Georges Riviere Movies

In this western, a captured gunslinger is sentenced to swing, but before his execution day, manages to escape from prison. He then seeks out the one man who can prove his innocence. Because he is slowly going blind, he must use his enhanced sense of hearing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The title of this political drama is a reference to the glass cage in which Adolph Eichmann sat in at the Nuremberg trials. Pierre (Jean Negroni), a French Jew and survivor of a concentration camp, has become an Israeli citizen along with his gentile wife Helene (Francoise Prevost). Sonia (Dina Doron) is a young Jewish woman who, like Pierre, also survived the Holocaust and hopes for a better life. Azaria Rapaport plays the news reporter whose coverage of the trials has jostled some terrifying and long-suppressed memories in Pierre. He feels that an elevator is a furnace that was used to liquidate concentration-camp victims. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this eerie and effective early horror film from prolific genre director Antonio Margheriti, Alan Foster (Georges Riviere), an American tourist visiting England, takes a bet from a Lord Blackwood and his guest, Edgar Allan Poe, to spend the night in a haunted mansion. The rationalist Foster, who does not believe in the supernatural, is soon drawn into a world of ghosts and phantoms, doomed to eternally replay the horrifying murders that climaxed a long-ago love triangle. Foster also finds himself in love with one of the protagonists, the beautiful Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), and it is a love which ensures that he never leaves the haunted castle alive. It's a marvelously atmospheric gothic thriller, one of the best Italian horror films of the decade, and quite properly made the enchantingly spooky Steele -- fresh from Mario Bava's La Maschera del Demonio -- even more of a horror icon. Riccardo Pallotini's evocative camerawork enhances the mood tremendously, and the shock scenes, though perhaps too tame for modern audiences, are nonetheless strikingly effective. Margheriti remade the film in widescreen color eight years later (as Nella Stretta Morsa del Ragno), but this version remains one of the handful of definitive Italian gothics. Silvano Tranquilli co-stars with Margaret Robsahm, Henry Kruger, and Umberto Raho. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

This French espionager stars George Ardisson as a Gallic James Bond type. Our Hero's mission is to find the head of a sinister worldwide spy organization. Since the leader of the group is called The Black Scorpion, you can gauge the degree of subtlety in the rest of the film. Georges Riviere, Seyna Seyn and Franco Andrei round out the all-star cast. Agent 3S3-Passport to Hell was shipped to the U.S. as part of an all-color "spy package" for TV release during the Bond craze of the 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A cold-blooded serial killer who murders only blonde women captures dramatic interest right at the beginning of this top-notch thriller, and reves up the interest to all-out suspense from that point onward. Harry Meyen is Andreas, the killer who has just murdered again when he is spotted by someone he knows, exactly as he is leaving the scene of the crime. Well aware that he cannot let the witness live, he stalks him, waiting for a chance to kill him off. He eventually trails the man to a gathering of well-heeled party-goers who decide to play a game of "murder" -- and they unwittingly give the killer his chance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Hossein serves as both director and star of The Game of Truth. The scene is a party thrown by a capricious novelist. During an elaborate word game, one of the guests, a late arrival, is murdered. Thus begins a round robin of accusations, recriminations and surprising revelations. Cunningly, the film's screenplay is designed in the form of a game, allowing the more adventurous viewers to vicariously play along. Game of Truth was originally released in France as La Jeu de la Verite; the film's American exposure was largely confined to Late Late Show screenings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three mining engineers are marooned in the Sahara after their helicopter crashes and end up finding a secret doorway to the lost city of Atlantis where they capture the fancy of a ruthless Egyptian queen. She manages to seduce one of the men with her magic, but the other two meet grim fates after attempting to escape. Meanwhile, a beautiful slave falls for the mesmerized engineer and endeavors to help him escape. She must hurry for she knows that testing of an atom bomb at a neighboring test site above ground is about to commence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this WW II drama, two French soldiers are captured and forced to work as farm hands on a German family's land. One of the soldiers tricks the farmer's innocent daughter into helping him escape. The other soldier has truly fallen for the girl and decides to stay. At the war's end, the escaped POW becomes a successful journalist and the other has gone back to his original wife whom he despises. Later the husband leaves his family and returns to the girl, while the journalist returns to his former mistress who risked it all to save him from being arrested. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Robert Stack stars in this sea-faring historical epic as John Paul Jones, the first great hero of the American Navy. While originally a loyal soldier of the King's army, Jones in time becomes a fervent supporter of the American Revolutionaries, and he volunteers to lead the colonists' ragtag fleet to impressive victories against the British Navy; during a battle against the British ship Serapis, Jones utters the deathless words "I have not yet begun to fight." While his brave and intelligent leadership helps win America its freedom, his appeals to Benjamin Franklin (Charles Coburn) and the other leaders of Congress to strengthen the United States Navy fall on deaf ears; Jones is eventually branded a troublemaker, and in time, he is ordered to Russia, where he is to help guide the fleet of Catherine The Great (Bette Davis). Jones leads the Russian Navy to stunning victories in the Black Sea, reestablishing his reputation as one of the great military minds of his day. John Paul Jones also features a rousing score by the great film composer Max Steiner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Mandrin is a colorful swashbuckler revolving around a "French Robin Hood." The title character is played by Georges Riviere, whose problems with 18th century tax collectors have compelled him to turn to outlawry. With a band of fellow misfits, Mandrin robs from the rich, and...you know the rest. After dallying with luscious leading ladies Jeanne Valerie and Dany Robin, Mandrin defeats the National Troops in a rousing finale. Filmed in 1958, Mandrin was not released in the U.S. until 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide