Joy House (Les Felins) (DVD)

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"Joy House" also feels like a half-hearted attempt to cash in on French New Wave chic. Though the film bears little stylistic resemblance to the New Wave films, the material is vintage Godard and Truffaut: pot-boiler film noir with a big dose of l´amour fou, all pitched at a youth audience. But Marc is no Pierrot le Fou or Charlie Koehler; he´s a stock character who doesn´t elicit much sympathy from the viewer. Fonda plays the most interesting character by far, and if a few subplots were jettisoned in order to give her even more screen time I would have enjoyed the film much more.

Video

The film is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. To put it politely, this is not the best transfer you are going to see. The print looks bleached out much of the time, and I seriously doubt that Clément and cinematographer Henri Decae filmed it in such high contrast black and white. It´s also an interlaced transfer with the usual instances of combing visible throughout. All in all, it´s a rather poor effort.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The film is offered in an English version and a French version. Optional English subtitles support the French dialogue. Neither version is the definitive one, so pick whichever you like. Though the scenes are the same in each version, there are some substantial differences in dialogue in each scene. I watched the French version then checked out a few scenes in the English one and was surprised by the difference. It´s nothing that changes the gist of the story, but it´s more than just a matter of wording. In the few scenes I watched, Albright comes off as a slightly more sympathetic character in the English version than in the French one, or at least she seems less calculating.

Extras

None.

Film Value

The film´s French title is "Les Félins" or "The Cats" which refers both to an element in the story which I won´t reveal and, presumably, the female leads. The film is based on the novel "Joy House" by Day Keene which also goes by the title, among others, "The Love Cage" which is a title I would have preferred for the American release.

There´s eye candy for just about anyone´s preference here with Alain Delon, Jane Fonda and Lola Albright. Unfortunately, the overly familiar story can´t withstand a few late turns into silliness.

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