Women Are Like That (Comment qu'elle est?) (1960) The Fifth Lemmy Caution Flick

"The whiskeys French and the champagnes American."  (Dombie the detective, describing a dive bar in Paris)

Directed by Bernard Borderie, written by Bernard Borderie and Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon, and based on Peter Cheyney's novel.

Cinematography was by Robert Juillard and the Music was by Paul Misraki with the orchestra directed by Paul Metethen.

The film stars Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution, Françoise Brion as Martine, Alfred Adam as Pascal Girotti, Renaud Mary as Henri Demur, Robert Berri as Dombie,  Nicolas Vogel as Mayne, Françoise Prévost as Isabelle, André Luguet as Le général Rupert, Fabienne Dali as Danielle the secretary, Jacques Seiler as Le commissaire, Henri Cogan as Zucco, Billy Kearns as Charlie Ribban, Darling Légitimusas as Palmyre. 

Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution and Françoise Prévost as Isabelle

Robert Berri as P.I. Dombie

Renaud Mary as Henri Demur and André Luguet as Le général Rupert

Lemmy with Alfred Adam as Pascal Girotti

Jacques Seiler as Le commissaire

Françoise Brion as Martine

You can't go into these Lemmy Caution flicks expecting a serious old school hard boiled detective movie. These films are always a bit comedic and presented a bit tongue in cheek. The Caution character, is a sort of combination of rough pugilist, with the world weary hard drinking looks of Bogart, he has the build of John Wayne, and the coolness of Dean Martin with his slightly tipsy, jokingly suave demeanor, who has an intriguing way with the ladies. 

The films are more International Spy Noir than P.I. Noir but old school Spy Noir, they lack the spy gadgets, huge set pieces and fantastical action sequences that would proliferate exponentially after James Bond hit the screens in 1962. 

Puss 'n Boots Strip Tease

"Puss 'n Boots" Pigalle, Paris. A dive. The doorman is barkin' up the acts inside, the hottest, the daring-est, but he's also offering discounts for families, how louche! 

Lemmy is at a floor table enjoying himself watching a strip show.

He's causing a ruckus because he wants to order a whiskey instead of a bottle of champagne, the house rules. When the bouncer comes over to throw him out a fistfight breaks out and the gendarme's haul Lemmy down to the station.

"Your palm tells me that your are going to see stars"

"Bye girls"

Lemmy's got trouble. He's got three different passports, when Le commissaire asks him for his real name he reads them off the three fro the passports. Lemmy tells him Lemmy Caution and tells him its on his real passport in his hotel room at the Ambassador. Lemmy tells him to call the head of the FBI in Paris. 

So begins the fifth Lemmy Caution film. 

Le commissaire also calls Le général Rupert head of la Sûreté.  Rupert is dismayed when he finds out that Lemmy was sent to Paris by "Lynx-Eye" General Flash, and that the FBI has another agent Charlie Ribban already undercover working on a double agent spy case in Paris without his permission. The target is named Varley.  

Sûreté is Henri Demur from la Sûreté with the commissaire

Lemmy's counterpart in la Sûreté is Henri Demur. Demur tells Lemmy that he knows what Varley looks like and that will give him a head start in their competition to find him. 

Rupert has Demur follow Lemmy. Lemmy goes to the Isabelle Speranza Gallery he meets both Isabelle and his contact Ribban. Ribban warns him about talking in front of Isabelle and tells Lemmy to meet him at Ribbans hotel at 33 Rue de Paris. 

Billy Kearns as Charlie Ribban

Lemmy makes a date with Isabelle for dinner later that night and he returns to his hotel. At the hotel he is surprised by his private detective friend Domdie. Dombie heard Lemmy was in town and wrecked a ta nightclub in Montmartre through the grapevine.

