Robert Dhéry Movies
Robert Dhéry joined the circus at age 14 and went on to become a noted French actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter. Dhéry, born Robert Foullcy, studied drama at the Paris Conservatory and then began working in serious theater. He came to cinema in the early 1940s and became known as a burlesque comedian; from there he branched into directing and screenwriting. One of his best known films is La Belle Americaine (1961). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1987
- R
In this 1987 film, director Bertrand Tavernier depicts French life in the Middle Ages as dreary, unromantic, and brutal. The story begins when a warrior leaves home to fight in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between France and England. Before his departure, he gives his young son, François, a sword to safeguard his mother and her virtue. One day, after the boy opens a bedroom door to find his mother willingly submitting to a man, he uses the sword to kill the man and becomes traumatized with guilt and enmity toward his mother. Years later, François (Bernard Pierre Donnadieu) must go off to war as a chevalier, or knight. While he is away, his daughter, the gentle and loving Béatrice (Julie Delpy), sees to the needs of her little brother and her feckless mother. Although the castle in which they live is a sepulcher of shadows and stone, Béatrice maintains her spirits as she looks forward to the day when her father's voice will once again echo in the corridors. After four years of war in which he was held captive for a time by the English, he returns to the castle, a hardened warrior who has renounced God. Inside his twisted mind, he still carries the memory of that terrible day long ago, the day he discovered his mother was an adulteress. Giving the demons within him free rein, he begins to abuse everyone around him: He insults, bullies, and pillages the local village. He even forces his son Nils Tavernier to wear women's clothes and become the prey in a hunt. As he descends deeper into depravity, it is innocent Béatrice who suffers the most. Whether he has completely destroyed her, or whether she will rise up and destroy him, becomes the central focus of the film as it moves toward its conclusion. The dialogue is in French with English subtitles. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Julie Delpy, (more)
- 1981
In this French science fiction thriller, nuclear war breaks out over Europe, and a group of visitors to a local chateau take cover in the basement. When they venture outside after the fighting stops, they discover that the chateau has sustained serious damage and the surrounding lands have been laid to waste. The survivors try to rebuild the house as best they can, and they begin growing food in order to sustain themselves, until they encounter Fulbert (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a deranged fascist who is leading a band of ragged survivors who live in several abandoned railroad cars. The survivors of the chateau defeat Fulbert, and his forces join with the people of the chateau to build a new society. However, they are soon ambushed by government troops, who are rounding up survivors of the nuclear attack and relocating them to concentration camps. Three of the chateau survivors are able to escape and attempt to make their way to safety. Malevil (named for the chateau where most of the action takes place) won a 1981 Cesar Award in France for Best Production Design. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Jacques Dutronc, (more)
- 1974
Director Robert Dhery stars in this slight comedy about a man whose brother-in-law is making an amateur film for a regional television contest. He objects when the brother-in-law tries to make the film racier than he feels is appropriate. Before the film is over, he has won control of the brother-in-law's business, among other things. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1971
A play by Jean Anouilh is the basis for A Time for Loving. In this Gallic blend of La Ronde and Plaza Suite, a single Paris flat is the scene for three separate romantic stories, bookended by a fourth. Star Mel Ferrar also functioned as producer; it must have taken some fast talking to keep him from directing as well. Filmed in 1970, A Time for Loving made the international rounds one year later, after some judicious editing. It has also been released as Paris Was Made For Lovers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This French farce/drama takes place in Ireland in 1916, during one of the peak periods of revolutionary violence. Seven Irish revolutionaries have taken over a post office, totally evacuating the building. Or so they think. They missed Gertie Gertel, who was in the bathroom at the time. By the time she is discovered, they are sufficiently besieged that for her own safety, she must stay with them. Gertie, it turns out, is about as pro-British as it is possible to be, and the seven take it on themselves, in the midst of battles and gunfights, to win her over to their cause. While they are at it, they set out to woo her, as well. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Eric (Robert Dhery) is the beleaguered husband of a harridan wife who works as a writer of advertising slogans. When he develops an uncanny ability to select the winner of the daily horse races, local gamblers take a sudden interest. Eric is cornered by the gamblers who find it hard to believe he does not use his unusual talent to place bets for himself. He eventually wins over the hard bitten thugs with good humor in this comedy taken from the play by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1968
