Don't Tempt the Devil

Don't Tempt the Devil is a 1963 crime drama shot as a French-Italian co-production, written and directed by Christian-Jaque from a novel by Jean Laborde. The story follows the fallout of a killing that pulls a wide circle of Parisian acquaintances into its orbit, with the ensemble headed by Bourvil, Marina Vlady, Virna Lisi and Pierre Brasseur working out where their own interests and reputations stand once suspicion begins to spread. Dominique Zardi and Jacques Monod round out the supporting cast. Christian-Jaque, a veteran French filmmaker with decades of genre pictures behind him by this point, leaned on the source novel's structure of shifting alibis and self-interested testimony to keep the audience guessing which of the characters, if any, is telling the full truth. The picture reached French screens under its original title and was distributed in Italy under a separate local title, reflecting the dual national backing behind the production and its stars drawn from both countries' film industries.