Françoise Rosay Movies
Parisian actress/singer Francoise Rosay enjoyed a starring career that spanned 61 years. After receiving her training at the Conservatoire National de Declamation, Francoise made her stage bow in 1908, originally intending to become an opera singer. In 1917, she turned to "straight" dramatics under the guidance of Jacques Feyder, whom she would later marry. Though she'd appeared sporadically in films since 1913, Rosay's first movie of note was Feyder's expressionist Crainquebille (1922). She came to Hollywood in 1929 to star in the French-language version of Norma Shearer's The Trial of Mary Dugan. She remained in California until multi-language productions went out of fashion in 1931; among her projects during this period was the German-language version of Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, in which she exchanged Teutonic witticisms with Buster Keaton. Rosay spent the World War II years in Switzerland, where she taught acting classes at the Conservatoire Geneve. Acting in international productions right up to her death, Ms. Rosay appeared in well over 100 films, delivering dialogue flawlessly in a multitude of languages. One of the best-loved figures of the French cinema, Rosay was the recipient of the Chevalier de Legion d'Honneur, and served on the executive boards of several arts-oriented organizations. Francoise Rosay was the author of two volumes of memoirs, Le Cinema notre Metier (1956) and La Traversee d'Un Vie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1938
Le Ruisseau (The Stream) begins as orphan girl Gaby Sylvia escapes from her guardians and stows away on board a ship. She is discovered by officer Paul Cambo, thereby launching a brief shipboard affair. Feeling a bit guilty about taking advantage of the girl's naivete, Cambo sends the girl to live with his actress mother Francoise Rosay. Taking a liking to Sylvia, Rosay helps the girl launch her show-business career, but does an about-face when she discovers that the girl has slept with her son. Shuttled back to the orphanage, Sylvia escapes once more, finding work at a dime-a-dance joint. By the time Cambo catches up with her again, Sylvia has really "been around" and is on the verge of becoming a streetwalker. Rescuing her from this fate, Cambo patches things up between Sylvia and his mother, and a happy ending is had by all (finally!) Michel Simon steals the show as a photographer of "feelthy" postcards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Françoise Rosay, (more)
- 1937
Flora (Francoise Rosay), a hard-bitten female lion-tamer, tends to treat the people around her with the same harsh brutality that she doles out to her lions. Even so, she reacts in fear and loathing when her former lover Fernand (Andre Brule) escapes from prison. Threatening to tell the world that he's the father of Flora's son, Fernand is able to secure a job as her animal keeper. Within a few months, he's become the manager of Flora's circus, maintaining the respectable veneer even as he returns to his life of crime. Meanwhile, Flora reveals the more tender side of her nature as she deals with the romantic misadventures of her son Marcel (Fabien Loris) and his pregnant sweetheart Yvonne (Sylvia Battalie). All of the film's loose plotlines are tied up with in the final footage, as Fernand is returned to prison and Marcel comes to grips with the responsibilities of parenthood. Filmed in Germany, the French-produced Les Gens du Voyage (People Who Travel) was lensed simultaneously in a German-language version (Fahrendes Volk) by the same director, Jacques Feyder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Marie Glory, (more)
- 1937
In this episodic French drama, a widow uncovers a 20-year-old dance card from a ball. Just for fun, she decides to find all of her former partners. Her search becomes the framework for the episodes. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Bell, Françoise Rosay, (more)
- 1936
Secret de Polichinelle roughly translates as Open Secret. The "secret" in question is an illegitimate child, the offspring of young-and-foolish Henri (Bernard Lacret). The baby is adopted by its grandparents, Monsieur and Madame Jouvenol (Raimu and Francoise Rosay). At first taking charge of the child because it is their duty, the Jouvenols come to love the little nipper as if he were their own son. At this point, the film threatens to drown in a morass of sentiment, but the actors and the director manage to stem the bathos with some first-rate comedy vignettes revolving around the care and feeding of the bouncing baby boy. Charles Spaak adapted the screenplay from a stage piece by Pierre Wolff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Janine Crispin, (more)
- 1936
Marcel Carne's first film as director -- one of seven collaborations with screenwriter Jacques Prevert -- was this average crime story. Francoise Rosay stars as Jenny, who manages a sleazy nightclub owned by the nasty Benoit (Charles Vanel). Jenny runs afoul of Benoit, as well as her own daughter (Lisette Lanvin), when she becomes romantically involved with gangster Lucien (Albert Prejean). Miffed, Benoit and his thuggish hunchbacked assistant (Jean-Louis Barrault) try to break up the lovers while Jenny's daughter competes for Lucien's affections. Carne had previously been an assistant to director Jacques Feyder, so it should come as no surprise that his first solo assignment starred Rosay, Feyder's real-life wife. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Françoise Rosay, (more)
In a comedy-farce that runs from black humor to slapstick, this story is one in which a mystery writer is caught unawares by his cousin, a vicar, who shows up unannounced for a visit. Since the servants have just walked out, the writer's wife hides out from the vicar, taking care of the cooking, cleaning and other household chores. To explain his wife's absence as hostess, the writer concocts an excuse which only makes the vicar convinced that he has done away with his spouse. Things go from bad to worse and eventually Scotland Yard is called in to clear things up. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Françoise Rosay, (more)
