The film, made in 1933 and co-directed with Alexandre Esway, is about a spoiled rich young man named Henri (Pierre Mingand) who leaves home when his father takes away his car and then demands that he start working to earn a living. Intent on keeping a date with a woman he just met Henri steals a car to meet her. But as he swipes the vehicle he is spotted by some other car thieves who chase him down and take him to their garage hideout. There he is browbeat and then recruited into the gang.

In time Henri earns a reputation and becomes the unofficial leader of the gang. He also falls in love with the one woman in the gang – Jeanette (Danielle Darrieux – who still stars in movies (!) and was most recently in 8 Women). She is used to lure men from their cars, which the men steal and bring back to the garage to repaint and fix up to resell.

Mauvaise graine - which is translated as Bad Blood or Bad Seed – was made in 1933 and has the feeling of early talkies, which means sometimes it feels like a silent film. But this is actually a plus because Wilder – though young and inexperienced at the time – uses many visual silent film techniques to tell the story. Throughout the film are many visual segues leading from one scene to the next. And the whole film has a lot of panache and energy. He often uses neat superimpositions and precise fade-outs and smart framing. There are even a few shots from inside an actual moving car – a technique that was rarely used then.

Video
The film looks about as dated as it is. There are numerous scratches and noticeable deterioration throughout the print. It certainly could use a good restoration but no doubt it would be costly. Still it looks good in places and better than it did on video.

Audio
As I mentioned before it has a silent film 'sound' meaning that it has many completely silent moments. And the few scenes with dialogue have various levels of resonance depending on how close the actors – or the particular noise – were to the microphone. The sound problems are all due to the limitations of the time period – which had no foley sound yer. For instance, at one point a couple are walking on the pavement and their footsteps are louder than their dialogue.

Extras
The only extra is a good one! It's a seveb-minute short animated film titled La Joie de Vivre about two attractive young women floating through Paris pursued by a guy in a bicycle. The film, made by Hector Hoppin and Anthony Gross, has nothing directly to do with the feature but it adds an extra 'french' art film quality – and it's better than a standard trailer.

Overall
This French car thief drama is a real find and an absolute must for Billy Wilder fans. The DVD has a fair transfer but it does provide an excellent short film. Let's hope Image continues to release hard to find titles that we can all enjoy. Recommended.