The Vintagent Classics: Portrait Of An Assassin

PORTRAIT OF AN ASSASSIN / PORTRAIT D’UN ASSASSIN (1949)

Run Time: 1:40:00
Producer: Hubert Vincent-Bréchignac
Director: Bernard-Roland
Writer: François Chalais, Henri Decoin, Marcel Rivet
Key Cast: Maria Montez, Erich von Stroheim, Arletty and Pierre Brasseur

FILM MAKERS

“I expected my shooting mishap to be followed by a legal mishap. Well, what do we do now? Shall we have a drink? Make love? Throw things at each other?”

Portrait of an Assassin (French: Portrait d’un assassin) is a 1949 French drama thriller. The film was financed by a French furrier. It was originally announced that the film would be called Portrait of a Murderer and would star Maria Montez and Orson Welles. “Could be the battlingest picture of the century”, wrote Hedda Hopper.

Orson Welles and Charles Lederer were hired to rewrite the script. They wrote a new script in just a few weeks, but the producers didn’t use it, didn’t make the last payment on their salaries, and on top of that, sued them. In My Lunches With Orson, Welles says “They didn’t use one word we wrote. But they used the story.” Furthermore, “We got paid by a black-market producer who came to the Lancaster hotel with the money wrapped in newspaper.”