- 1935
Released in France as La Kermesse Heroique, Carnival in Flanders is set during the long-ago war between the Dutch and Spanish. A tiny village in Flanders is invaded by Spanish troops. The townsfolk have heard of Spanish cruelties in other towns, and decide to deflect the vanquishers by playing dead. This isn't terribly effective (you have to take a breath once in a while), so the wife of the burgomaster tries to soften up the invaders with a lavish carnival. So successful is this venture that the Spaniards allow the village to escape being decimated, or even taxed. An award-winner many times over, Carnival in Flanders was banned in Germany; evidently, Goebbels caught on that director Jacques Feyder and scenarists Bernard Zimmer and Charles Spaak were drawing deliberate parallels between the Spanish and the then-burgeoning Nazis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Jean Murat, (more)
- 1934
Set against the backdrop of the French Alps, Motherhood is the melancholy story of servant girl Marthe (Hella Muller). Unmarried and pregnant, Marthe dolefully gives up her baby for adoption, reasoning that it's all for the best. The child is taken in by the wealthy Duchemin family, growing up in the lap of luxury. Years later, the boy Jean (Henri Presles), now a full-grown man, accidentally hits an old woman with his motorcar. That's right: the old lady is none other than his mother Marthe, who promises herself never to reveal her true identity, not even when the repentant Jean visits her in the hospital. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay
- 1934
Jacques Feyder's sole directorial contribution in 1934 (and his first film since 1931) was the superior Foreign Legion melodrama Le Grand Jeu (The Full Deck). Scripted by frequent Feyder collaborator Charles Spaak, the film focuses on Pierre Martel (Pierre Richard-Willm), whose efforts to support his beloved Florence (Marie Bell) in the style to which she's accustomed cause him to run afoul of the Law. Escaping a charge of embezzlement, Pierre signs up with the Foreign Legion, intending to "forget." After a particularly violent skirmish with the natives, Pierre briefly loses his memory, whereupon he begins keeping time with Irma, a sexy camp-follower whom he imagines to be Florence. When his tour of duty is over, Pierre prepares to return home to Paris to collect an unexpected inheritance. Reunited with the real Florence, he finds he cannot get over Irma, the little trollop who gave him a new lease on life back in the desert. Unwilling to go back to France without Irma, Pierre returns to the Foreign Legion -- where, inevitably, he meets his doom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Marie Bell, (more)
- 1933
Released in English-speaking countries as Eddies, this feverish romantic melodrama involves a "damaged" husband and a restless wife. Paralyzed from the waist down in an auto accident, Henri St. Clair (Jean Gallard) is all too aware that he can no longer satisfy his young wife Jeanne (Jeanne Botel). Even so, Jeanne tries to be faithful but eventually succumbs to the charms of virile Robert Vannier (Maurice Mallot). Jeanne's inner torment and sexual yearnings are represented in purely symbolic terms, not unlike the implied eroticism of the recent Czech film Ecstacy. This distinctly continental production was, surprisingly, the brainchild of an American screenwriter named Peggy Thompson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Boitel, Jean Galland, (more)
- 1932
The "unaware papa" of the title is played by French comedian Noel-Noel. Ordered by his father to marry a wealthy heiress, our hero changes his mind when he discovers that his former sweetheart has given birth to his child. Noel-Noel sneaks into the maternity hospital and swipes the baby, leading to a merry chase before all is forgiven and Daddy finally marries Mommy. Papa Sans le Savoir was adapted by Yves Mirande from the stage play Little Accident, previously filmed in 1930 with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The same property would be remade under its original title in 1939, then again as Casanova Brown in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Noël-Noël, (more)
- 1932
Carmen Boni plays La Femme en Homme (The Woman Dressed as a Man) in this Gallic romp. The real star of the show, however, is Andre Dubosc, cast as a misogynistic old nobleman. Told that he is to take charge of his grandson, Dubosc is taken aback when he discovers that "he" is actually a "she." At first rejecting the girl, the old coot finally comes to love and accept her. Only the pronounced Italian accent of leading lady Carmen Boni detracts from the comic credibility of the tale. But after all, Boni was the wife of director Augusto Genina, whose impressive list of credits allowed him leeway to indulge in a bit of favoritism now and then. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmen Boni, Françoise Rosay, (more)
- 1932
Quand on Est Belle (When She's Pretty) is the French-language version of the MGM drama The Easiest Way. Lily Damita takes over from Constance Bennett in the role of Laura, a poor-but-proud department store clerk. Discovered by a commercial artist, Laura lands a job as a model, and before long she's the mistress of model-agency owner Brockton (Andre Luguet). She uses the money lavished on her to support her family, but eventually they turn on her, considering the money "tainted" and her method of getting it immoral. Rejected by her loved ones, Laura leaves for Argentina, where she inaugurates a romance with wealthy rancher Johnny (Rolla Norman) Their marriages plans are interrupted when a group of insurgents threaten to topple the government. Separated from Johnny, Laura promises to wait for him until the trouble blows over, but before long she's back with Brockton again. Several devastating setbacks later, poor Laura finds herself walking the streets, still looking for love in all the wrong places. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lili Damita, Mona Goya, (more)
