Georges Chamarat Movies
Georges Chamarat was one of the most celebrated stage actors in Paris of the 1940s and '50s, and made his mark on movies in more than 100 screen roles, comedic and dramatic alike. Born in Paris in 1901, Chamarat joined the Odeon National Theater at age 28 and moved to the Comédie-Française in 1946, where he became particularly well known for his portrayals of Arnolphe in School for Wives, among other comic roles associated with Molière. He made his first film appearance in 1939 and received his first screen credit the following year, as Alexis in Le President Haudcoeur. He went uncredited in Who Killed Santa Claus (1941) and but, starting with Peches de Jeunesse (1941), moved up to ever larger roles and star billing. Sometimes billed simply as "Chamarat," the actor played major roles in La Main du Diable (1943), Une Histoire d'Amour (1951), Coiffeur pour Dames (1952), Julietta (1953), Le Boulanger de Valorgue (1953), Le Printemps, L'Automne et L'Amour (1955), Fernandel the Dressmaker (1956), The Adventures of Arsene Lupin (1957), and Premier Mai (1958), squeezing in an appearance in Diabolique (1954) as Dr. Loisy amid those star turns. In 1960, Chamarat turned in an especially beguiling performance as the mysterious, old magician in Arthur Lubin's The Thief of Baghdad (1960) (a role especially devised for him) with his own separate costuming and makeup design and a separate credit at the end. He continued to get starring roles in movies into the early '60s with titles such as Au Coeur De La Ville (1962) and appeared in one major international production, Up From the Beach (1965), 20th Century Fox's sequel to The Longest Day. On five occasions, beginning in 1955, the Comédie-Française company visited the United States, which brought Chamarat to American stages in performances of Le Malade Imaginaire, Les Femmes Savantes, and Don Juan. On the occasion of its 1970 visit, the 69-year-old Chamarat displayed a healthy sense of the absurd in equating Molière's work with modern life, as well as a quick comic wit in tandem with his fellow performers Françoise Seigner and Jacques Charon. The actor's movie credits extended into the 1980s, including miniseries and made-for-TV features, his final screen appearance coming in 1981 with L'Enterrement de Monsieur Bouvet, just a year before his death at age 81. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1976
In this comedy, Louis de Funes is a top restaurant critic, the head of an important French culinary guide. At the beginning of the film, he and his son (Coluche) are at odds, as the son prefers working as a circus clown to studying the fine arts of gastronomy. The two join forces, however, to thwart the greedy owner of a chain of inferior restaurants, who plans to take over the finest restaurants in France and substitute his formulaic fodder for real cooking. Another lure bringing the son into the picture is a lovely secretary working for the guide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Coluche, (more)
- 1965
This war-drama centers more on the effects of battle on civilians than it does on the bravery of the fighters as it tells the story of a courageous squadron of Yankee soldiers endeavoring to protect and bring to safety a village full of French civilians whom they saved from German captors following the Allied invasion of Normandy. During the battle to free them, the soldiers also capture a German officer. They then begin heading toward the beach with the civilians so they can go to England. Unfortunately, the beachmaster does not know they are coming and regretfully sends them back. Twice more the squadron and the civilians go back to the beach, but they are still not allowed to go. Things get even worse when the Germans begin bombing the remains of their town and they are forced to find some place to hide until help arrives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Robertson, Red Buttons, (more)
- 1965
It is only with some reluctance that big-time hood Alphonse (Lino Ventura) allows himself to be persuaded that a major painting-theft planned by some formerly small-time gangsters is a good idea. He gives the idea his backing and support and winds up holding the bag for the crime as the others escape. On emerging from prison, he wreaks havoc on his betrayers, until a pretty girl stops him in his tracks. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Charles Aznavour, (more)
- 1962
In this thriller, a veterinarian falls in love with an ex-African explorer after he comes to help her ailing cheetah. She begs him to return to Africa with her, but he doesn't want to leave his wife. Soon his wife finds herself plagued by a series of bizarre accidents. The vet blames the explorer who has a great knowledge of voodoo. To spare his wife from further curses, he agrees to go to Africa with the woman. While in the wilderness, a flash flood engulfs them and the woman is swept away. Though the vet could save her, he decides not to. Later, the wife confesses that she was responsible for the accidents. The vet is suddenly overcome by guilt and turns himself in to the police. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Greco, Jean-Marc Bory, (more)
- 1962
One of several versions of a steamy novel by Eugene Sue, Les Mystères de Paris is set at the turn of the 20th century and begins when the carriage of Count Rodolphe (Jean Marais) runs over a man and as he dies, the Count vows to help his poor, orphaned daughter Marie (Jill Haworth). And so the Count penetrates the "thieves' quarter" in Paris looking for Marie, and he is emotionally overcome by the poverty he sees everywhere. After he meets Marie, he is attracted to her -- but then she is kidnapped and eventually, the Count learns the truth about her paternity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Jill Haworth, (more)
