Jean Brochard Movies

In this crime drama, a nightclub singer discovers that she is being pursued by the police, an insurance agency, and the mob as she endeavors to resume her profession after being released from prison. All of them are after information concerning the whereabouts of her former lover. It is the mob that sends a handsome fellow to win her heart and glean information. Unfortunately for them, he really does fall in love with her and decides to go straight. In the end, the hapless chanteuse is poisoned by the man's former boss. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This well-acted-though routine wartime drama is the second such film in a row for young Jean Claude Brialy, who plays a member of one of two families who are experiencing the effects of the German Occupation. In general, both morals and morale have declined in the families so that a lonely married woman whose husband is in a prison camp is willing to have an affair with a 17-year-old youth. But beyond that indiscretion, her need for money in a tight economy drives her to get the young man involved in the lucrative black market. Meanwhile, the father of the indiscreet youth finds out what his son is doing and although he has been an ineffectual parent, he tries to lay down the law to his son. Unfortunately, the law at this time seems to be on vacation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Fernandel plays a French customs sergeant who conducts an ongoing war of nerves with Italian smuggler Toto on the Franco-Italian border. The French sergeant discovers that, through a long-ago hospital mix-up, he is actually an Italian citizen. Now Fernandel is legally prevented from arresting Toto--and to make matters worse, he is the lawbreaker in Italian eyes because of his divorce and remarriage! The publicity attending the long-anticipated teaming of France's favorite funnyman Fernandel (born Fernand Joseph Desire Contandin) and his Italian counterpart Toto (born Antonio de Curtis Gagliardi Ducas Comneno di Bisanzio) helped to make The Law Is the Law one of the most successful films in both comedians' careers. The film, incidentally, was a French production (originally titled La Loi c'est la Loi), so in fact it was Toto, not Fernandel, who was the "alien." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Italian maestro Federico Fellini's first international success is a nakedly autobiographical film that bears many of the formal and thematic concerns that recur throughout his work. Set in the director's hometown of Rimini, I Vitelloni follows the lives of five young vitelloni, or layabouts, who while away their listless days in their small seaside village. Fausto (Franco Fabrizi), the leader of the pack, marries his sweetheart, but finds himself constantly distracted by other women. Meanwhile, would-be playwright Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste) continues work on his dreary plays, dreaming of staging them one day. Clownish Alberto (Alberto Sordi) still lives at home with his mother and sister, Olga (Claude Farell), while boasting of preserving the family honor by watching over her. While the movie seems to pay little attention to Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini) and Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi), the latter eventually emerges as its key character, plainly serving as Fellini's alter ego. Stuck in adolescence, the five friends stumble into various misadventures, as they seek to spice up their uneventful provincial lives. Ultimately, one of them breaks free from their self-imposed paralysis and moves on, leading to one of the most poignant farewell sequences in film history. A hit in Italy upon its release, I Vitelloni secured Fellini's reputation as an up-and-coming talent, while also introducing its title into Italian vernacular. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide

A Simple Case of Money (originally released in 1950 as Millionaires d'un Jour) is set in motion when a greenhorn reporter (Bernard Lajarrige) carelessly prints the wrong winning number in the French national lottery. As the reporter and his boss (Leon Bellieres) defend themselves in court, they are confronted with several people whose lives were profoundly affected by the error. Gradually, these "victims" come to realize that they are far better off as losers than they ever would have been as winners. This is especially true of estranged husband and wife Pierre (Jean Brochard) and Helene Berger (Gaby Morlay), whose tattered marriage is patched together by the experience. Simple Case of Money is most effective as a character study, and least effective as a satire of provincial manners and mores. Coming off best in the large cast is Pierre Laquey as a lovably antisocial centenarian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jules Romain's satirical theatre piece Dr. Knock was brought to the screen by director Guy Lefranc in 1950. Louis Jouvet plays the title character, a medical charlatan who banks upon the hypochondria of others. He convinces every resident in a small French village that they're suffering from some malady or other, and soon he's doing a land-office business. Dramatic irony is achieved when Dr. Knock ultimately becomes a victim of his own success. Though Dr. Knock would probably work better on stage than on film, the end result is for the most part quite satisfying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sous le Ciel de Paris was the second of director Julien Duvivier's brace of 1950 French films. In episodic fashion, the story follows the grim and bloody path trod by an unknown psycho killer. Duvivier cannily plays the film's melodrama against the glamorous backdrops of fin de siecle Paris, concentrating on a handful of people whose lives are profoundly affected, directly and indirectly, by the fugitive murder. The best vignettes feature elderly character actress Sylvie as a spinster devoted to her houseful of cats, and Brigitte Auber as a wide-eyed country lass. Julien Duvivier's previous multistoried films include Un Carnet du Bal, Tales of Manhattan and Flesh and Fantasy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Envoi des Fleurs is based on incidents in the life of French composer Paul Delmet. Played by popular French singing star Tino Rossi, Delmet is depicted as a man all too willing to give up personal happiness in favor of blind ambition. After carrying on a romance by correspondence with beautiful young Suzanne (Micheline Francey), Delmet is on the verge of marrying the girl. Instead, he allows himself to be talked out of leaving France to further his own career, with disastrous results for all concerned. Fans of Tino Rossi would have felt cheated had their idol not sung a few songs in Envoi des Fleurs; Rossi obliges those fans brilliantly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Christian-Jacque's sole directorial effort for 1946 was Le Revenant, better known to English-speaking audiences as A Lover's Return (though the title literally translates as The Ghost). Jean-Jacques Sauvage (Louis Jouvet) plays a ballet impresario who entices wealthy young Francois (Francois Perier) to leave home and join his ballet company. Accustomed to playing with other people's lives, Jouvet also seduces and abandons beautiful Genevieve (Gaby Morlay), his former lover, who resides in Francois' hometown. French ballet artist Ludmilla Tcherina is prominently featured in the dance sequences. Two years later, Tcherina was "officially" discovered for films in Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This French morality play is fraught with cynical undertones as it tells the tale of a group of French people from every social strata trying to flee the Nazis who have just invaded Paris. En route they meet a cruel German officer who threatens to kill the others if the heroine Presle refuses to sleep with him. The others, fearing for their own lives, force her to submit. Soon afterward another enemy officer makes the same threat. The woman, disgusted by the selfishness of her companions, decides that she has had enough and kills the would-be rapist, causing her companions all sorts of problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide