The Walls of Malapaga

Tomorrow morning and afternoon's section of TCM's 31 Days of Oscar looks at foreign films. Among them is The Walls of Malapaga, at 7:00 AM.

Jean Gabin plays Pierre, whom we first see in the part of a ship's hold that has the anchor and the chain that it's on. It's obvious he's hiding from something, and in fact he's escaping from France. The ship is approaching Genoa, and although Pierre would rather not get off, he has to: he's got an impacted molar that needs treatment. It's dangerous, since he's wanted back in France, and if anything happens to him, he'll have nobody to turn to for legal protection.

Sure enough, he gets his wallet stolen, and the money he exchanged is counterfeit lire notes. But at least he was able to find a nice young girl, Cecchina, who was able to take him to a dentist and then a place to eat afterwards. That restaurant is where Cecchina's mother Marta (Isa Miranda) works as a waitress. When she discovers Pierre needs a place to stay, she does the best she can to give him one. But she, like a lot of the people, are poor, living in a bombed-out convent what with World War II only having ended a few years earlier.

Of course, all of this is because Marta has a past of her own. The reason she can speak French to Pierre is that she used to live in France, with her husband Giuseppe (Andrea Checchi). However, he treated her badly, so she fled with their daughter to Genoa, and would be more than happy to get an annulment if she could. Giuseppe, meanwhile, has been searching for Marta and has traced her to Genoa, so he shows up to harass her and try to get the kid back.

The Walls of Malapaga isn't a bad little movie, but unfortunately there is one problem with it. When TCM last ran it a year or so ago, the print they ran was absolutely terrible, a print that had the original subtitles since the opening credits make it a point to credit the writer of the subtitles. The print is washed out, making it almost impossible to read the opening credits. After the credits, it's not quite as bad, but in many places the subtitles are still difficult to read, being white on washed-out backgrounds.

The Walls of Malapaga is also, as far as I know, not available on DVD, so you're going to have to catch it on TCM if you want to watch it. That's what makes it such a huge sham that there doesn't seem to be a good print available.