- 1961
In this melodrama, a widow falls in love with a much younger man who is only interested in her money. When her fortune is gone, her lover gets ready to leave. But then he meets the widow's 19-year-old daughter as she returns from a sanitarium. He is determined to seduce the young woman, but she is not interested. Later the young cad teams up with smugglers to earn some fast cash. Once again he endeavors to force himself on the hapless girl. This time the mother walks in. But strangely, she accuses the girl of wrongdoing, not the lover. The girl leaves, but the cad professes his love and proposes. Meanwhile, the smugglers find the police are hot on their trail and decide to frame the young man. He gets wind of this and goes to the cops first resulting in the gang's kidnapping of the girl. He tries to rescue her, but is killed in the ensuing scuffle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this thriller, a greedy young woman becomes a police informer. Her father is in prison for participating in a jewel theft. The girl is looking for the jewels he hid. Unfortunately, she must compete with other real criminals. In the end she is arrested for killing her own lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Love and the Frenchwoman (La Francaise et L'Amour) concentrates on the nature of love by illustrating seven separate aspects of the emotion. In "Childhood," 9-year old Pierre-Jean Vaillard suffers a traumatic experience when he takes his parents' "cabbage patch" theory of conception too literally. In "Adolescence," a little girl (Annie Sinigalla) constructs an elaborate fantasy world on the occasion of her first kiss. "Virginity" is a study in frustration, as betrothed couple Valerie Lagrange and Pierre Michel agonizingly await their wedding-night consummation of their ardor. "Marriage" finds a union ending almost before it begins as a pair of newlyweds (Marie-Jose Nat and Claude Rich) bicker all the way to their honeymoon rendezvous. "Adultery" allows husband Paul Meurisse the opportunity to calmly provide an object lesson to his wife's lover Jean-Paul Belmondo. In "Divorce", a couple (Annie Girardot and Francois Pierer) find that it's impossible to have a "civilized" breakup. And in "A Woman Alone," bigamist Robert Lamoreaux meets his Waterloo in the forms of Martine Carol and Sylvia Montfort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darry Cowl, Sophie Desmarets, (more)
- 1960
Aimed at the youngsters, this typical Italian fantasy-adventure stars Steve Reeves as Karim, the thief of the title. Karim is not only the strongest, fastest, and smartest of thieves, he also has a magic ring and a cape that makes him invisible. Thus armed, he is well-prepared to face a series of Herculean tests in order to win the hand of the Sultan's beautiful daughter Anima (Georgia Moll). These "tests" purify his past wrongdoings and ultimately lead to a blue rose, the key to winning Anima in marriage. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Reeves, Giorgia Moll, (more)
- 1960
In this WW II drama, two French soldiers are captured and forced to work as farm hands on a German family's land. One of the soldiers tricks the farmer's innocent daughter into helping him escape. The other soldier has truly fallen for the girl and decides to stay. At the war's end, the escaped POW becomes a successful journalist and the other has gone back to his original wife whom he despises. Later the husband leaves his family and returns to the girl, while the journalist returns to his former mistress who risked it all to save him from being arrested. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Aznavour, Nicole Courcel, (more)
- 1960
This French social comedy makes fun of the upper crust. It is based on a Moliere play and is the first appearance of the entire Comedie Francaise troupe. Usually, the troupe only allowed one member at a time to appear in a film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
This legendary opera by Mozart is lavishly produced and comedically performed with great skill by the Comedie Francaise. Andre Cadou conducts the orchestra. The award winning troupe brings its own special brand of humor to the story without compromising the plot or the grandeur of this audio and visual spectacle. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georges Descrieres, Yvonne Gaudeau, (more)
- 1959
- NR
French comedian Fernandel stars in this entertaining comedy based on a short story by O. Henry, The Ransom of Red Chief. Antoine (Fernandel) has the brilliant idea of kidnapping the son of a millionaire in order to raise the money he and his partner Paolo (Gino Cervi) need to buy their own auto repair shop. The kidnapping is quite successful but Antoine and Paolo soon discover that little Erick (Papouf) is more than just a handful. Even when Antoine dresses up as a Native American, Erick is not amused for long. The little boy is trouble incarnate, and soon the erstwhile kidnappers are ready to pay for his parents to take him back. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Gino Cervi, (more)
- 1958
With Mirror Has Two Faces (Miroir a Deux Faces), French director Andre Cayatte takes a respite from his usual broadsides against the iniquities of the French judicial system. Michele Morgan stars as a plain, middle-aged woman, miserably unhappy with her go-nowhere existence. She submits to plastic surgery, and as the years are cosmetically removed she vows to alter her life. The first major change is in her relationship with her self-involved schoolmaster husband (Bourvil). Where once he'd taken Morgan for granted, the husband now reacts with lunatic jealousy whenever anyone comes near her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Bourvil, (more)
