The first to die in an epidemic of meningitis in Vera Cruz is a French tourist. His wife Nellie, detached and indifferent, feels little grief and realizes that her coldness is her own doom. Over the next two days, she is attracted to George, a local drunk who does odd jobs for brothels and dances grotesquely for tourists in exchange for drinks. George has his own dark secret, a tragedy he caused that leaves him with a death wish. In assisting the local doctor to cope with the epidemic, these two emotional cripples enable each other to rediscover reasons to live and to love. —IMDb

Director

Yves Allégret

Yves Allégret, (b. Oct. 13, 1907, Paris, France—d. Jan. 31, 1987, Paris), French motion-picture director who gained fame for his work in the “film noir” genre that was popular in the late 1940s.

Allégret began his film career working as an assistant to his older brother, the director Marc Allégret, and for Augusto Genina and Jean Renoir. Entering films during the 1930s and working with directors involved in the avant-garde in France during that period, Allégret was influenced by the impressionist and surrealist ideas that these directors expressed in their films.

Although Allégret created several early short films and commercials, he did not direct his first feature film until 1941. His best films, many of which starred Simone Signoret, included Les Deux Timides (1942; “The Two Timid Ones”), Dédée d’Anvers (1947; Dedee), Une si jolie petite plage (1948; Such a Pretty Little Beach, or Riptide), Manèges (1949; The Cheat), Les Orgueilleux (1953; The Proud and the Beautiful… read more