Maria Mauban Movies

Sixteenth-century Flanders provides the colorful backdrop for this filmization of Sardou's play Patric. Pierre Blanchar plays the title character, a fearless swashbuckler who leads a revolt against the Spanish conquerors of Holland. Blanchar's chief aide, played by Jean Desailly, is utterly indispensable to "the cause." It therefore follows that Blanchar pretends to be blind to his wife's torrid romance with the handsome Desailly. Patric is at its best in the action sequences; the love story is handled in a curiously old-fashioned, stodgy manner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Le Bal Cupidon, an amusing comedy-mystery in the Thin Man tradition, Pierre Blanchar plays Dominique-Phillippe, a suave private detective, and Simone Renant plays Isabelle, the best friend of a murder suspect. Isabelle cannot believe that her friend Anne-Marie (Maria Mauban) murdered her wealthy, crippled husband, and insists that Dominique-Phillippe track down the genuine culprit. Trouble is, the detective wants nothing to do with Isabelle, who has caused him no end of difficulty in the past. Adhering to formula, hero and heroine eventually patch up their differences and team up to solve the mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean-Louis (Henri Vidal) makes his living by trapping deadly snakes and selling them to zoos. In love with shopgirl Simone (Francoise Arnoul), Jean-Louis gallantly comes to her defense during a minor skirmish with a policeman. Things get out of hand, and before long Jean-Louis is a fugitive from justice, leading the authorities on an appropriately serpentine chase through the streets of Paris. The film's "serpent" motif is further developed when Simone lands a job as a cabaret "snake dancer." If the viewer draws any analogies between Danger is a Woman and the story of Adam and Eve, then screenwriter Jacques Laurent (who adapted his own novel La Mort a Boire) has accomplished what he set out to do. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

La Passante (The Passerby) stars Henri Vidal as the title character, a seafaring man named Francois. While briefly stopping over in Paris, Francois makes the acquaintance of Mado (Maria Mauban), a young woman who has just killed her husband in self-defense. Mado persuades Francois to allow her passage on his barge. This leads to another potential tragedy when Mado comes between the sailor and his assistant Georges (Daniel Invernel). Any French film set on a barge inevitably invites comparison to Jean Vigo's influential L'Atlante; La Passante, however, gets by on its own merits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cage of Gold was a rare non-comic effort from Britain's Ealing Studios. Jean Simmons stars as Judith, who awakens the morning after her wedding to discover that her new husband has deserted her. Later on, she is told that her husband is dead. After a period of mourning, Judith remarries--only to be subjected to blackmail by husband number one. It's all a racket, of course, but Judith doesn't go to the police until it's almost too late. Featured in the cast of Cage of Gold as a slimy smuggler is Herbert Lom, who later gained worldwide fame as Inspector Dreyfus in the "Pink Panther" comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Donne e Briganti (Women and Bandits) was the second of two Mario Soldati-directed films released in Europe during the last week of June, 1951 (the first was Je Suis de la Revue). Set in the early 19th century, the film recounts the Robin Hood-like adventures of bandit Michele Pezza (Amedeo Nazzari), better known as Fra Diavolo. This same character was depicted along more villainous lines in the famous 1830 opera by Auber, which was filmed in 1933 as The Devil's Brother, with Dennis King in the title role and Laurel and Hardy as comic relief. In Donne e Briganti, Fra Diavolo is his own comic relief, his tongue firmly in cheek as he robs from the rich, gives to the poor, and takes time out to romance his wife Marietta (Maira Mauban) and mistress Flora (Jacqueline Pierreux). According to this film, Fra Diavolo was also something of a patriot, opposing the invading forces of France. Sumptuously produced, Donne e Briganti falters only in the indecisive camera work by Mario Montuori. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Roberto Rossellini directs this drama starring his then-wife Ingrid Bergman as Katherine Joyce, a wealthy British woman who accompanies her husband, Alex (George Sanders), on a trip across the Italian countryside to close on an inherited villa in Naples. Far from their London home, the couple becomes frustrated with each other and seem to be headed for divorce. Katherine tells Alex about a lost lover who risked his life to see her, but it only leaves Alex even more indifferent to her. Planning to spend the rest of their vacation away from each other, Alex joins up with some other British guys on Capri to drink and flirt, while Katherine tours the natural attractions and museums of Naples and Pompeii. Viaggio in Italia was unsuccessful when it originally released to theatres; years later it was discovered by French critics and called a masterpiece in Cahiers du Cinema. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The title of this film refers to the "ladies of the evening" whose trials and tribulations motivate the plotline. Maria Mauban stars as a young woman consigned to a life of prostitution, despite many efforts to escape her fate. Fortunately, she manages to extricate herself from her situation with her virtue intact. The hero of the piece is Philip Lemaire, who seems a bit too jaded for the innocent character he's called upon to play. In America, Les Clandestines was limited to the grind-houses specializing in "dirty pictures" or, as Variety so colorfully put it, "the baldheaded row trade." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the cast in this melodrama about religious faith does the best it can with the script, they cannot overcome a surface treatment of the characters. A young teen and his sister are having difficulties at home because their parents are in serious discord and a divorce seems imminent. This situation does not help the brother at his Jesuit school, where he gets in trouble for writing a very un-Godly article in the school paper, one of the results of his antagonistic relationship to a new teacher. After the teen is expelled for the article he published, his state of mind deteriorates and he begins to contemplate suicide. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Roger Hanin stars as the secret agent LeTigre in this routine spy actioner. The film recycles a scene from Goldfinger with a car-smashing machine, but the results are less-than satisfying than other films of the genre. Daniela Bianchi plays Mika, the daughter of a Turkish diplomat. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide