Jean-Roger Caussimon Movies
Jean-Roger Caussimon is best known for penning songs for popular French performers such as Maurice Chevalier and Juliette Greco during the '40s and '50s, but he also appeared as an actor in films like French Can-Can. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Le Juge et L'Assassin probes a curious relationship between condemner and condemnee. Philippe Noiret plays Rousseau, a French judge who holds the fate of convicted child killer Bouvier (Michel Galabru) in his hands. Should Rousseau decide that Bouvier is insane, the killer will not go prison. As they come to know each other better, both are given the rare opportunity of exploring the vagaries of the human mind. The previously unbendable judge alters several long-held opinions concerning criminals, while Bouvier is for the first time in his life able to articulate the thought processes which motivate his actions. It is clear at times that much of the dialogue in Judge and the Assassin stems from Bertrand Tavernier's own lifelong feelings of loneliness and isolation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Michel Galabru, (more)
The humanistic actions of Philippe D'Orleans, the cultured gentle regent to young Louis the XV in pre-revolutionary France (1719) are chronicled in this French costumer. Though the regent endeavors to keep his subjects cultured and happy to stop the peasants from rising up, he knows he has no real royal authority. To assist, D'Orleans enlisted the aid of a priest, who unfortunately cared nothing for his God, nor anyone but himself. The regent becomes distraught after his daughter, with whom he has been accused of committing incest, dies. His natural idealism is also shaken when he must execute a band of revolutionaries. True joy will only be found when the peasants successfully overthrow the aristocrats who held them down so long. The film's soundtrack features the music of the real Phillippe D'Orleans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort, (more)
- 1972
In this French family film, the worst-laid plans of an unpleasant, grasping family come to naught in the face of the goodness of Alfred and his crew of zanies. The evil family hopes to take over the house Alfred and his clan live in and would stop at nothing, including witchcraft and murder, to accomplish their aims. Instead, the family members die off one by one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1967
In the third installment of the parodic Fantomas series, the eponymous arch criminal imposes the "right-to-live" tax on the rich, threatening to kill those who dare not to pay. Journalist Fandor (Jean Marais) and commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) are invited to the Scottish castle of Lord McRashley (Jean-Roger Caussimon), one of Fantomas' potential victims, who has decided to set a trap for the elusive fiend. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, (more)
- 1966
In this Italian exploitation drama, a heart-broken young woman, recently jilted by her lover, becomes a hooker involved with a cruel pimp. After beating her, she heads for a new brothel. There she meets a dashing public- relations man who has come to her room to look into the killing of his aged boss. He helps her escape her murderous pimp and his brother, a professional killer. Unfortunately, the crooks manage to catch her. Fortunately, she is rescued by the PR man after one hood kills the other. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Laurent (Pierre Brasseur) is a newspaper reporter sent to investigate a string of mysterious small-town murders. Although he fails to solve the crime, he uncovers a murder plot concocted by a wife and her lover to kill the woman's husband. The uneven feature careens from comedy to drama with some thrills added and a surprise ending. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Michel Simon, (more)
- 1964
This movie is the first in a trilogy that parodied the popular silent Fantomas serials of director Louis Feuillade, which followed the adventures of the titular master criminal created by writers Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. After a daring jewelry heist signed "Fantomas," police commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) goes on national television claiming that Fantomas doesn't exist and that there is no reason for public concern. Riding the wave of public interest, journalist Fandor (Jean Marais) publishes a bogus interview with the master criminal. Fantomas (also played by Jean Marais) doesn't appreciate the joke and kidnaps Fandor to teach him a lesson. A master of disguise, he pulls an even more daring robbery wearing the Fandor mask. Comic relief is provided by commissioner Juve's awkward attempts to capture the elusive arch-criminal. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, (more)
- 1961
The story of a Frenchman who fought to liberate the American colonies from British rule is colorfully brought to the screen. Lafayette (Michel Leroyer) is an engaging young landowner who spends his time in taverns drinking and talking politics. When he ends up on the wrong side of the minister's police, he sells his land, buys a ship, and takes off to help the Americans fight the British. He meets up with General Washington (Howard St. John) and earns his rightful place in history as one of the great military leaders. British General Cornwallis is portrayed by Jack Hawkins, while Orson Welles gives a memorable performance as Benjamin Franklin. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel LeRoyer, Howard St. John, (more)
- 1961
The first of the "Dr. Mabuse" films not directed by Fritz Lang, the French/German/Italian Return of Dr. Mabuse stars Wolfgang Preiss in the title role. Supposedly dead and buried, Mabuse returns to his criminal activities, once more using hypnotized flunkeys to carry out his dirty work. While the doc's longtime foe Inspector Lohmann (Gert Froebe) probes and prods in his usual methodical fashion, hotshot American detective Lex Barker and dauntless girl reporter Daliah Lavi take the more direct approach to weed out Mabuse. This time around, the diabolical doctor wants to sabotage a nuclear reactor, then take over the world (he never does anything by halves). Return of Dr. Mabuse was released in Europe as Im Stahlnetz des Dr. Mabuse, Le Retour Du Docteur Mabuse and FBI Contro Dr. Mabuse; in some American cities, it was shipped out as Phantom Fiend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Beautifully photographed, this comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge. The film is also title Only the French Can. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Maria Felix, (more)
- 1951
The English-language title of this Marcel Carne cinematic exercise is Juliette or Key of Dreams. The central character is not Juliette (Susan Clouthier), however, but a young incipient thief named Michel (Gerard Phillipe). Smitten by Juliette's charms, Michel steals for her sake, and ends up in prison. He "escapes" durance vile through his many daydreams, most of these staged symbolically, with Juliette as the "ideal" lover. Though Juliette ou le Clef des Songes, like most of Carne's later works, was considered unfashionable by New Wave critics of the 1950s, the film holds up pretty well when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Suzanne Cloutier, (more)
- 1951
Autant-Lara's L'Auberge Rouge (The Red Inn) is black comedy at its very blackest. The scene is a rustic little inn in a remote rural area of France. The inn's proprietors Pierre (Carette) and Marie (Francoise Rosay) industriously support themselves by murdering the various stagecoach passengers who stop over at the inn, and then keep their valuables for themselves. As the story gets under way, a coach full of delightfully eccentric types pulls into the inn's courtyard, ripe for plucking. One of the passengers is a Monk (Fernandel), who learns of the innkeeper's homicidal schemes but is bound by the rules of the Confessional to reveal this information to no one. How can the monk secure the safety of his fellow passengers without betraying his vows? His solution--and the wickedly ironic coda that follows--will linger in the memory long after the final reel of L'Auberge Rouge tumbles over the spools. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Françoise Rosay, (more)
