Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1955)

Paris, 1680: Many of the city’s noblemen have already fallen victim to a mysterious murderer. They had all commissioned jewelry from the goldsmith Cardillac and were stabbed while transporting the jewels to their ladies. The police are at a loss, and the city’s men submit a petition to the king, calling for the police to keep strict watch over the men coming and going. The king’s ministers in particular have pushed for the petition, hoping this will increase their influence over the noblemen and, through them, the king. Some of the men who did not support the petition, however, begin to resist, so the king asks the poetess Madame de Scuderi to make a decision. She writes that a man who is afraid of thieves and murderers on his way to his beloved is not worthy of her love. The petition is rejected. Meanwhile, Cardillac has realized that his daughter, Madelon, is in love with his employee, Olivier Brusson. He dismisses Olivier, who secretly arranges to meet Madelon outside Cardillac’s house one evening. There Olivier sees Cardillac leave the house in disguise through a secret passage. He follows him and witnesses Cardillac murder a nobleman. Olivier unmasks him, but Cardillac manages to escape. Olivier, mistakenly arrested for the murder, is released when a witness says he arrived at the scene only after the nobleman was already dead. A little later, Cardillac comes to Olivier and asks him to return to his service. There is now nothing to prevent Olivier from marrying Madelon, either. Cardillac tells Olivier that he has a reason for the murders. Once, a nobleman had commissioned a piece of jewelry from Cardillac’s father. He used it to win over Cardillac’s mother while the father was away from home. The next day, the nobleman returned and demanded the jewelry back, saying it had only been a pledge for that one night. Enraged, Cardillac’s father attacked the nobleman and was murdered before Cardillac’s eyes. Ever since then, Cardillac has killed men who use his jewelry to subdue women. He keeps the jewelry he has recovered in this way in a cellar vault and shows the hiding place to Olivier as well. Olivier must promise Cardillac not to reveal this secret to anyone. Cardillac has made a diadem for the Virgin Mary, but decides to give it to Mademoiselle de Scuderi instead. Olivier delivers it to her anonymously, but Scuderi is disconcerted because an enclosed note makes it clear that the sender is the murderer and is thanking her: her verse has led to the murderer being left unmolested. Cardillac is summoned to the palace. At first he is delighted to get his diadem back, but then presses it on Scuderi after Madame de Maintenon has a fit of laughter at his outburst of joy. Soon afterward, Cardillac regrets his gift and begins showing signs of madness. Olivier intercepts Scuderi and asks her to return the gift to Cardillac. The nobleman Miossens, meanwhile, commissions Cardillac to make a piece of jewelry for his beloved, St. Croix. After much hesitation, Cardillac makes it. Olivier cannot stop him from setting out on another revenge mission in disguise, but Miossens proves stronger: he stabs Cardillac. Olivier, who has rushed to the scene, takes Cardillac’s weapon and drags the dying man back to the goldsmith’s workshop. Cardillac dies there after reminding Olivier once more of his oath. Cardillac’s housemaid raises the alarm. The weapon is found on Olivier, and he is arrested. Madelon, distraught, is also to be imprisoned, but amid the confusion Scuderi places her under her personal protection. Scuderi soon realizes that Cardillac must have been the murderer. She confronts Olivier with this conclusion, and he no longer considers himself bound by his oath. He tells her the whole story, and Scuderi in turn takes the matter directly to the king. Miossens, whom Olivier called as a witness shortly after Cardillac’s murder, is unwilling to testify for fear of the police, so he cannot clear Olivier. Olivier, however, tells the minister Louvois where Cardillac’s secret hiding place is, and Louvois confirms to the king that this proves Olivier’s innocence. At Scuderi’s request, Olivier is released, but the identity of the culprit, Cardillac, is kept secret so as not to ruin Madelon’s future. In the end, Scuderi delivers the diadem to the convent Cardillac had intended it for, for the Virgin Mary, and then bids farewell to Madelon and Olivier as they leave together.