by Eric Blume
Today is the centennial of French Oscar-winner Simone Signoret. Daniel paid lovely tribute to her last night for her brief role in 1950's La Ronde. Her next big film, director Jacques Becker's 1952 movie Casque d'Or, made her a star six years before Oscar embraced her with Room at the Top. Becker captures all of Signoret's magic in this turn-of-the-century Paris underworld story. It doesn't hurt that he has his cinematographer, Robert Le Febvre, lighting her in a gloriously celestial way throughout the movie...
Each one of Signoret's close-ups has either a bounce of light across her eyes and forehead, or has her angelically backlit to highlight that famous "golden helmet" of the title. In short she's given lovely Movie Star treatment, which Signoret rewards effortlessly with natural, grounded magnetism.
Signoret plays a sort of mystery woman, unhappily owned as property of a man in a crime syndicate. When she meets a man she really likes (the rather hot Serge Reggiani, who really rocks a cummerbund) and goes after him, she ignites a series of tragedies.
Signoret makes a magnificent clotheshorse in her Belle Epoque gowns and boas, and maintains a divine cat-who-just-ate-a-mouse look through her early scenes that perfectly captures this character's indifference to the men around her. Signoret perfectly clocks her character's move into true feelings of love and sacrifice, and deepens right before our eyes. After taking a smartly comic approach with her character at the start, she turns on a dime for the true dramatics during the film's final reel.
Casque d'Or still looks great at 70. It's crisply shot and engrossing, and a perfect showcase for Signoret and her career to come. She gives her character intelligence, depth, ferocity, and breathtaking beauty. It's easy watching this film to see how she would go on to such a dynamic, extensive career from this sharp, detailed portrayal. Signoret's work here retains its orginal power...she's one of the eternals.