Prior to WWI, Paris Chief of Police, Fernand Maubert (Eric Portman), has been pursuing a bank robber that has hit several banks. He knows who he is after. Philippe Lodocq (Guy Rolfe) has been caught and jailed before, but most of the time he has an alibi and has gotten away with more burglaries than not. Lodocq also sometimes works with a partner. This time his partner is a young woman, Madeleine Saincaize (Nadia Gray). Madeleine is caught and arrested but since the burglaries continue, Maubert has her released. Maubert is attracted to Madeleine. When Lodocq dumps her, he begins courting her.
Maubert gets a tip about a burglary from an informant named Belfort (Harold Lang). During the chase, Lodocq’s partner, Jean Louis (John Carol), and a police constable fall to their deaths. Lodocq races to see Madeleine and convinces her to provide an alibi for him. Madeleine is in love with Lodocq and agrees. Maubert knows that she is lying but has no choice but to accept her as his alibi.
Lodocq hires Jean’s brother Alfred (John Carol) to help him with his next heist. Maubert convinces Alfred that Lodocq conned his brother and was responsible for his death. With Albert’s help, Maubert finally catches Lodocq and sends him to jail.
WWI breaks out. Three years later, Germany has a list of spies in France locked in a safe in Switzerland. France needs the list to identify the French traitors. Maubert convinces the Minister of War (Edward Chapman) that the only person that can break into the safe and steal the list is Lodocq.
“The Spider and the Fly” was released in 1949 and was directed by Robert Hamer. It is a British crime thriller and a British noir. The movie was produced by the Mayflower Production Company. They produced three films. After WWII Mayflower Productions became Mayflower Pictures. The movie was the first film produced by the new Mayflower Pictures. It then made six more films before it went belly up.
The film was written by Robert Westerby who claims that it was based a true story told to him by a member of the French police.
The film is old, and a lot of the action happens at night so it’s a little difficult to see what is going on. It can be a little complicated but if you pay attention, you can follow the twists and turns to discover who is actually the spider, and who is the fly. There are hints of what is to come, that can add to the confusion until everything is pieced together at the end.
There are some noir elements to the movie. The story unfolds slowly and sometimes seemed a little too slow paced, but the acting is solid and the story morphs from a cops and robbers film into an espionage movie so there is intrigue all around.