| Le Crime ne paie pas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Gérard Oury |
| Produced by | Gilbert Bokanowski |
| Cinematography | Christian Matras |
| Edited by | Roger Dwyre Raymond Lamy |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production companies | Cosmas G.E.F. Teledis Transworld Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 159 min (USA) 79 min (UK) |
| Country | France / Italy |
| Language | French |
Le Crime ne paie pas (US title: Crime Does Not Pay, UK title: Gentle Art of Murder) is a 1962 French drama portmanteau film directed and partly written by Gérard Oury. It consists of four separate episodes, each with its own cast and writers but sharing common themes of beautiful women, jealousy, revenge and death.
From these dark tales centred on leading actresses, Oury switched to buddy comedies which remain among the most-loved and successful films in the history of French cinema. Louis de Funès, here playing a barman whose English is incomprehensible, starred in them, as did English male leads like David Niven and Terry-Thomas. The writing team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, behind the third episode, had provided the stories for two 1950s masterpieces, Les Diaboliques (1955) and Vertigo (1958).