Claude Nollier Movies
- 1962
Filmmaker Julien Duvivier returns to the multistoried format of his earlier omnibus films Tales of Manhattan and Flesh and Fantasy with the 1962 French production The Devil and the Ten Commandments. Actually, there are only seven separate episodes in the film, covering such commandments as "Thou Shalt Not Have Any Gods Before Me", "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother." Each of the vignettes seems to owe more to O. Henry or DeMaupassant than the Book of Exodus, with twist endings carrying the day. The all-star cast includes Michel Simon (Episode One), Dany Saval (Episode Two), Charles Aznavour and Lino Ventura (Episode Three), Micheline Presle, Mel Ferrer and Claude Dauphin (Episode Four); Fernandel (Episode Five); Alain Delon and Danielle Darrieux (Episode Six) and Jean-Claude Brialy (Episode Seven). Best of the batch is the fifth episode, wherein horse-faced Fernandel declares that he is God. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1961
Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, was given two screen treatments within a 15-year period. The first, filmed in 1955 but released in 1961, is a near-literal translation of a stage performance. Claude Nollier sings the dual role of Fidelio and Leonore. Others in the cast include Richard Holm as Floresta, Erwin Gross as Don Fernando and Hannes Schiel as Don Pizzaro. Like the 1970 adaptation of Fidelio, the 1955 production includes an alternate version of Beethoven's "Leonore" overture. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1961
A young Susannah York had her first lead role in this drama about a teenage girl on the cusp of womanhood. When her mother falls ill during a vacation in the French wine country, 16-year-old Joss Grey (York) is left to her own devices as she and her three younger siblings are left in the reluctant care of Madame Zisi (Danielle Darrieux), the proprietor of the hotel where they were staying. Eliot (Kenneth More), Zisi's strapping boyfriend, offers to show the youngsters some of the sights in the countryside, and Joss finds herself developing a strong infatuation with the older man. However, when she realizes that Eliot and Zisi are lovers, she becomes despondent and ends up getting drunk on wine with Paul (David Saire), a boy who works in the kitchen at Zisi's hotel. When Joss learns that Eliot is actually a jewel thief wanted by the law, she informs the police of his whereabouts. However, that same night, Paul's efforts to seduce Joss degenerate into a violent attempt at rape, but when Eliot hears her screams for help, he comes to Joss' rescue. Having spared her virtue and perhaps her life, Joss confesses to Eliot that she has turned him in to the police, and urges him to flee for his own safety. One of Joss' sisters is played by Jane Asher, a distinguished actress who was most famous in the United States not for her abilities as a performer, but for spending several years as Paul McCartney's girlfriend. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1955
Perhaps because its American distribution was brief, Le Printemps, L'Autumne et L'Amour is one of the lesser-known Fernandel vehicles. The lantern-jawed comedian plays a confirmed middle-aged bachelor, whose life is radically altered when he rescues 18-year-old Nicole Berger from drowning. Out of gratitude, the girl marries Fernandel, but predictably the union is far from satisfactory. Complications arise when Berger falls in love with Phillipe Nicaud, a boy closer to her own age. If one must have a May-December drama, better one with Fernandel than those overheated Hugo Haas-Cleo Moore extravaganzas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Nicole Berger, (more)
- 1954
Sacha Guitry's Si Versailles M'Etait Conte (If Versailles Were Told to Me) is best known by its American title Royal Affairs in Versailles. In addtion to writing and directed the film, Guitry reserves for himself the plum role of Louis XIV. Concentrating on the palace of Versailles over a period of 300 years, the storyline concentrates on the various amorous and political intrigues of three French kings. The plot manages to wend its way through the French revolution, coming to a halt in "the present". The star-studded supporting cast includes Jean Marais as Louis XV, Claudette Colbert as Mme. Montespan, Micheline Presle as Mme. Pompadour, and, best of all, Orson Welles as a gouty Ben Franklin. Most currently available prints of Si Versailles M'Etait Conte are severely edited, and fail to do justice to the rich Eastmancolor hues of the original version. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Jean Marais, (more)
Moulin Rouge is the story of 19th century French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, portrayed by José Ferrer. The film records his frustration over his physical handicap (the growth in his legs was stunted by a childhood accident), his efforts to "lose" himself in Paris' bawdy Montmartre district, and his career as a painter, which brought him money only when he turned out advertising posters--but what posters! Toulouse-Lautrec's drinking and debauchery lead to his early death, which in the hands of director John Huston is staged (brilliantly) in the manner of a musical comedy finale. This is the film in which Zsa Zsa Gabor actually acts, in the role of demimonde entertainer Jane Avril. As a bonus, the film's musical score (by Georges Auric) managed to hit the Top Ten charts in the U.S. When this immensely successful film was released to television in the late '50s, Moulin Rouge proved to be one of the strongest-ever incentives to purchase a color TV set. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Colette Marchand, (more)
- 1952
The unbeatable combination of star Fernandel and director Henri Verneuil strikes again with Le Fruit Defendu (Forbidden Fruit). Fernandel plays a rural doctor, trapped in a dull, uneventful marriage. During a visit to the city, the doctor falls for a young lady (Francoise Arnoul) of very loose morals. Unwilling to relinquish this affair upon returning home, the doc works out a clever scheme whereby he can install the girl in his own home without arousing the suspicions of his wife (Claude Nollier) . How he does this, and how he's finally caught, is handled in a hilarious but scrupulously tasteful fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Claude Nollier, (more)
- 1951
Les Main Sales is based on the Jean-Paul Sartre play of the same name. The hero, Hugo Barine (Daniel Gelin), is a dedicated communist. Hugo suffers a crisis of conscience when he is ordered to assassinate his Marxist mentor Hoederer (Pierre Brasseur) at the behest of a more radical Red faction. It turns out that Hoederer is even more idealistic than Hugo, thoroughly understanding the "necessity" of his elimination in the scheme of things. At least, that's what seems to be happening; with Jean-Paul Sartre involved, one can never be entirely certain who's doing what to whom and why. Whatever the case, poor Hugo eventually learns to his dismay that most so-called revolutionaries are more concerned with power than proselytizing. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1950
In Justice est Faite, French director Andre Cayatte and his favorite screenwriter Charles Spaak tackle the delicate issue of euthanasia. The story is related in flashback, from the vantage point of a murder trial. The central character is Marceline (Valentine Tessier), who kills her incurably ill lover at his request. Emphasis is placed not on the crime itself, but on the thought processes and legal strategies of the prosecution and defense. Justice est Faite won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Its chance for success in English-speaking countries was hampered somewhat by the film's overabundance of dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Valentine Tessier, Claude Nollier, (more)
