Junie Astor Movies
- 1966
A group of aspiring young thugs from Marseilles move in on established gangsters. They spend the time torturing, killing and intimidating the gangsters until they either pay up or die. One punk with a sexual attraction for his sister is turned in by the girl after a degrading sex scene. The newcomers shake down bars and bistros in their efforts to become part of the violent and brutal criminal underworld. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Blain, Jean Valerie, (more)
- 1956
Isabelle (Cathia Caro) is afraid of men: this much the audience knows from the film's title. The reason? Because Isabelle's mother likes men -- lots and lots of men. Our heroine is unable to appreciate her mother's insatiable sexual appetite...until she falls in love herself. Then, to paraphrase an American colloquialism, it's "Isabelle, bar the door!" Isabelle a Pour des Hommes is essentially a teenage-angst film, and as such was one of several glutting the market in 1957. This is why the film didn't get much play in America, where films of this nature were as commonplace as German measles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cathia Caro, Michel Francois, (more)
- 1943
Eternal Return (L'Eternel Retour) translates the Tristan and Isolde legend into contemporary (e.g. 1939) terms. The Tristan counterpart, Patrice (Jean Marais), falls in love with the modern-day Isolde, named Nathalie. Actually he has fallen for two Nathalies: when Nathalie I (Madeleine Sologne) spurns his offer of marriage, he turns his attentions to Nathalie II (Junie Astor). Still carrying a torch for Nathalie I, Patrice attempts a nocturnal rendezvous with his true love on the eve of his wedding. Because of a tragic blunder, Patrice and Nathalie I are reunited only in death. The dream-like quality of Eternal Return is due more to the input of screenwriter Jean Cocteau than director Jean Delannoy. The film, with its mystical trappings and ethereal performances, can now be viewed as a precursor to Cocteau's own Beauty and the Beast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Madeleine Sologne, (more)
- 1939
Heart Throbs is the rather prosaic English title of the French romantic comedy Battlements de Coeur. Danielle Darrieux plays an impoverished reform-school escapee who finds a new lease on life when she enrolls in a school for pickpockets run by Fagin-like Saturnin-Fabre. Before long, Darrieux is the school's prize pupil, though she intends to abandon her life of crime should the right man come along. But Saturnin-Fabre has other ideas, and grooms Darrieux for her entree into High Society, the better to divest foreign ambassador Andre Luguet of his valuables. Unfortunately for her mentor, Darrieux falls in love with Luguet, and the plot takes off from there. Battlements de Coeur was remade in Hollywood as Heartbeat (1946), with Ginger Rogers as the elegant cutpurse and Basil Rathbone as her suave instructor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Junie Astor, (more)
- 1939
Entente Cordiale was adapted from Andre Maurois' Edward VII and his Times. Victor Francen heads the cast as Britain's Prince Edward, who after assuming the throne of England in 1910 strives to bring about a lasting peaceful coexistence between the United Kingdom and France. Both countries are treated with equal respect throughout the film, depicted as intelligent nations willing to avoid war at all costs, but not quite as willing to give up national pride; the infamous Fashoda Incident, which almost resulted in full-scale warfare between Britain and France, is the film's central issue. Scores of historical personages make fleeting cameo appearances, including Queen Victoria (played by Gaby Morlay), Lord Kitchener (Jean d'Yd), French president Loubet (Jean Perrier), Clemenceau (Jacques Baumer) and Lord Balfour (Andre Roanne). Not surprisingly, Entente Cordiale was produced and released at a time when France and England were seriously contemplating a united front against future Nazi incursions into Europe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gaby Morlay, Janine Darcey, (more)
- 1938
Prolific filmmaker Marcel l'Herbier directed this good-looking 1700s romance starring real-life spouses Pierre Fresnay and Yvonne Printemps. Printemps gives a sensitive performance as Adrienne Lecouvreur, the acclaimed actress who falls in love with Polish prince Maurice de Saxe (Fresnay), only to be poisoned by a jealous rival while Maurice is away at war. Several operas have been based on the story, which makes for a moving account of a doomed love. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Fresnay, Yvonne Printemps, (more)
- 1937
A real-life Parisian police detective is credited for the screenplay of Police Mondaine. The story focuses on a manhunt for Salviati, a notorious trafficker in narcotics played by Charles Vanel. The head crook already has plenty of problems on his mind, not least of which are the efforts by two-bit thug Scoppa (Jean-Louis Barrault) to encroach upon Salviati's operation. Calmly biding his time, police inspector Picard (Pierre Larquey) simply gathers clues and waits until the crooks fall out before moving in for the kill. The film's two directors had obviously seen quite a few American crime melodramas; one half-expects James Cagney to pop up and shout "Sacre bleu!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alice Field, Jean-Louis Barrault, (more)
- 1936
The Club de Femmes (Girl's Club) of the title refers to a Parisian boarding house, populated in its entirety by beautiful, unwed damsels. The rules of the club are quite strict, with chaperones making certain that the ladies keep a safe and respectable distance between themselves and their gentleman callers. But the mischievous Claire (Danielle Darrieux) is determined to enjoy a rendezvous with her sweetheart Robert (Raymond Gall), and to that end she talks him into disguising himself as a woman. Things look bleak for Claire when she becomes pregnant, but things turn out OK when she gives birth to a girl, thereby upholding the club's "No Males Allowed" edict. Featured in the cast is a young newcomer named Else Argell, who by an incredible coincidence was the wife of director Jacques Deval. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Josette Day, (more)
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