Jean Delannoy enjoyed a long career as the standard bearer of traditional qualité française, creating a string of "well made" films (L’Eternel retour, La Symphonie pastorale) starring the top actors and actresses of the day (Michèle Morgan, Jean Marais, Jean Gabin). For this he became the principal target of a new generation of young cinéastes who would reject the director’s highly crafted adaptations and create a more vital and engaged French New Wave. In this adaptation of a historical novel by Paul Féval (also the source of Phillippe de Broca’s recent film On Guard!), Delannoy tells the story of a man who cares for his murdered friend’s wife and daughter, disguising himself as a hunchback to avenge the friend’s death.