Lemmy and old friend Dombie

Isabelle calls the hotel  while he is chatting with Dombie and she  tells Lemmy she'll stop by and pick him up. Lemmy goes on his date with Isabelle, tailed by Dombie. Isabelle wants to go to her apartment to change and freshen up first before their date, She tells Lemmy to make himself a drink. 

I want to go freshen up

Make yourself a drink

Isabelle watches Lemmy drink the spiked scotch

Hours later drugged he stumbles out of Isabelle's apartment house where he is scooped up by Dombie.  Lemmy tells Dombie to take him to Ribbon's hotel. There they find him dead.

It all goes predictably Noirsville.

Noirsville

Over time Eddie Constantine grows on you. You can see how his long running Lemmy Caution FBI character, was very similar in appeal to the French as Eastwood's Dirty Harry SFPD inspector was to Americans. 

Instead of Harry's trademark of a .44 magnum, and his ionic phrases i.e. "the most powerful handgun in the world," Lemmy's trademarks are heavy drinking, a whiskey bottle, his fisticuffs, and a reputation for being a crazy fish out of water American, which he himself plays up in amusing ways to distract his potential enemies. He's also besides all that somewhat of a pussy hound, lol.

This film even has a sequence that just might have been homaged, or in the sincerest form of flattery stolen and reused in Paul Newman's The Drowning Pool, you'll know it when you see it. 

I don't know where these Lemmy Caution flicks got such a bad reputation. So far I've seen five and haven't been disappointed in the least. Poison Ivy, This Man is Dangerous, Dames Get Along, this one Women Are Like That, are all worth viewing, and Alphaville was a real treat. The only reasonable explanation that I can think of was that in 1953 the year Poison Ivy first came out America wasn't ready to read subtitles, or put up with dubbing, at least for an just an average film, and the blue noses of The Legion of Decency and the MPPC certainly wouldn't be putting up with the almost totally naked strip show in the Casablanca nightclub at the beginning of the film, lol. Anyway the screencaps are from online screeners both the French language version (which shows some nudity) and The English language version which does not. 7/10

Peter Cheyney's Lemmy Caution Novels

This Man Is Dangerous (1936)

Dames Don't Care (1937)

Poison Ivy (1937)

Can Ladies Kill? (1938)

Don't Get Me Wrong (1939)

You'd Be Surprised (1940)

Your Deal, My Lovely (1941)

Never a Dull Moment (1942)

You Can Always Duck (1943)

I'll Say She Does! (1945)

The Lemmy  Caution Films

LA MOME VERT DES GRIS (aka “The Gun Moll” and “Poison Ivy”)  (1953) Based on the Lemmy Caution novel Poison Ivy 1937

CET HOMME EST DANGEROUS (aka “This Man is Dangerous”) (1953) Based on the Lemy Caution novel This Man Is Dangerous 1936

LES FEMMES S’EN BALANCENT (aka “Dames Get Along”) (1954) Based on the Lemmy Caution novel Dames Don’t Care 1937

VOUS PIGEZ? (aka “Diamond Machine”) (1955) Based on the Lemmy Caution novel Don’t Get Me Wrong 1939

COMMENT QU’ELLE EST! (aka “What a Girl!”aka "Women Are Like That") (1960) Based on the Lemmy Caution novel I’ll Say She Does! 1945

ÇA VA ÊTRE TA FÊTE (1960) Based on characters created by Peter Cheyney

LEMMY POUR LES DAMES (aka “Ladies’ Man) (1962( Based on characters created by Peter Cheyney 

À TOI DE FAIRE, MIGNONNE (aka Your Turn, Darling”) Based on Your Deal, My Lovely (1941)

ALPHAVILLE  (aka “Une etrange Aventure de Lemmy Caution,” “Alphaville: A Strange Case of Lemmy Caution” and “Tarzan Vs. IBM”) Based on characters created by Peter Cheyney

ALLEMAGNE ANNÉE 90 NEUF ZÉRO (1991; aka “Germany Year 90 Nine Zero”) Based on characters created by Peter Cheyney