Jean Bradin Movies
- 1932
Director Julien Duvivier's first talking picture, David Golder was based on a novel by Irene Nemirowsky. Harry Baur plays the title character, a poor but enterprising Polish Jew who re-invents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. Now a millionaire, Golder relocates to Paris, while his profligate wife and daughter spend his money at an exhausting rate in Biarritz. When he tries to curb their spending, his wife spitefully tells him that she has been unfaithful for years and that his beloved daughter is not his child. She further dares him to "do something" about her appalling behavior. Golder gets his revenge by deliberately allowing his business to collapse, forcing his wife to take drastic measures to recoup her wealth. As a final touch, Golder enters into an oil deal that will net him a fortune then signs over all the money to his daughter -- on the proviso that his wife is cut off without a penny. This done, David Golder dies in self-imposed poverty, having learned a bitter lesson about money and happiness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jackie Monnier, Paule Andral, (more)
The French Prix de Beaute stars cult figure Louise Brooks as a nondescript typist for a Parisian newspaper. On a whim, Brooks submits her photograph to the Miss France Contest. To everyone's amazement--and her boyfriend Andre's (Georges Charlia) displeasure--she wins the contest, and is sucked into a whirlwind of photo ops and interviews at the Miss Europe contest in Spain. Here she is confronted by Andre, who angrily demands that she give up this foolishness and return home. But the lure of fame and fortune is much too strong, and before long Brooks has signed a movie contract. The heart-stopping tragic climax brilliantly juxtaposes the image of the dead Brooks with her "live" screen image. Not as highly regarded as Louise Brooks' German films for G. W. Pabst, Prix de Beaute nonetheless succeeds in terms of visual dynamics and the naturalness of the star's performance. Available in both sound and silent versions, the film never received a formal American release. Augusto Genina replaced the film's original director Rene Clair during the pre-production stages. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, (more)
- 1930
Le Secret du Docteur is a Gallic rendition of The Doctor's Secret, a play by James M. Barrie. Marcelle Chantal plays Lilian Garner, the bored, disenchanted wife of Richard Garner (Leon Bary). Preparing to run off to parts unknown with her lover Jean Colman (Jean Bradin), Lilian is prevented from doing so when Jean is killed in a motor accident, right before her eyes. The attending physician at the scene of the tragedy is Dr. Brady (Maxaudian), Garner's best friend. Brady is aware that Lilian and Jean were lovers, but he intends to remain mum when invited for a weekend party at the Garland's home. The method by which the truth is revealed is at once clever and cruel but in complete accordance with the mood of the rest of the story. This adaptation of The Doctor's Secret is the French version of the 1929 English-language talkie, which starred Ruth Chatterton as the errant wife and Robert Edeson as the discreet physician. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcelle Chantal, Leon Bary, (more)
- 1928
Am Rande der Welt (At the Edge of the World) was a German antiwar film that had the bad luck to be released in the U.S. at the same time as several other antiwar efforts. Even so, the picture was successful in London and Paris, a fact that the critics attributed as much to the direction by Karl Grune as to the subject matter. Brigitte Helm, who'd scored a sensation a year earlier in Metropolis, was the biggest "name" in the picture. The story was easy enough to follow in the film's original form: alas, the producers decided to severely curtail the film's running time, and as a result several important scenes were lost. The Variety reviewer complained that the characters were "abstractions" rather than people, but this was hardly unusual in German films from this period. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Albert Steinruck, William Dieterle, (more)
- 1928
A wealthy man pretends he is bankrupt to teach his wayward daughter a lesson. An early, silent Hitchcock film which is wonderfully photographed. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker, (more)
- 1928
No relation to the 1952 Toulouse Lautrec biopic of the same name, Moulin Rouge was produced, directed and written by German-filmmaker E. A. Dupont. Olga Tschechowa plays the star dancer of Paris' famed Moulin Rouge nightspot. Her daughter Eve Gray is in love with impressionable Jean Bradin. Alas, Jean adores another-Eve's own mother. A blessed relief from the usual turgid, slapped-together British films of the period, Moulin Rouge has visual moments that approach the brilliance of Dupont's previous backstage melodrama, the German Variety. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Olga Tschechowa, Eve Gray, (more)
- 1927
Just before launching the American phase of his career, filmmaker Alexander Korda directed his actress-wife Maria Corda in the German production A Modern DuBarry. Corda plays Toinette, a saucy, somewhat amoral scullery maid. Bouncing from bed to bed, Toinette becomes the mistress of Count Martel (Alfred Gerasch) and, ultimately, the King of Andalia (Jean Bradin). This final liaison very nearly topples the Andalian government, but Toinette manages to survive this ordeal with nary a hair out of place, though she does cry and cry a lot when things don't go her way. It was Modern DuBarry, completed in 1926, that landed Korda his Hollywood contract -- and the rest, as they say, is history. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
