In his book “French Film,” the eminent historian Georges Sadoul wrote:

“Jacques Prévert was also one of the team responsible for the successful and exciting Les Disparus de Saint Agyl, adapted from the detective novel by Pierre Véry. The story was set in a boys' school just prior to 1914. The director, Christian Jaque, already the maker of several successful commercial films, now followed in the path of Duvivier. He was deeply interested in this new medium, and became so engrossed in it that he finally reached near perfection. The script was by Jacques Prévert, although his name is not given in the credits. He fired it with such a poetry and understanding that the film became alive and real, and when Christian Jaque later came to direct L'Enfer des Anges, he was surprised to find these qualities missing from the later film.” If Sadoul's write-up of this forgotten classic is not enough to make you want to see this film, just reflect a minute on the film's leading actors: Erich Von Stroheim and Michel Simon.