A man suspected of murdering his wife tries to find out the truth in a riveting mystery devised by a master of the genre.
Mélissa is a 2 x 105-minute colour French TV movie produced by ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision
française) and presented by the Deuxième chaîne on June 29, 1968 and July 6, 1968. It is based on Melissa, a six-part television serial aired on the BBC in 1964 (1) and written by Francis Durbridge (1912-1998). This English scriptwriter began in radio in 1933. His most known creation is Paul Temple, a crime novelist and amateur sleuth. Temple solved whodunnits with his wife Louise (nicknamed "Steve") in more than 20 radio serials written by Durbridge (1938-1968) (2), four feature films
(1946-1952) and a TV series (1969-1971).
Besides Paul Temple, Francis Durbridge wrote 20 television serials shown by the BBC between 1952 and 1980 in A Francis Durbridge Serial/Francis Durbridge Presents. He was the author of several novels and a playwright too.
The work of Francis Durbridge was often remade outside the UK for radio (3) and television. Apart from France, local TV versions of Melissa were produced in Germany (1966), Italy (1966) and Poland (1970). Mélissa was helmed by director, screenwriter and producer Abder Isker (1920-2010). He penned the adaptation with José-André Lacour and Aristide-Christian Charpentier. Born in the Kabylia region of Algeria, Abder Isker played football from 1939 to 1943 while studying law in Algiers. Fluent in English, he served as a translator during World War II. In the 1950s, Isker was a radio reporter before he fulfilled his ambition to direct for the RTF (Radiodiffusion-Télévision française) (4). He helmed different kinds of programmes and showed a taste for mystery and suspense. First on the radio with Les Enquêtes de Sherlock Holmes (1958-1960), Les Aventures d'Arsène Lupin (1960-1961) and Les Exploits de Nick Carter (1961-1963). Then on TV by filming stories of writers like Mel Dinelli (Un homme dans la maison, 1962), Frédéric Dard (La Dernière porte, 1963), Barry Thomas (Promenade en landau, 1965), Philip Levene (Les coupables, 1965) and Francis Durbridge (L'écharpe, 1966).
Francis Durbridge and Frédéric Dard were Abder Isker's favourite authors. He had a long collaboration with Dard and became the French specialist of Durbridge. Mélissa is his second adaptation of a Durbridge story. Christian Dancourt, an unemployed journalist, doesn't want to go to a reception with his wife Mélissa because he's writing a novel. She leaves their Parisian appartment with Madeleine and Stéphane Auclair. In the evening, Mélissa phones to tell her husband that an important man can't wait to meet him at his house. Near the Champ-de-Mars, Dancourt asks his way to a policeman and he
learns that a woman has been strangled... his wife, Mélissa. Commissaire Laurent interrogates him and doubts his version. The fact that he denies consulting a neurologist doesn't help. In the appartment, Christian finds gloves used by the murderer. Mélissa had secrets and Christian Dancourt must search for answers in Nogent-le-Roi. Singer and actress Corinne Marchand is Mélissa. After cabaret revues and films such as Cadet Rousselle (1954), Napoleon (1955) and Gigi (1958), she was cast in the operetta Pacifico (1958-1959). Agnès Varda spotted Corinne Marchand in Lola (1961) and chose her for Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962), which made Marchand famous.
Christian Dancourt is played by Pierre Michaël, an actor from Belgium. Already a familiar name of the Belgian stage, he moved to Paris in
1956 and performed plays by Peter Ustinov, George Bernard
Shaw, Françoise Sagan, Peter Shaffer and
others.
French viewers got to know him thanks to various one-off dramas. Before Mélissa, his fourth TV movie under the direction of Abder Isker, Michaël was the inspector in L'écharpe. He starred or co-starred in Fortune (1969), Pont Dormant (1972), Dossier: Danger immédiat (1977) and Symphonie (1986). Less present on the big screen, he appeared in four films between 1959 and 1972 but returned to cinema in the 1980s (5). Member of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company from 1948 to 1968, William Sabatier (Commissaire Laurent) had roles on stage until 1988, in movies and in a big number of dramas or series. He
frequently portrayed historical figures, like Napoleon. William Sabatier was the dubbing voice of Marlon Brando, Richard Harris, Rod Steiger, Howard Keel in Dallas or John Thaw in Inspector Morse.
Philippe Dumat debuted on stage in 1943. Post-war he got praises for his participations to plays by Jean-Paul Sartre and André Roussin. In 1956 Dumat joined Les Branquignols, the comedy troupe of Robert Dhéry and Colette Brosset. With them he played Pommes à l'anglaise and in the show La Plume de ma tante, a huge hit in London. Beyond theatre (6), Philippe Dumat was a reliable character actor in films and TV productions. Not only his voice could be heard in radio plays but he dubbed Donald Pleasence, Laurence Olivier, Alec Guiness, Albert Finney, Paul Lynde in Bewitched, John Banner in Hogan's Heroes, David Doyle, Dick Van Patten, Gargamel, Scrooge McDuck, Andy Griffith in Matlock and many others. Claude Titre (Jean-Claude Lefranc), Micheline Francey (Madeleine Auclair), Perrette Pradier (Carole Salva), Jean Michaud (Dr. Salmon), Catherine Derlat (Danièle Fontagnier) and Catherine Allégret (Aline Grazielli) are some of the other cast members.
Mélissa was shot in the Buttes-Chaumont studios on video and on 16mm film for the locations (Paris and Nogent-le-Roi). Francis Durbridge attended the filming in Paris (7). Sets 13 and 14 of the Buttes-Chaumont were used between January 5, 1968 and January 15, 1968 for seven days. Location scenes were filmed on January 29 and January 30, 1968. The rehearsals took place from December 1, 1967 to January 4, 1968 (almost every day). The theme of Mélissa was composed by Mireille (Mireille Hartuch) and sung by Frida Boccara. Between 1955 and 1974, composer and singer Mireille hosted Le Petit conservatoire de la chanson, a radio and later TV programme (helmed by Abder Isker from 1962) where she taught singing to aspiring variety artists. Frida Boccara, one of her students, reached international fame with Cent mille chansons in 1968 and she was one of the winners of Eurovision in 1969. Sound illustration of Mélissa by Hubert d'Auriol. Cinematography by Marc Fossard. Film editing by Marie-Louise Gesbert.
After Mélissa, Abder Isker transposed five more Durbridge: Bat Out of Hell (À corps perdu, 1970), A Game of Murder (La Mort d'un champion, 1972), A Man Called Harry Brent (Un certain Richard Dorian, 1973), The Passenger (La Passagère, 1974) and Tim Frazer: The Salinger Affair (La Mort d'un touriste, 1975). Philip Levene, Richard Harris and Donald Wilson are amongst the other writers he adapted. In the 1970s, the director chose to shoot his fictions entirely on video. The rest of his resume includes episodes of Maguy (1985-1983), La calanque (1987-1988) and Les filles d'à côté (1993-1995). He was also the directeur artistique et littéraire of the anthology Drôles d'histoires (TF1, 1988-1997). Selim Isker, son of Abder Isker, directed episodes of the latter. Throughout his career, Isker kept working on all sorts of programmes
(culture, concerts, sports, religion, gameshows, travel...). He trained directors in Algeria, promoted Algerian singers on ORTF and produced their records.
Akim Isker, the grand-nephew of Abder Isker, is the director of L'Affaire Laura Stern (2026) and L'Enfant de personne (2021). Before that he worked on Double Je (2019) or Chérif (2013-2019). Son of Pierre Michaël, Jean-Pierre Michaël is a theatre and television actor. Ex-member of the Comédie-Française (1989-2005), he starred in the first two seasons of RIS police scientifique (2006-2014). Michaël appears regularly in TV movies and on stage. He's the French voice of Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves or Ethan Hawke.
Special thanks to Rémi Carémel, who runs the excellent blog Dans l'ombre des studios..., for the filming and rehearsal dates of Mélissa.
(1) Melissa was remade twice for the BBC, in 1974 and 1997.
(2) https://www.francisdurbridgepresents.com/paul-temple/radio-serials/. Some of them are remakes.
(3) Notably in Germany, where 13 Paul Temple radio serials were produced between 1949 and 1968. René Deltgen starred in 12 of them.
(4) The predecessor of ORTF.
(5) Pierre Michaël played in Une étrange affaire (1981), La Passante du Sans-Souci (1982), Légitime Violence (1982), L'Africain (1983) and La Diagonale du fou (1984).
(6) Philippe Dumat also participated to Au théâtre ce soir (1966-1986), a television programme which showed pre-recorded plays.
(7) Télé 7 Jours.
See also:
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