Described variously as “a symphony in white” and “like a swan on a lake,” Carné's Les Visiteurs du Soir (written by Jacques Prevert and Pierre Laroche) is a medieval tale in which love, pitted against the Devil, is proven perennial. Arletty and Alain Cuny are cast as two jesters - the Devil's envoys - who work their magical powers and subtle fascination on the household of a French nobleman. Rene Barjavel writes, “This is exactly the opposite of former films by Carné.... Youth and love, in which all the images are bathed, finally triumph over the Devil, whereas the Devil had the last word when Jean Gabin led the game.” However, Carné was accused by Vichy moralists of contributing to the collapse of France (in the good company of Sartre, Proust, Gide, Cocteau, Mauriac, and others), and in both Les Visiteurs du Soir and Les Enfants du Paradis (see Saturday, May 30) subtle allegories to the German occupation can be read. Jean Queval (BFI) explains, “The last scene, in which the statue's heart continues to beat, was clear enough in the dramatic context. But...both scriptwriters had wanted the audience to understand that it had also a symbolic, patriotic interpretation.... It has also been said,” Queval adds, “that the Devil was not altogether unlike Hitler....” (JB)