Even allowing for its translation into modern French, this is a remarkably unfaithful adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. The central role of the usurious Shylock is played by Michel Simon, who manages to convey both the menace and the pathos of the character without lapsing into a broad Jewish stereotype. Portia, the heroine who disguises herself as a male attorney to save her beloved from Shylock's wrath, is well played by Andree Debar. The Shylock and Portia scenes are left intact: most of the cutting and rewriting takes place during the rather less-interesting romantic subplot. One of the pluses of La Marchand de Venice is that it was shot on location in the titular Italian city. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi