Jean Marsan Movies
- 1949
Interdit au Public might prove an interesting companion piece to the stage farce Noises Off. The action takes place at a theater during the final dress rehearsal of a new play. The comedy arises from the backstage intrigues involving the actors and tech crew. When the leading lady falls ill (she's been hiding her pregnancy), the director (Jacques Erwin) is forced to rely on his ex-wife (Jacqueline Gauthier) to fill in. This proves to be disastrous when the ex-wife's new husband falls in love with the director's new wife--and that's just for starters. Before long, the farcical entanglements behind the scenes rival anything that any playwright could have dreamed up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Marquet, Jacqueline Gauthier, (more)
- 1954
The matchless French farceur Fernandel essays six different roles in The Sheep Has Five Legs. We first see the horse-faced one as an elderly wine grower, looking forward to an upcoming family reunion with mixed emotions. One by one, the other five Fernandels make their appearances; these are the wine-grower's sons, each one a small masterpiece of comic characterization. Despite an overreliance on dialogue, the film's humor translates quite well to non-French audiences. The film's original title was Le Mouton a Cinq Pattes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Françoise Arnoul, (more)
- 1954
Barbara Laage essays the title role in Zoe. Our heroine's adventures begin when she catches the eye of a big-city playboy named Arthur (Michel Auclair), who is attracted not only to Zoe's beauty, but by her insistence upon telling nothing but the whole truth. This trait causes no end of comic complications when Zoe moves into the palatial home of Arthur's family. The limit comes when Zoe botches a big business deal formulated by Arthur's not-altogether-honest father (Louis Seigner). Zoe is based on a stage farce by Jean Marsan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Laage, Michel Auclair, (more)
- 1955
Rene Clair's Grand Maneuver was originally titled Les Grandes Manoeuvres, which should surprise no one. Gerard Phillipe plays a dashing dragoons officer, vintage 1913, who wagers his friends that he can make the next woman who enters the room fall in love with him. In strides drop-dead gorgeous Michele Morgan, and the rest writes itself. Phillipe plans a slow seduction and a quick goodbye; Morgan, need we say, is no "goodbye girl." For all its lavish sets and meticulously detailed period costumers, Grand Maneuver is at base the old American farce Sailor Beware with a French accent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philipe, (more)
- 1956
Ce Soir les Jupons Volent (Tonight the Skirts Fly) was designed primarily to show off a new wide-screen process called Dyaliscope. The story concerns a trio of clothing models, all of whom participate in a high-profile fashion show. In flashback, the lives of the three girls are detailed, with emphasis on romantic entanglements. Director Dmitri Kirsanoff knows what his audience wants: a goodly portion of the film is given over to backstage glimpses of barely dressed damsels, not to mention the climactic runway display of revealing Gallic gowns. Whether or not the three leading ladies in Ce Soir les Jupons Volent could act was hardly taken into consideration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Sois Belle et Tais Toi is more popularly known by its American-release title Be Beautiful but Shut Up. Mylene Demongeot plays a birdbrained young lady who gets mixed up with a gang of juvenile-delinquent smugglers. The crooks use the heroine as their go-between, intending to leave her holding the bag if and when the cops show up. Fortunately, a handsome police inspector (Henri Vidal) catches on to their scheme. One of the screenwriters for Sois Belle et Tais Toi was no less Roger Vadim. When the film was first released, its direction was often erroniously credited to Marc Allegret. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henri Vidal, Mylène Demongeot, (more)
- 1958
Un Drole de Dimanche (What a Sunday) stars Danielle Darrieux as Catherine and Bourvil as her ex-husband Jean. By chance, Catherine and Jean are reunited five years after she walked out of his life. In a fit of romantic nostalgia, Jean mentally reconstructs the events that led up to their separation. He then determines to win her back, certain that he'll never, ever make the same mistakes again? or will he? Listed fifth in the cast of Un Drole de Dimanche is a young sprout named Jean Belmondo, who as Jean-Paul Belmondo would burst onto the international film scene in Godard's Breathless. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Bourvil, (more)
- 1961
This standard comedy was one of the last films by director René Clair, who began his career in 1922! The story deals with two real-estate developers who try to buy up one particular town noted for the long life of its residents. A nearby spring may have something to do with their longevity, and the real-estate men plan on exploiting the concept for all its worth. But there are problems. One of the local men decides he is never going to sign over his property to anyone. The land developers try all kinds of tricks to finish up their deal but so much of what they do backfires -- even when it looks like the final signing has arrived. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Alfred Adam, (more)
