Les intrigantes (The Plotters) (1954)

The world of the theater is the backdrop for this sublimely assembled whodunit. A stage director (Raymond Rouleau) becomes the prime suspect in the death of his assistant, who may or may not have been messing around with the director's wife (Jeanne Moreau). The wife helps her husband hide out from the police, taking over his responsibilities in the theater. Soon she is flourishing in the world of make-believe, and she has fallen under the spell of the duplicitous rat who started all of the trouble in the first place. Saving the day is the director's good-hearted secretary (Etchika Choureau), who has long harbored a crush on her boss. Le Intrigantes was released stateside as The Plotters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi