Maria Mauban Movies

In Le Bal Cupidon, an amusing comedy-mystery in the Thin Man tradition, Pierre Blanchar plays Dominique-Phillippe, a suave private detective, and Simone Renant plays Isabelle, the best friend of a murder suspect. Isabelle cannot believe that her friend Anne-Marie (Maria Mauban) murdered her wealthy, crippled husband, and insists that Dominique-Phillippe track down the genuine culprit. Trouble is, the detective wants nothing to do with Isabelle, who has caused him no end of difficulty in the past. Adhering to formula, hero and heroine eventually patch up their differences and team up to solve the mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cairo Road is a standard British "police precinct" drama with a twist; this precinct is located in Cairo, Egypt. Eric Portman plays an Egyptian police chief who takes on the seemingly routine matter of a murdered Arab. Portman deduces that this was no ordinary street killing, and that the Arab was mixed up with drug smuggling. The chief leaves the relative security of his office to set a trap for the murderers within the teeming streets of Cairo. Cairo Road was photographed by Oswald Morris and included in its supporting cast a young Lawrence Harvey--two worthies who wouldn't be working in British programmers much longer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Donne e Briganti (Women and Bandits) was the second of two Mario Soldati-directed films released in Europe during the last week of June, 1951 (the first was Je Suis de la Revue). Set in the early 19th century, the film recounts the Robin Hood-like adventures of bandit Michele Pezza (Amedeo Nazzari), better known as Fra Diavolo. This same character was depicted along more villainous lines in the famous 1830 opera by Auber, which was filmed in 1933 as The Devil's Brother, with Dennis King in the title role and Laurel and Hardy as comic relief. In Donne e Briganti, Fra Diavolo is his own comic relief, his tongue firmly in cheek as he robs from the rich, gives to the poor, and takes time out to romance his wife Marietta (Maira Mauban) and mistress Flora (Jacqueline Pierreux). According to this film, Fra Diavolo was also something of a patriot, opposing the invading forces of France. Sumptuously produced, Donne e Briganti falters only in the indecisive camera work by Mario Montuori. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite his best efforts, Julian (Bruo Bradei) cannot resist goading his younger brother Fabrice (Didier Haudepin) into doing something dumb. They are returning together to their mother's country home for a holiday break. Julian fought in Indochina when it was still French, and the war still haunts him. His brother isn't out of school yet and has yet to bed his first woman. These two make poor company for their mother, who is about to lose her heart over yet another man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

La Passante (The Passerby) stars Henri Vidal as the title character, a seafaring man named Francois. While briefly stopping over in Paris, Francois makes the acquaintance of Mado (Maria Mauban), a young woman who has just killed her husband in self-defense. Mado persuades Francois to allow her passage on his barge. This leads to another potential tragedy when Mado comes between the sailor and his assistant Georges (Daniel Invernel). Any French film set on a barge inevitably invites comparison to Jean Vigo's influential L'Atlante; La Passante, however, gets by on its own merits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The English-language title of La Table Aux-Creves is The Hunting Ground. Fernandel goes the "Raimu" route as a farmer whose wife unexpectedly commits suicide. The grieving husband tries to fathom the reasons for his wife's rash act, while the local townsfolk come up with a few bizarre theories of their own. Despite the grimness of the situation, Fernandel manages to find time for the comic "mugging" that brought him international fame. La Table Aux-Creves was adapted by its director Henri Verneuil from a novel by Marcel Ayme. The film was the first of several successful collaborations between star Fernandel and director Henri Verneuil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this French satirical comedy translates to The Unemployed Man of Clochemerle. In point of fact, there's only one unemployed man in the town Clochemerle, and that's the hapless Tistin (Fernandel). Obliged to use their tax money to keep Tistin from starving, the other townspeople insist that he find some sort of work. Tistin obligingly takes a few jobs, working for the various ladies in town. Before long, the menfolk become convinced that Tistin is playing the field, and they're angry at him all over again. And so it goes under a happy ending -- happy for everyone else, that is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

European film favorite Fernand Gravey not only starred in Le Plus Heurs des Hommes, but also co-adapted the script from Jean Guitton's play. The title translates to The Happiest of Men, which hardly describes Gravey's character, an innocent bystander named Pierre. Walking into a bookshop, Pierre witnesses what seems to be a murder. But the victim (Jean-Claude Pascal) isn't really dead; he's staged the whole scene to divest himself of an inconvenient mistress. Within a few minutes, however, Pierre has killed the "corpse" for real. Why he does this could be explained here, but that would spoil the fun to be found in this curious comedy-drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this film refers to the "ladies of the evening" whose trials and tribulations motivate the plotline. Maria Mauban stars as a young woman consigned to a life of prostitution, despite many efforts to escape her fate. Fortunately, she manages to extricate herself from her situation with her virtue intact. The hero of the piece is Philip Lemaire, who seems a bit too jaded for the innocent character he's called upon to play. In America, Les Clandestines was limited to the grind-houses specializing in "dirty pictures" or, as Variety so colorfully put it, "the baldheaded row trade." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the cast in this melodrama about religious faith does the best it can with the script, they cannot overcome a surface treatment of the characters. A young teen and his sister are having difficulties at home because their parents are in serious discord and a divorce seems imminent. This situation does not help the brother at his Jesuit school, where he gets in trouble for writing a very un-Godly article in the school paper, one of the results of his antagonistic relationship to a new teacher. After the teen is expelled for the article he published, his state of mind deteriorates and he begins to contemplate suicide. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide