Simone Signoret (Les Diaboliques, Room at the Top) finds herself at the sharp end of a deadly love triangle in Jacques Becker’s Gallic classic – the missing link between French cinema’s golden age and La Nouvelle Vague, and the subject of a stunning 4K restoration to mark its 70th anniversary.

Paris at the turn of the 19th century, and Manda (Serge Reggiani), a young carpenter and ex-con, is trying to get his life back on track after a spell in prison. When he meets beautiful Marie (Signoret), he’s instantly smitten – and so is she. But Marie is the plaything of local crime kingpin Leca (Claude Dauphin), and Manda’s attentions create a love triangle from which there appears to be only one route out. Signoret is at her magnetic best in this immensely evocative journey into the Parisian underworld of two centuries ago.