Behind the scenes of Albert London’s final report
Albert Londres must disappear, Fréderic Kinder, Borris
The point of view of the publisher, Glénat.
When, in December 1931, Albert Londres embarked for China, no one really knew what he was going there to do. No newspaper has sent him there and his competitors are wondering what scoop he will be able to report when Shanghai is at the heart of the Sino-Japanese conflict. After his reportages which caused a stir on the penal colony of Cayenne, on the white slave trade in Argentina or on the unworthy treatment of internees in psychiatric hospitals, it is a traffic in arms and opium that Albert Londres will put up to date in Asia. But the revelations that the journalist is about to make, “dynamite” by his own admission, are disturbing in the highest places, starting with the Admiralty of the French Navy, which is involved in this traffic (which will be known more later under the name of French Connection!). Also, its disappearance in the sinking of the George Philippar on his return from China in May 1932 casts doubt on the accidental nature of his death. Especially when you know that his friends, the Lang-Willar couple in whom he confided in the content of his report, will accidentally perish before being able to bring this state scandal to light.
Between biopic and fiction, Albert Londres must disappear is a possible proposal by Frédéric Kinder and Borris on the tragic end of the man who, even today, is considered the first great reporter in history.