René Génin Movies

The characters and plot convolutions of the classic silent French serial Judex are thrust into a 1960s framework in this Georges Franju concoction. Channing Pollock plays a mysterious masked avenger who kidnaps evil-banker Michel Vitold, then sets about to turn the banker's friends and loved ones against him. At first appearing to be as wicked as his captive, Pollock is actually motivated by familial love: his father had been driven to suicide by Vitold. Pollock is successful in destroying his enemy, adding spice to the program by wedding Vitold's daughter Edith Scob. In keeping with the spirit of the original serial, Pollock pops in and out of the plotline decked out in impenetrable disguises. As with his earlier horror film Eyes without a Face (1960), director Franju invests his two-dimensional material in Judex with three-dimensional characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

French director Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage) is an unsettling, sometimes poetic horror film. Pierre Brasseur plays a brilliant plastic surgeon, Prof. Genessier, who has vowed to restore the face of his daughter, Christiane (Edith Scob), who was mutilated in an automobile accident. With the help of his assistant (Alida Valli), he kidnaps young women, surgically removes their facial features, and attempts to graft their beauty onto his daughter's hideous countenance. This naturally has an adverse effect on the "donors," some of whom commit suicide rather than go through life faceless. Franju's haunting, muted handling of basic horror material is what lifts Eyes Without a Face out of the ordinary and into the realm of near-classic. When the film failed to draw crowds under its original title, however, the distributors decided to exploit it as a two-bit "scare" flick with the new title The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

La Route Napoleon is a lampoon of the aggressive sales tactics adopted by the French tourism industry. Go-getting publicity flack Martel (Pierre Fresnay) hits upon a clever scheme to boost the tourist trade along the coast of France. He arranges a group of sightseeing tours around the route taken by Napoleon during his 1815 flight from Elba. He then sets up a series of "authentic" historical sites along the way, the better to separate the tourists from their money. The irony of it all is that when Martel comes across a site where Napoleon actually stayed during his journey, the owners refuse to allow the building to be exploited. Undaunted, Martel decides to turn the next town up the road into the hub of all tourist activities. The changes brought upon the nonplused residents of this heretofore sleepy village is the source of most of the film's comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Per its title, Lovers of Verona is an updated adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The film was a joint project of those felicitous collaborators, screenwriter Jacques Prevert and director Andre Cayatte. The star-crossed lovers are portrayed by Serge Reggiani and Anouk Aimee, cast respectively as the poverty-stricken son of a glassblower and the daughter of a disgraced nobleman. While playing bit roles in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet, Angelo (Reggiani) and Georgia (Aimee) are suddenly promoted to the leading parts. Predictably, hero and heroine begin acting out their characters in real life as well as on stage. Not so predictably, their romance is challenged not by modern-day counterparts to the Montagues and the Capulets, but by the lovers' own heightened sensitivities to their social differences. Following the worldwide success of Lovers of Verona (it was released in Italy in 1949, then internationally in 1951), director Andre Cayatte was given what one historian has described as "carte blanche" in the French film industry; put simply, the man could do no wrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally Goupi Mains Rogues, this was the first new French feature film to be shown in the US since the end of WW2-though "new" was a relative term, inasmuch as the film was completed in 1943. The scene is a remote, rustic inn, managed by a scruffy family of peasants known as the Goupis. Practicing their own special brand of larceny, the Goupis fancy themselves as Runyonesque rogues, going so far as to bestow colorful nicknames upon themselves. The official head of the band is "Red Hands", played by Fernand Ledoux, but even he is answerable to the Goupis' patriarch, a 106-year-old named "The Emperor" (Maurice Schulz). Nearly plotless, Goupi Mains Rogues offers an unforgettable cast of characters and an abundance of authentic Gallic atmosphere. Picked up for American distribution by MGM, the film inexplicably disappeared from view within a few months; director Jacques Becker later claimed that MGM destroyed all the prints so that the film wouldn't compete with the studio's American-made productions, though this hardly seems to be the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marcel Carne and Jacques Prevert's classic of French poetic realism stars Jean Gabin in one of his most famous roles as Francois, a rough, barrel-chested loner who hides out in his apartment awaiting for the police to arrive. Francois has killed a man in a crime of passion, the slimy lothario Valentin (Jules Berry). As he listens in the darkness of his Normandy apartment to the police sirens closing in and getting louder, he recalls the two women that he loved -- Francoise (Jacqueline Laurent) and Clara (Arletty) -- and the evil Valentin, who stole both their hearts and forced Francois into this melancholy plight. The film was later re-made in Hollywood as The Long Night. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Les Disparus de Saint-Agil (Missing from St. Agil) would be worth watching if only for the chop-licking performance by Erich von Stroheim. The story takes place at a typical French boys' school, where director Aime Clairond pursues the not-so-typical pastime of turning out counterfeit bank notes. When student Claudio tumbles onto Clairond's printing press, the villain kidnaps the boy and spirits him off to parts unknown. Clairond then murders his partner-in-crime, art teacher Michel Simon, for fear that Simon will spill the beans during one of his drinking binges. Surprisingly, Von Stroheim, cast as the school's language teacher (he converses eloquently in both French and German), turns out to be the hero of the peace, putting an end to Clairond's skullduggery and rescuing poor Claudio. The film was directed in the manner of a Republic serial by the reliable Christian-Jaque. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a novel by Jacques Prevert, Port of Shadows (Quai des brumes) stars that eternal victim of society, Jean Gabin. Having deserted the French army, Gabin ducks into a back alley and meets the lovely Michelle Morgan. He becomes her champion by taking on her evil "protectors" (Michel Simon, Pierre Brasseur), but loses his last bid for freedom--and his life--in the process. Irredeemably gloomy, Port of Shadows was a primary influence in the "film noir" genre pursued by Hollywood in the 1940s. The film was the first of three collaborations between writer Jacques Prevert and director Marcel Carne, culminating in the incomparable Les Enfants du Paradis (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean Renoir was the director of The Crime of Monsieur Lange, but this French film might just as well have been made in Hollywood by Frank Capra. The titular Lange (Rene Lefevre) is an author of wild west novels. When the owner of the company that publishes Lange's works absconds with the company funds, Lange rallies the employees together to create their own publishing house. The publisher returns, disguised as a priest, and demands a share of the profits. Lange responds by killing the bounder. The grateful employees help Lange to escape prosecution, allowing him to leave the country with his lovely fiancee (Florelle). Jacques Prevert adapted the screenplay of The Crime of Monsieur Lange from a story by Renoir and Jean Castanier. Stage actor Jules Berry makes his film debut in the role of the shady publisher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Voted 1936's best picture by a circle of prestigious French critics, Jean Renoir's The Lower Depths (Les Bas-Fonds) is based on the "gutter" play by Russian author Maxim Gorky. Louis Jouvet plays The Baron, forced by circumstance to give up his life of luxury and to set up residence in the slums of Paris. As Jouvet observes the passing parade, he bears witness to the frustrated romance between Jean Gabin and Junie Astor, the thwarted dreams of actor Robert Le Vigan, and the oppressive cruelties of landlord Vladimir Sokoloff. The Lower Depths surprised Renoir's admirers, who weren't used to seeing the director involve himself in so sordid and depressing a tale. Actually, the project was brought to Renoir by a producer friend of his, who secured the director's services by promising to provide Louis Jouvet and Jean Gabin as the leading actors. Renoir's The Lower Depths would make a fascinating companion piece to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation of the same Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide