André Luguet Movies

A young female film editor specializes in discovering why other women degrade themselves in pornography and prostitution. She has a relationship with a boring artist, and her life is uneventful until she encounters an older, more worldly art dealer. The man shows her his photographs and she is mesmerized by a picture of a naked woman in chains. The man tries to hide the photo, but she is insistent on seeing it. The man admits this is how he gets aroused, by taking pictures of the bound beauties. The woman asks to come to a photo session where she is repulsed and intrigued at the same time. She leaves, but later returns to the man at his office and becomes hooked on his sadomasochistic voyeurism and begs to become the next model for his camera in the upcoming photo session. He brings in another woman and the session degenerates into a lesbian love fest that the man eagerly captures on film. Shamed, debased and degraded, she pulls her car onto a train track and contemplates her demise. Injured but not dead, she is straddled in her hospital bed when the man comes to visit. She goes into a psychedelic hallucination dream sequence in which her sexual escapades flash before her eyes as the man and her artist boyfriend engage in fisticuffs. Yikes! ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Stanislas (Jean Marais) is a wealthy and well-heeled French secret agent who is called out of retirement for another mission in this routine spy saga. When he receives some secret plans from a dying man, Stanislas becomes the target of an international manhunt. Marais continues his role in the popular French series that steers clear of the campy gadgets associated with the James Bond school of spy thrillers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this light romantic comedy Charles Boyer plays the enigmatic Mr. Pimm, a man with a Cupid complex who grooms men to be paired with the ideal wealthy heiress, and once heavenly matrimony is attained, Mr. Pimm gets his cut. He has his eyes set on Millie (Hope Lange) for the handsome but somewhat inept Gaspard (Ricardo Montalban) and knowing that love might need a nudge or two, he places Davis (Glenn Ford) in Millie's home as a chauffeur who will help Gaspard whenever he can. Millie has her own ideas about the most irresistible man around -- and he is not Gaspard. Meanwhile, Gaspard agrees with Millie because there is someone else on his horizon as well. Telly Savalas shines in an early role as Millie's gourmet uncle. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This "B"-grade spy drama features the ubiquitous Eddie Constantine as Lemmy (a favorite role), the special agent who has an unbounded capacity for Scotch and women, though not necessarily in that order. Lemmy has come to France to help the secret police track down a dangerous spy. His ability to fight himself out of any corner and charm himself out when fighting will not work comes in handy, as he and his French colleagues start to hunt down the elusive spy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Three Murderesses stars Alain Delon as a French playboy who gets more than he bargained for when he begins romancing three women at once. All three ladies (Mylene Demongeot, Pascale Petit and Jacqueline Sassard) are sisters, of wildly divergent personalities. Eventually all three tire of Delon toying with their emotions and plot a wry revenge. Director Michel Boisrone can't completely avoid the healthy vulgarity that is his trademark, but Three Murderesses strives to please without unduly offending. Released in France in 1957 as Faibles Femmes, Three Murderesses was initially distributed in the US under the title Women are Weak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Romain Gary's best-selling novel The Roots of Heaven was adapted to film in Cinemascope and DeLuxe Color by producer Darryl F. Zanuck. Though billed third, Trevor Howard plays the central character, an idealist who has gone into Africa in hopes of saving the elephants from extinction. At first regarded as a crank, Howard shows he's not kidding by taking a shot at the posterior of a pompous news commentator (Orson Welles). As Howard's crusade gains momentum, several opportunists go along with him, among them a disgraced British military officer (Errol Flynn) hoping to redeem himself. Roots of Heaven represented the last truly worthwhile screen appearance by Errol Flynn, who died less than a year after filming his Roots death scene. The film itself was shot on location in French Equatorial Africa--a grueling experience for its stars and its director (John Huston), one worthy of a book in itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dany Robin plays the title character in the French comedy Mimi Pinson. The plot is strictly formula stuff, with Mimi being thwarted on all sides by those who have designs on her money and her virtue. Happily, our heroine triumphs over her foes and predators, finding true romance in the arms of Raymond Pellegrin. Critics weren't too keen on Dany Robin's arch, self-conscious performance, but audiences enjoyed every minute of it. The English-dubbed (and censor-trimmed) version of Mimi Pinson later became a mainstay of American "Late Late Show" telecasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

C'East Arrive a Oden is partly a serious adventure yarn, and partly a spoof of its own genre. A French acting troupe finds itself stranded in a far-flung British colony in India. The troupe's leading lady, Dany Robin, is almost immediately wooed by a native prince. The upshot of this flirtation has international ramifications: the prince refuses to sign an important treaty unless Robin becomes his bride. This doesn't sit well with Robin's lover, an English lieutenant, nor with the villains, who hope to topple the prince from his throne. Director Michel Boisrond adapted the screenplay from a novel by Pierre Benoit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lorsque L'Enfant Parait (When the Child Appears) was adapted from the hit play by Andre Roussin. The story revolves around the efforts of a well-meaning, highly moralistic minister who wants the government to clamp down on illegitimacy. Complications ensue when the minister's own wife become pregnant -- and all evidence indicates that the child is not his. Adding to the protagonist's headaches, his daughter, on the eve of her wedding to a wealthy young man, announces that she, too, may well be in the family way. Not to be left out, the minister's son declares that he thinks he's impregnated his father's secretary! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nous Irons a Monte Carlo guest-stars the Ray Ventura Band and French comedian Max Elloy (best remembered as the stateless refugee in Laurel and Hardy's Utopia). The thinnish storyline concerns a baby boy left in the care of Ventura's drummer. Unable to care for the child himself, the drummer leaves the bundle on Ventura's doorstep, claiming that it is the offspring of one of the other musicians. Unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, the baby is actually the son of a divorce-bound Hollywood actor and actress (John van Dreelen and Audrey Hepburn), who spend most of the film frantically searching for their missing offspring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide