Pauline Carton Movies
The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, (more)
- 1957
Assassins et Voleurs (Killers and Thieves) was the penultimate offering from French filmmaker Sacha Guitry. Though seriously ill and confined to a wheelchair, Guitry was still able to invest a great deal of energy in the project. Surprised by a burglar (Michel Serrault), the doleful Philippe (Jean Poiret) regains his composure, then asks the thief for his assistance. It seems that Philippe wants to commit suicide but hasn't the nerve to pull off the deed himself. In flashback, Philippe recounts the events that led up to this critical and anxious moment. As it turns out, our "hero" is a bigger criminal, both actual and moral, than the nonplused burglar could ever be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Jean Poiret, (more)
- 1957
A film company on location happens to photograph a murder in progress. Ambitious police inspector Bernard (Michel Simon) hopes to advance his career by nabbing the culprit. Unfortunately for Bernard, the murderer closely resembles a set of identical twins! Once Simon finally figures out who's who, a gang of criminals, angered at all the publicity engendered by the case, fix it so that both the criminal and the inspector lose out in the end. A very minor piece, Les Trois Font la Paire (Three Make a Pair) is historically important as the last directorial effort of Sacha Guitry, who died 14 days after the film's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Sophie Desmarets, (more)
Showing no signs of slowing down in his 70th year, Sacha Guitry served as director and writer of the lavish historical epic Napoleon, and also costarred as Talleyrand. It is now hard to assess the quality of the film, since most American prints are severely edited, and the color photography appallingly washed out. Reviewers in 1955 admired the effort that went into this $1,800,000 production, but complained that the viewer left the film with no deeper understanding of Napoleon Bonaparte than the viewer had had when coming in. Daniel Gelin poses impressively as the young Bonaparte, registering emotion only when things go wrong in his conquest of Europe, while Raymond Pellegrin is somewhat better as the older, more jaded Napoleon (the transition between the two actors is handled in a near-comic fashion). The Revolution is reduced to a few fleeting scenes, while the rest of the film is devoted to political infighting and betrayal. The huge supporting cast includes Michele Morgan as Josephine and Lana Marconi and Dany Robin, respectively, as Napoleon's mistresses Waleska and Desiree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Pellegrin, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1954
Sacha Guitry's Si Versailles M'Etait Conte (If Versailles Were Told to Me) is best known by its American title Royal Affairs in Versailles. In addtion to writing and directed the film, Guitry reserves for himself the plum role of Louis XIV. Concentrating on the palace of Versailles over a period of 300 years, the storyline concentrates on the various amorous and political intrigues of three French kings. The plot manages to wend its way through the French revolution, coming to a halt in "the present". The star-studded supporting cast includes Jean Marais as Louis XV, Claudette Colbert as Mme. Montespan, Micheline Presle as Mme. Pompadour, and, best of all, Orson Welles as a gouty Ben Franklin. Most currently available prints of Si Versailles M'Etait Conte are severely edited, and fail to do justice to the rich Eastmancolor hues of the original version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Michel Auclair, (more)
- 1953
An irate husband announces his wife's adulterous activities by placing a billboard a top his house in this comedy. He then begins to organize a society of cuckolded spouses. They design a float for the carnival parade and win first prize. In the end the errant wife returns and the husband makes a serious, final speech about the potential costs of her threatening to leave him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Filmed in 1950 as Le Rosier de Madame Husson, The Prize was produced and scripted by Marcel Pagnol, of "The Marseilles Trilogy" fame. The plot is motivated by a contest, wherein a prize of 100,000 francs will be bestowed upon the most virtuous maiden in a tiny French village. Virtue being a scarce commodity hereabouts, the money is eventually claimed by a young man named Isidore (Bourvil). Once the farcical situation is played for all it's worth, the story segues into a comedy of errors, culminating in an episode in a faraway house of ill repute. The upshot of all this is that Isidore loses the crown of virtue almost as quickly as he won it. Jacqueline Pagnol, the wife of Marcel Pagnol, has an amusing role as a coquettish farm lass. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil
- 1951
Sacha Guitry both wrote and directed the witty black comedy La Poison. This time, however, Guitry does not star in the film, relinquishing that honor to Michel Simon. Through a series of circumstances and plot twists too numerous to mention, an enterprising man (Simon) manages to get away with murdering his wife, even though he cheerfully admits his guilt in court. The murderer's defense strategy is targeted towards every man who has ever wished that his wife would simply disappear. If this notion seems familiar, it is because La Poison was loosely remade in 1966 as the Jack Lemmon comedy How to Murder Your Wife. While the original is more clever, the remake has more popular appeal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Jean Debucourt, (more)
- 1951
Le Vrai Coupable (The Real Guilty) is a laid-back social drama with plenty of surprises. The main character, a young woman, is dead from the outset, the victim of a botched abortion. Detectives Mario (Philipe Lemaire) and Georges (Clement Thierry) politely shuffle through the clues to find out who was responsible for the girl's grisly fate. In so doing, they save the decedent's impressionable cousin from suffering the same denouement. The film's abortion angle prevented Le Vrai Coupable from attaining prime American bookings; in 1951, the subject was still taboo so far as the Motion Picture Code was concerned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Souplex, Philippe Lemaire, (more)
- 1950
The second of Sacha Guitry's four 1950 offerings was Le Tresor de Cantenac. Once again, Guitry not only wrote and directed the film, but reserved himself a leading role, in this case Baron de Cantenac. Set in a rundown French village where everyone is related to everyone else (sometimes at the expense of chromosomes and brain matter!), the film is a series of vignettes illustrating the foibles of the human condition. The Baron de Cantenac, on the verge of suicide after losing his fortune, decides to take one last journey through the crumbling town. While ambling about, the baron is befriended by the town's oldest citizen, who reveals a royal treasure that he has been jealously guarding for years. The money enables the town to get back on its feet, and also has some very surprising effects on the citizenry. Amazingly, this fully realized paean to the recuperative powers of wealth was made on a skin-tight budget, even by French standards. Le Tresor de Cantenac was produced by Boris Morros, the former Hollywood musical director who'd previously produced Laurel & Hardy's Flying Deuces and Fred Astaire's Second Chorus, and who soon would figure in a real-life espionage adventure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Lana Marconi, (more)
- 1950
Miquette et sa Mere was the second of Henri-Georges Clouzot's directorial efforts of 1949. Co-scripted by Clouzot, this lighthearted film is easier to digest than the director's more celebrated mysteries and melodramas. Daniele Delorme plays Miquette, a winsome lass who aspires to be an actress. She runs off with a lascivious nobleman (Saturnin Fabre) who promises to make her a star. When Miquette's mother (Mirelle Perrey) searches for her wandering daughter, she finds the girl working with a ragtag touring company. The mother takes a job with the troupe, if for no other reason than to keep the lecherous nobleman away from Miquette. The film works best when re-creating the milieu of 19th-century provincial theatre; standing out in the proceedings is Louis Jouvet as Monchablon, the sort of actor for whom the word "ham" was invented. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Bourvil, (more)
- 1949
The title character in this French outdoor drama is a trusty St. Bernard dog. The dramatic weight of the story, however, is carried on the shoulders of Barry's master Theotime (Pierre Fresnay). In flashback, the audience is apprised of the events leading up to Theotime's decision to enter the priesthood. As can be expected, a woman (Simone Valere) is the cause of it all. In the spirit of "forgive and forget," Father Theotime does his best to smooth the path of romance for his former lady friend and his onetime best friend (Marc Valbel). Meanwhile, Barry distinguishes himself with various and sundry acts of "above and beyond the call" heroism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Valere, Pauline Carton, (more)
- 1949
The French Branquinol is a plotless, shapeless musicomedy revue in the tradition of "Hellzapoppin." The story, such as it is, concerns a theatrical troupe's efforts to stage a charity show. This plot peg is merely an excuse to present the "Branquinol" company at their most zany and uninhibited. The show has more of a satirical edge than one might expect, with certain theatrical cliches given the once-over in uproarious fashion (in this, the film resembles the Forbidden Broadway stage revues of the 1980s and 1990s). Much of the humor may seem merely quaint or strident to American viewers, with the exception of the antics of star comedian Christian Duvaleix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colette Brosset, Robert Dhéry, (more)