- 1958
Michele Mercier stars as Nicole, a country lass who comes to the big city after winning a "new faces" contest sponsored by a movie studio. Betrayed by a man she thought she could trust, Nicole attempts suicide. She is saved from herself by her home-town fiancé, but the fact remains that she is now considered a failure. A last-minute twist of fate brings about a highly unlikely happy ending. Surprisingly, director Leonide Moguy seems to be taking Georges Tabet's script seriously, instead of treating it as a semi-satirical romantic trifle. The film's title, incidentally, translates to Give Me My Chance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Mercier, Nadine Tallier, (more)
- 1958
Yves Montand, who has so often portrayed an unflappable man of the world, is rendered virtually helpless by a small boy in Man to Man Talk. The plot (actually little more than an anecdote) has us believe that Montand is a suburban husband whose wife is expecting a baby. Montand's son must be told about those birds and bees before the baby arrives. Father and son go on a long walk in the countryside, where Montand's carefully prepared "facts of life" speech is constantly interrupted by passersby, by his son's tendency to wander, and by Montand's own reticence. Man to Man Talk ran for years on the American Late-Show circuit before the film was withdrawn and retitled as Premier May. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Nicole Berger, (more)
- 1958
The French-filmed Senechal the Magnificent is set during World War II. Fernandel plays a none-too-intelligent travelling entertainer who, through a case of mistaken identity, takes the place of a famed nightclub artiste named Senechal. Fernandel's gift for mimicry makes him a big hit in Paris; however, he spends most of his time looking over his shoulder, hoping the real Senechal never shows up. When the time comes to outwit the occupying Nazi troops, Fernandel's skill at impressions becomes a life-or-death commodity. Senechal le Magnifique was (surprise!) the original French title for this Danny Kaye-like comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The French/Italian Adventures of Arsene Lupin is loosely based on stories by Maurice Leblanc. A sprightly opening-credits musical theme clues us in that none of what we're about to see should be taken too seriously. The titular Lupin, played by Robert Lamoreaux is a jewel robber in pre-World War 1 Germany. Moving in the highest social circles, Lamoreaux has as much fondness for the ladies as he does for his ill-gotten gains. One of his conquests is played by Liselotte Pulver, who as Lilo Pulver costarred with James Cagney and Horst Buchholz in Billy Wilder's One Two Three (she's the girl in the polka-dot dress). Lupin proves to be a patriot when he robs the coffers of France's enemy-to-be Kaiser Wilhelm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lamoureux, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1956
This Gallic farce is better known to "Late Late Show" fanatics as Fernandel the Dressmaker. Sure enough, horse-faced comedian Fernandel is cast as a couturier, permitting director Jean Boyer to trot out a variety of underdressed young ladies at the slightest opportunity. The plot concerns Fernandel's efforts to hide his vocation from his jealous wife Suzy Delair. When she does find out, she walks out on him, determined to teach him a lesson by taking up with other men. All is forgiven by fadeout time as both husband and wife divest themselves of their troublesome extracurricular romantic entanglements. Many of the film's best gags involve homosexual characters, and as such may not play too well when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Suzy Delair, (more)
- 1955
Perhaps because its American distribution was brief, Le Printemps, L'Autumne et L'Amour is one of the lesser-known Fernandel vehicles. The lantern-jawed comedian plays a confirmed middle-aged bachelor, whose life is radically altered when he rescues 18-year-old Nicole Berger from drowning. Out of gratitude, the girl marries Fernandel, but predictably the union is far from satisfactory. Complications arise when Berger falls in love with Phillipe Nicaud, a boy closer to her own age. If one must have a May-December drama, better one with Fernandel than those overheated Hugo Haas-Cleo Moore extravaganzas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Nicole Berger, (more)
The greatest film that Alfred Hitchcock never made, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Diabolique is set in a provincial boarding school run by headmaster Michel Delasalle (Paul Meurisse). A ruthless lothario, he becomes the target of a murder plot concocted by his long-suffering invalid wife Christina (Vera Clouzot, the director's own spouse) and his latest mistress, an icy teacher played by Simone Signoret. A dark, dank thriller with a much-imitated "shock" ending, Diabolique is a masterpiece of Grand Guignol suspense. The simple murder plot goes haywire, and Michel's corpse disappears, prompting strange rumors of his reappearance which grow more and more substantial as the film careens wildly towards its breathless conclusion. Later remade as a greatly inferior 1996 Hollywood feature with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, (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)
