The Spider and the Fly

Which is the spider, and which is the fly? The distinction isn’t necessarily straightforward in Robert Hamer’s The Spider and the Fly, a Parisian period noir about an incorrigible thief whose unique skills, after a career of robbery and evasion, will ultimately prove valuable to the Allied Powers during the First World War. Beautifully shot in thick shadows throughout much of its 90-minute running time, the film’s focus is the enduring relationship between the relentless thief, Phillipe Loducq (Guy Rolfe), and the deliberative police detective, Fernand Maubert (Eric Portman), who for years has been unsuccessful in catching Loducq without a convenient alibi. After a botched burglary resulting in two deaths and a successful manipulation of one of Loducq’s accomplices, Maubert finally hits paydirt and sends his nemesis to prison just as World War I breaks out; the war, however, will effectuate Loducq’s freedom as the French Minister of War requires his skills and lack of moral scruples to perform a patriotic task (“I’ve never heard something so fantastic: a crook working for intelligence!”). Nadia Gray plays Madeleine Saincaize, another Loducq accomplice who adds to the tension as both men claim her affections. Hamer creates a beautiful period atmosphere, the Paris streets unusually silent, the nights unusually dark, a noir ambience perfectly suited to Loducq’s stealth and magic in black leather gloves.