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Retour de Manivelle (The Turn of the Handle) is an acceptable French approximation of Hollywood "film noir" techniques. Artist Peter Van Eyck rescues Daniel Gelin from drowning, takes the man home, and makes him his chauffeur. Gelin does his job well, even managing to fend off the romantic advances of Van Eyck's wife Michele Morgan (after all, he's got a good thing going with housemaid Michele Mercier). When the artist commits suicide, Morgan inveigles Gelin into rearranging the evidence so that the death will appear to be murder, lest she lose out on her husband's insurance money. The faithful Gelin agrees--a decision he lives to regret.