This comedy concerns an inventor (Robert Dhery) of a boat who is fired by his violent, irascible boss when the project is completed. The boat, christened Le Petit Baigneur, is wanted by the Boss (Louis De Funes), who pulls out all the stops to possess the coveted craft. Author-actor-director Dhery wrote this story especially for the comedic styling of De Funes, one of Frances most popular comedians at the time of the feature's release. His "slow burn" is reminiscent of American actor James Finlayson, who perfected the technique in the silent-film era and continued his success in countless films, usually being tormented by the antics of Laurel and Hardy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Robert Dhéry, (more)
In this French comedy, one little white lie leads to a series of whoppers as a Frenchman visiting London soon discovers. The French fellow has gone to London with his friends to catch a soccer match. He then must go to the dentist where, just for fun, he puts on a British policeman's uniform. Dressed as a bobby, he scares away some robbers. Unfortunately, he cannot tell them the truth because he is embarrassed to open his mouth and reveal the two teeth he lost at the soccer match. A chase ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
A schoolteacher (Robert Dhery) and his wife (Colette Brosset) use the couple's new car for a class field trip in this routine situation comedy. Soon the children are lost in this story written and directed by Jean Lhote taken from his own novel. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1964
Henri (Robert Dhery) joins a group of rowdy soccer fans who travel from France to London two days before he is supposed to be married, and he goes to the dentist after his two front teeth are knocked out in a melee with rival fans. Sight gags include a busload of drunken fans trying to evade the police in a rare working combination of Gallic and British humor. Diana Dors appears as herself in this feature directed and co-written by Dhery. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1961
In this French variation on Mark Twain's Man with a Million story, a man's life is completely changed by the acquisition of a new car. Marcel, a Chaplainesque factory worker, sets out to buy an old motorcycle and ends up getting a new Cadillac convertible (the "beautiful American" of the title) for $100. He loses his job and suffers other misadventures, but is then amazed at how people treat him when they learn he owns the prestigious vehicle. Amusing little farce makes a few telling points about the pretensions of the very rich. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, (more)
- 1953
A risque nightclub show cast is featured in this funny French musical. (In French with English subtitles) ~ All Movie Guide
- 1953
A bevy of beautiful strippers team up with a handful of risqué comedians in this feature that documents a typical burlesque show from 1953. Filmed at the Follies Theater in Los Angeles, CA, Peek-a-Boo includes pulse-quickening dance numbers from Venus (billed as "the World's Most Exciting Body"), Virginia Valentine, Suzette, Jennie Lee, and Sherry Winters, with additional routines from the DuPonts and the glamorous hoofers of the Peek-a-Boo Lovlies. Funnymen Leon DeVoe, Jack Mann, Billy Foster, and Johnny Maloney deliver the laughs, and Pat O'Shea's vocals add some class to the proceedings. While a bit more daring in its humor than most of its brethren and willing to let its dancers briefly go without pasties, Peek-a-Boo did undergo a brief bit of prerelease censorship that removed the punch line from a comedy routine, which still appears in bowdlerized form on all existing prints. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The French Branquinol is a plotless, shapeless musicomedy revue in the tradition of "Hellzapoppin." The story, such as it is, concerns a theatrical troupe's efforts to stage a charity show. This plot peg is merely an excuse to present the "Branquinol" company at their most zany and uninhibited. The show has more of a satirical edge than one might expect, with certain theatrical cliches given the once-over in uproarious fashion (in this, the film resembles the Forbidden Broadway stage revues of the 1980s and 1990s). Much of the humor may seem merely quaint or strident to American viewers, with the exception of the antics of star comedian Christian Duvaleix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colette Brosset, Robert Dhéry, (more)
Even in 1945, Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise was regarded as an old-fashioned film. Set in the Parisian theatrical world of the 1840s, Jacques Prévert's screenplay concerns four men in love with the mysterious Garance (Arletty). Each loves Garance in his own fashion, but only the intentions of sensitive mime-actor Deburau (Jean-Louis Barrault) are entirely honorable; as a result, it is he who suffers most, hurdling one obstacle after another in pursuit of an evidently unattainable goal. In the stylized fashion of 19th-century French drama, many grand passions are spent during the film's totally absorbing 195 minutes. Amazingly, the film was produced over a two-year period in virtual secrecy, without the knowledge of the Nazis then occupying France, who would surely have arrested several of the cast and production staff members (including Prévert) for their activities in the Resistance. Children of Paradise has gone on to become one of the great romantic classics of international cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, (more)
