Classic French Cinema
French films of the 1930's to 1950's that I have seen and loved.
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- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyJean-Louis BarraultPierre BrasseurThe theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsGeorges PoujoulyBrigitte FosseyAmédéeA young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsJean GabinMadeleine RenaudMichèle MorganThe captain of the tugboat Cyclone, André Laurent, rushes off to save the Mirva. He abandons his sick wife Yvonne and the couple celebrating their marriage. In the early morning, the Cyclone tugs the Mirva ashore with Catherine aboard.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsMadeleine RenaudPierre BrasseurMadeleine RobinsonA shimmering glass hotel at the top of a remote Provençal mountain provides the setting for a tragicomic tapestry about an obsessive love pentangle.One of the great French classics. Paul Bernard is hiding a sordid secret, which only Madeleine Renaud, his long-time mistress, knows. Pierre Brasseur and Madeleine Robinson erupt into their cozy little world, with predictably disastrous results... See this and you will feel young again.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsAnnabellaJean-Pierre AumontLouis JouvetOn the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsMarie BellFrançoise RosayLouis JouvetChristine, newly widowed and consumed by the memory of a ball she attended age 16, decides to track down the men she danced with that night and discover their fates.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRobert LynenLouis GauthierA red-haired boy is his mother's punching bag ; only his father's presence is a great comfort to him,but this weak man is under the shrew's thumb. His pain is so great he feels suicidal.A child is neglected by his parents, his mother is rough with him, his father distant, until the day of reckoning. Duvivier handles the direction very well, and Harry Baur and Robert Lynen as father and son play memorably.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsJean GabinMireille BalinPierre EtchepareSoldier Lucien meets elegant Madeleine one night in Cannes. Lovestruck, he follows her to Paris after he is discharged. Their love affair begins anew, but eventually runs cold and he returns to Orange in the south of France. She follows.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsRaimuPierre BlancharMadeleine RenaudAn innocent man spends time in prison for murder, then escapes and falls in love with the wife of the real perpetrator.Victor is a respected businessman who is also corrupt; he is forced to kill an associate who threatened to blackmail him. The story gets more complicated from this point on. Gremillon was such a capable director, easily the equal of Carne and his other contemporaries. He gets great performances from Raimu, Pierre Blanchar and Viviane Romance.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsViviane RomanceMichel SimonMax DalbanAfter an elderly maid is murdered, opinions are manipulated, evidence is planted, violence erupts, and panic ensues.
- DirectorGeorges LampinStarsEdwige FeuillèreLucien CoëdelJean DebucourtMuichkine, a young Russian prince, returns home to St. Petersburg from a mental institution, determined to spread decency and kindness in the harsh and cruel world. He becomes betrothed to an innocent young girl while trying to save a less-innocent woman from her own travail, but jealousy and his own naivete conjoin to bring about unimaginable tragedy.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsLouis JouvetSimone RenantBernard BlierA flirtatious wife runs off to meet an older man and the husband closes in with intend to murder him, but finds the deed already done.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsBernard BlierSimone SignoretMarcello PaglieroDedee is a prostitute who works in Monsieur Rene's nightclub on Antwerp's harbour. The porter is Marco, her pimp. Dedee is not happy until she meets Francesco, an Italian sailor. They fall in love and Dedee starts to dream about escaping her daily dull grind.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsPierre BrasseurSerge ReggianiYves MontandIt's Paris in the winter after its liberation. A tramp who may also be Destiny predicts that Jean Diego will fall in love with a beautiful girl. That same evening, Jean meets Malou.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinJulien CaretteSimone SimonIn this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.A Renoir from the late 30's, the period of Grande Illusion and la Regle du jeu, but not as well known. The only Zola adaptation Renoir made, it's lighter than many films made from this writer's works. Gabin and Simone Simon are the lovers.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonJanie MarèseGeorges FlamantMaurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMarcel DalioNora GregorPaulette DubostA bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonMarcelle HainiaSévérine LerczinskaA bookseller saves a tramp from drowning and shelters him, but the tramp's odd behavior starts to wear everyone down.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsJean DastéRobert le FlonLouis LefebvreIn a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsFernand LedouxGeorges RollinBlanchette BrunoyIn a lost French village, an old woman is killed and her savings stolen. Several members of her family, all called "Goupi", are suspected.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiClaude DauphinThree gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsDaniel GélinBrigitte AuberNicole CourcelHopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsJean GabinRené DaryDora DollAn aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsJean GabinAnnie GirardotOlivier HussenotA serial killer is targeting women in the seedy district of Le Marais.A classic Maigret story. A district of Paris is terrorized by a killer of women. Maigret sets up an elaborate trap, which eventually yields a suspect, and then... There is a shock ending. The acting is amazing: Gabin, Desailly, Sety, Bogaert, Girardot and more.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsJean GabinMichel AuclairValentine TessierThe Countess de Saint-Fiacre, having received a terrible anonymous letter predicting her imminent death, summons Commissioner Maigret in the hope that he can protect her and save her from a secret ill-wisher.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsPierre BlancharMichèle MorganLine NoroA minister falls in love with a blind young woman he sheltered, but so does his son.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsMadeleine SologneJean MaraisJean MuratThis is a retelling of Tristan and Isolde, set in 1940s France. The script was written by Jean Cocteau.During the war, directors like Carne, Becker and Delannoy remained in France and tried to make films that would appeal to the public while escaping the German censors. Delannoy has retold the Tristan story, using Bedier's translation of the 11th century saga. Jean Marais and Madeleine Sologne have the beauty of statues; no doubt Cocteau, the script writer intended this. Can be seen as companion piece to Les visiteurs du soir.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsJean GabinGabriel GabrioSaturnin FabreA wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsMicheline PresleGérard PhilipeDenise GreyDuring World War I, the star-crossed affair of an underage French student with a woman engaged to a soldier.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsRenée FaureLucien CoëdelLouis SalouFabrice del Dongo, a young archbishop, gives his all to romance rather than to the Church, creating complications for everyone around. The Countess of San Severina, is but one of the women who love him a la folie, spurring jealous retribution in high places from those who in turn want her. From his prison window, Fabrice falls in love with the jailer's daughter who takes a vow to the Virgin Mary to never see him again if his escape succeeds.
