Jean Pascal Movies

A Victor Canning novel was the starting point for the British adventure flick The Golden Salamander. Archaeologist Trevor Howard combs the ruins of Tunisia in hopes of finding lost treasures. Instead he is confronted by a band of gunrunners, and before long is involved in an effort to topple a local despot (Herbert Lom) from power. With the aid (and sometimes comfort) of Anouk Aimee, Howard brings freedom to the locals and wealth to himself. Novelist Canning and director Ronald Neame both had a hand in the "Boys' Own Adventure" screenplay for The Golden Salamander. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This exciting adventure provides an interesting look into the manufacture and trafficking of opium and heroin. The original story was written by Ian Fleming who died shortly before he was to pen the screenplay. The story is set in Iran and opens as an American undercover agent is murdered in the desert while attempting to buy opium. Two more agents are sent to Teheran to investigate the death and stop the powerful drug ring behind the smuggling. Once there, they run into the dead agent's girlfriend, who soon after suddenly disappears. Unfortunately, they cannot find her and so focus on their other job. To figure out where the drugs are going (and hopefully get a lead on the missing girl) they steal a bunch of opium and lace it with radioactive tracers so they can track it with Geiger counters. They then follow the drugs as they are slowly dispersed throughout Europe. After many twists, turns and blind alleys, the agents eventually succeed. This film was originally made for TV and contains cameos from many stars who worked for little pay because they strongly supported its anti-drug message. Those stars include Grace Kelly (who introduces the film) Omar Sharif, E.G. Marshall, Eli Wallach, Marcello Mastrioanni, and many more. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This slow-paced, routine drama is a remake of a 1933 version by director Pierre Guerlais, based on a novel by Pierre Loti. The setting is a fishing village along the coast of Iceland and the action focuses on Yan Gaos (Jean-Claude Pascal). He is part of the fishing crew under his boss Mevel (Charles Vanel), and he has a special problem. Yan is in love with the boss's daughter Gaud (Juliette Mayniel) and she reciprocates his feelings. But her father needs to be convinced that Yan would make a worthy son-in-law and the only way Yan can prove his worth is by outshining the others on their fishing expeditions. So marriage is postponed while Yan goes out to sea one more time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This routine story by director Maurice Cloche is about two gangs at war over the possession of a valuable cache of crude diamonds. As the gangs battle it out with each other, a young man is drawn into the conflict by his girlfriend, an aggressive sort of woman in her own way. Before the basically innocent bystander becomes a casualty of the dispute, he falls in love with another woman who manages to lead him away from the conflict. At the same time, the gangs are well on the way to destroying each other. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Le Fils de Caroline Cherie is the third in a series of bodice-ripping Gallic romantic adventures. Replacing Martine Carol as 19th century heroine Caroline is Micheline Grey, who is out of the picture early on as her son Juan Jean-Claude Pascal picks up the plotline. Like his mother, Juan cuts quite a sexual swath through Europe, almost completely oblivious to the Napoleonic wars raging all about him. One of our hero's conquests is played by Brigitte Bardot, who receives top billing. Like its predecessors, Le Fils de Caroline Cherie was heavily censored before its arrival on American shores. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anouk Aimee stars as a young woman of humble means who maneuvers her way into the uppermost rungs of French society. How she does it, and the price she has to pay along the way, is unfolded through a series of flashbacks. Since Anouk is recalling her life while in the offices of an abortionist, one suspects that things haven't gone quite as well as she'd hoped. Roland Laudenbach's screenplay was adapted from a novel by Cecil St. Laurent. During its very brief American release, Les Mauvaises Rencontres was known as The Bad Liaisons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

La Rage au Corps (Tempest in the Flesh) stars Francoise Arnoul as Clara, a woman with quite a past and a questionable future. Employed as a lunchroom worker by a Parisian construction company, Clara is rescued from a potentially fatal on-the-job accident by a handsome laborer. She expresses her gratitude sexually, and soon the rest of the workers are consumed by lust and jealousy. A psychiatrist determines that Clara is a nymphomaniac, who can be "cured" only by truly falling in love. Eventually this happens, but not before several torrid affairs (many of which proved too torrid for the American censors). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After several years in the Italian film industry, director Leonide Moguy returned to France for Les Enfants de L'Amour (The Children of Love). The film is set in a dormitory for teenaged mothers, both unwed and deserted. No one personal story is given precedent over any of the others, though the audience has the strongest empathy for gaminlike Anne-Marie (Etchika Choreau), abandoned child bride Liliane (Dominique Page), and hooker Dollie (Joelle Barnard). On the whole, the male characters in the film are less believable than the female, with Jean-Claude Pascal delivering a particularly pedantic performance as a doctor. Essentially a plea for birth control, Les Enfants de L'Amour reportedly ran into censorship problems in certain staunchly religious communities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

European film favorite Fernand Gravey not only starred in Le Plus Heurs des Hommes, but also co-adapted the script from Jean Guitton's play. The title translates to The Happiest of Men, which hardly describes Gravey's character, an innocent bystander named Pierre. Walking into a bookshop, Pierre witnesses what seems to be a murder. But the victim (Jean-Claude Pascal) isn't really dead; he's staged the whole scene to divest himself of an inconvenient mistress. Within a few minutes, however, Pierre has killed the "corpse" for real. Why he does this could be explained here, but that would spoil the fun to be found in this curious comedy-drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean-Pierre (Jean-Pierre Pascal) is the foreman of the lumber empire managed by a powerful family. The family's daughter Christine (Francoise Arnoul), sent to England as punishment for an indiscretion, returns to their forest home. It is a foregone conclusion that Jean-Pierre and Christine will fall in love, despite violent opposition from her aristocratic aunt (Marcelle Arnold). It turns out that the aunt is acting out of something other than social propriety: it was her lover who'd dallied with Christine before the girl's banishment to England. Advertised as another "naughty" Gallic romantic drama when released in the U.S., Le Foret D'Adieu is actually quite chaste in the treatment of its storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide