Noël Roquevert Movies
Strabismic French actor Noel Roquevert played comic character roles in over 150 of his country's films. He was usually cast as a close-minded, opinionated member of the bourgeois class. Roquevert got his start on-stage. In the early '20s, he and beloved French comic Max Linder traveled to Hollywood to make The Three Must-Get-Theres. Back in France, Roquevert returned to the stage. He began making frequent film appearances after the mid-'30s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie GuideThis French comedy is the first feature film directed by the well-known television-director Pierre Tcherina. In the film, the most elaborate designs of a greedy family are unwittingly undone by an ailing old man. The family has made a complicated financial arrangement which will result in their owning the lovely resort villa the old man is living in, but until he dies they are obligated to let him continue living there. Actually, the old man wouldn't be there in the first place, but the family arranged for him to live there as they expected him to die at any moment. Instead, he lives through the Second World War and the years following, completely oblivious to their plots to do away with him; he is extremely grateful for their attentiveness and generosity, and is saddened as, one after another, they drop by the wayside. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Michel Galabru, (more)
Agnes (Brigitte Bardot) is the nun who follows the order to the beach for a swim in the ocean. They shed their habits to reveal bathing suits worn underneath the robes. After swimming away from the group, Agnes is fortunate enough to find some perfectly fitting mod garb complete with accessories. A motor bike is also conveniently left for her to use, and she takes off on an adventurous romp. After wrecking the bike, she is taken into custody by the police and meets Lisa (Annie Girardot), a fun-loving hooker. Agnes tries to live the life of a prostitute but fails to make the erotic connection. After Lisa saves the nun from a group of drunken American sailors, Agnes takes a job riding in an ambulance, and Lisa uses the vehicle for a bordello on wheels. Eventually, a doctor (Jacques Duby) recognizes Agnes as a nun when she comes to him as a potential sex customer. After delivering a pregnant women to the hospital, Agnes and Lisa swim back to the group of nuns, don habits and blend back into the religious order. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Bardot, Annie Girardot, (more)
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Francis Blanche, (more)
Septime (Louis De Funes) is the owner of a posh French restaurant in Paris who is afraid of his temperamental cooks but who takes his frustrations out on his other employees. When a visiting ambassador is kidnapped from the restaurant, Septime is accused of being an accomplice in the abduction. This sets the scene for some well-staged auto chases over snow-covered mountains. One car flips over but is able to make it down the mountain because skis are attached to the rooftop rack of the vehicle. De Funes adds his own flair of irascible, self-depreciating humor that is the highlight of this comedy spy adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Bernard Blier, (more)
The people of a small town in France react differently to the Nazi occupation in this World War II action drama directed by Claude Chabrol. Mary (Jean Seberg) is willing to risk her life to help the resistance movement in spite of her husband's acceptance of the situation. The movement is slowed by an informer and another man who pretends to help the resistance fighters but leads them to the Nazis and steals their possessions. This is one of the few French films that accurately illustrates that the heroic resistance movement was a small minority and most people were content with the Nazi occupation as long as they had bread and wine. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Seberg, Maurice Ronet, (more)
Martin (Jean Gabin) is a venerable gardener who passes counterfeit currency to make ends meet in this situation comedy. When a tax bill puts him further in debt, his nephew convinces him to pass bigger bills to pay off the taxes and live the good life. Soon the nephew and his girlfriend buy a villa on the Riviera and some fancy cars. Martin wants out of the deal but agrees to pull off one more caper before retiring. He meets a wealthy man who takes a liking to him and helps the man win a fortune while gambling at the casino. He brings the money to his nephew who does not realize the currency is real, and when police show up looking for an escaped lion, the nephew and his girl burn what they believe are the bogus bills to avoid being arrested. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
Leopold (Paul Meurisse) is an attorney who gets involved with underworld thugs trying to hijack a truck containing a shipment of gold in this uneven crime comedy. He decides to kidnap everyone involved, especially when he falls for the felonious female Agnes (Genevieve Page). Leopold gets off easy when Agnes turns out to be an undercover cop. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Meurisse, Geneviève Page, (more)
In this French comedy, a toy inventor travels to the factory of his childhood friend, now an industrial magnate, and tries to persuade him to lend financial backing to his newest invention. Unfortunately their reunion is marred by the reopening of old emotional wounds, but fortunately, the inventor's wife smooths things over. Later she discovers love letters written to her adolescent daughter. Trouble ensues when the toymaker begins suspecting his old pal, the industrialist, of writing the letters. He then blackmails his pal with the letters. When his daughter finds a new boyfriend, the inventor abandons his extortion scheme. The two old pals then reconcile and go into business together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
The attempts of four secret agents to get a scientist's widow to share her husbands secrets form the basis of this comedy. The rival spies come from France, Russia, Switzerland, and Germany. The woman presents a real challenge as she is a retired stripper (her husband died in a brothel). All of the spies attempt to seduce her. More merriment ensues when the CIA and the Chinese Communists get involved. Finally the suave Frenchman succeeds. Afterwards he gets in trouble with his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, (more)
- Starring:
- Jacques Morel, Jean Richard, (more)
In this suspenseful espionage adventure, Yankee super-sleuth Lemmy Caution must investigate the murder of a female agent and the disappearance of an important scientist. Caution's search leads him to Europe where he learns that the scientist was not kidnapped. He is instead the secret leader of a spy ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Constantine, Christiane Minazzoli, (more)
A flamboyant, scatterbrained divorced woman allows a pompous composer to use her home to finish his unfinished symphony. He becomes involved in a accidental murder in this dark comedy of errors. Maria Schell stars as the pleasure seeking woman whose heartstrings are played by Paul Meurisse as the egocentric, self proclaimed musical genius. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Paul Meurisse, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Françoise Arnoul, (more)
Director Jean-Pierre Mocky takes jabs at the arrogant attitudes of the social and corporate elite in this routine satire about four men vying for control of a company. After the president of a dairy cooperative accidentally drowns, rather ignominiously, a quartet of vice-presidents start to compete for the top position. The ones who are married are aided and abetted by their wives, and their main combative tactic is to downgrade their opponents in any way they can. Meanwhile, a local woman is in love with them and seems to be the only citizen around not corrupted or venal. During this farcical process, everyone gets sent up -- from the Boy Scouts to retired military men. Homosexuality, ditsy women, and balding men are also subject to satire. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Blanche, Pierre Dac, (more)
This routine sex comedy by director Michel Boisrond stars Jean Poiret as Bernard, a young, up-and-coming publisher who has inexplicably fallen in love with Sophie (Dany Saval) a woman working with a 25-watt bulb, when it is turned on at all. Sophie is as well-grounded as daisy fluff and just as serious, yet Bernard goes after her with all the determination of a man blinded by love. After a wild and crazy courtship, the couple marry, but Sophie's personality does not change and she gets him into trouble -- to the point where he almost loses his job. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Dany Saval, (more)
Jean-Paul Belmondo romps his way through the role of 18th century French bandit chief Cartouche. At first robbing from everyone in sight (he has to -- he's head man of a Parisian crime syndicate) Cartouche is rechanneled into becoming a Gallic Robin Hood by beauteous gypsy Venus (Claudia Cardinale). In Highwayman fashion, Venus eventually sacrifices her own life to save Cartouche from harm. He vows to continue his activities to avenge her death, but still manages to have a riproaring good time doing so. Hilarious without being condescending, Cartouche was reissued under the completely inappropriate title Swords of Blood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
An aging musketeer is called out of retirement to help a king in this comic swashbuckler. The king's twin brother is freed after twenty years in an iron mask. He is to be used as a decoy for the monarch while the real king and his court roust some rebels to foil their insurgent uprising. D'Artagnan (Jean Marais) leads the way with his expert fencing to aid in the royal flush. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Jean-Francois Poron, (more)
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Dany Carrel, (more)
One of several versions of a steamy novel by Eugene Sue, Les Mystères de Paris is set at the turn of the 20th century and begins when the carriage of Count Rodolphe (Jean Marais) runs over a man and as he dies, the Count vows to help his poor, orphaned daughter Marie (Jill Haworth). And so the Count penetrates the "thieves' quarter" in Paris looking for Marie, and he is emotionally overcome by the poverty he sees everywhere. After he meets Marie, he is attracted to her -- but then she is kidnapped and eventually, the Count learns the truth about her paternity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Jill Haworth, (more)
Latent forces for a strong individualism are pitted against the need to honor deeply held commitments in this effective comedy by Henri Verneuil. Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul Belmondo star as Albert and Gabriel, respectively. Albert is an inn owner who vowed never to drink again if he and his wife survived the war. They did, and the reformed alcoholic keeps his vow. But times have changed and soon after the war, Albert comes in contact with Gabriel, a young man prone to heavy bouts with the bottle. Gabriel is conflicted over visiting his young daughter in a nearby school and in a moment of nostalgia, Albert takes off with him on one major binge -- and havoc results. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, (more)
- Starring:
- François Perier, Micheline Presle, (more)
In this thriller, a greedy young woman becomes a police informer. Her father is in prison for participating in a jewel theft. The girl is looking for the jewels he hid. Unfortunately, she must compete with other real criminals. In the end she is arrested for killing her own lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Mayniel, Bernadette Lafont, (more)
- Starring:
- Jean Valerie, Simone Renant, (more)
- Starring:
- Jean Valerie, Simone Renant, (more)