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisFrançois PérierMaría CasaresA poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsNicole StéphaneEdouard DermitheRenée CosimaThe dangerously obsessive relationship between a psychologically manipulative brother and sister who isolate themselves and draw others into their mind games.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisJosette DayYvonne de BrayMichel is in love with Madeleine, so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough; his engagement, however, threatens to reveal dark secrets lurking within his family's home.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsEdwige FeuillèreJean MaraisSilvia MonfortA poet plans to assassinate an unpopular queen but falls in love with her instead.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsPaul BernardMaría CasaresElina LabourdetteA society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinJacqueline LaurentArlettyAfter committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinMichel SimonMichèle MorganA military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinSuzy PrimLouis JouvetA charismatic thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron who comes to live in the thief's slum. Meanwhile the thief seeks the love of a young woman, who is held emotionally captive by her slumlord family.This is the Renoir film, not the Kurosawa that's shown on the box. Gabin, le Vigan, Jouvet, Junie Astor--all wonderful. Look for the great scene between Gabin and Jouvet; so sardonic and well played.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsJean GabinMarcel DalioLino VenturaHenri, the Man from Nantes, comes back to his country after a successful stay in the United States, where he was working for Liski, the drug dealer. With the fame of being a tough guy preceding him, he sets himself to the task of knowing why the French operations were not so profitable - and soon he is master of all links of the organization. He can now get it honed to perfection - or destroy it. Only... the Police is following his every step! Is Henri what he says he is, or an undercover detective from the French police?
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinFrançoise ArnoulMaría FélixThis comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsMadeleine RobinsonGérard PhilipeJean ServaisDuring the cold and rainy off-season a man arrives in a seaside town and, giving his name only as Pierre, checks into the only hotel which remains open. His arrival arouses curiosity and a degree of suspicion, as people note that he appears to know the area, yet gives no explanation for his presence at that bleak time of year in the dead-end town.Gerard Philipe as an orphan who grew up on public assistance and is trying to cope with the world. Madeleine Robinson plays the girl.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsMicheline PresleGérard PhilipeDenise GreyDuring World War I, the star-crossed affair of an underage French student with a woman engaged to a soldier.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsAnton WalbrookSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiSoldiers, chambermaids, poets, prostitutes, aristocrats-all are on equal footing in this multi-character merry-go-round of love and infidelity.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsGérard PhilipeGina LollobrigidaMarcel HerrandSwashbuckling adventures of young army recruit Fanfan la Tulipe during the reign of King Louis XV in 18th Century France.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsGérard PhilipeMartine CarolGina LollobrigidaA young composer has vivid dreams of the past that reflect, yet conflict with his waking life.
- DirectorYves AllégretRafael E. PortasStarsMichèle MorganGérard PhilipeVíctor Manuel MendozaLife in a small Mexican village where joy and misery, hope and pain, passion and guilt, love and decay, life and death are mixed in the peasants life and two French citizens who end up stranded in there, during a typhoid epidemic.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsGérard PhilipeValerie HobsonJoan GreenwoodA philanderer fakes suicide with unexpected consequences.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichèle MorganGérard PhilipeJean DesaillyA French lieutenant makes a bet that he can seduce any woman in town in the two weeks before his regiment leaves for maneuvers, but his chosen target (a Parisian divorcée) isn't like other girls he's known.Gerard Philipe is a dashing heel of an army officer, Michele Morgan is a boutique owner who has been hurt by men... Rene Clair made a great picture.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsJeanne MoreauMaurice RonetGeorges PoujoulyA self-assured businessman murders his employer, the husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsJeanne MoreauAlain CunyJean-Marc BorySaddled with a dull husband and a foolish lover, a woman has an affair with a stranger.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsGérard BlainJean-Claude BrialyJuliette MaynielA pair of cousins share a flat, but animosity begins to build between the two when a woman gets involved.Young people behaving very badly in the Paris of the 50's. Superb performances by Brialy, Blain and Mayniel.