also became increasingly restless when I realized that this was the entire plot of the film. Although Belmondo and especially Vanel deliver fine performances, Magnet of Doom is just too insubstantial to be enjoyable. The only part of it that I really appreciated was cinematographer Henri Decaë's cross-country tour of neon-lit motel signs. Maybe Melville's later film Un Flic, which features an actual magnet of doom, was made in response to this one's complete lack of magnetism.
