Alfred Hitchcock régit des films!

Overnight tonight, at 1:15 AM ET on TCM, is one of the more interesting movies Alfred Hitchcock made: Aventure Malgache.

As part of the UK's war effort, Hitchcock returned to England in 1943, to make some propaganda films. What he ended up doing is working with exiled French filmmakers, making two short movies (about 30 minutes each); this one, and Bon Voyage.

The story in Aventure Malgache is set in Madagascar, which was a French colony at the start of World War II. The Vichy government, as in metropolitan France, is in charge, and collaborating with the Nazis. But also as in France, there's a resistance movement, which is weak because of the fact that tyrannies are good at using the tactics of dividing and conquering.

Unfortunately, Aventure Malgache is constrained by its being a short film; there's only so much Hitchcock can do to make it good. It's not nearly as good as Bon Voyage, and it's a bit of a shame that TCM decided to show only this one of the two. However, for those who are fans of Hitchcock, it's still a very interesting artifact. Also, both movies are available on DVD, so you can watch Bon Voyage even despite that fact that TCM are not showing it tonight.