Michele Alfa Movies
- 1951
Noel (Bernard Blier), a grown-up mama's boy, falls heir to a busy matrimonial bureau. Assuming command of the operation, Noel becomes fascinated with the various degrees of loneliness which prompt his clients to seek out his services. As a result, he begins to place his own loneliness and sense of inadequacy in perspective. The supporting characters are drawn in broad strokes, though they never lapse into ridiculous caricatures. Agence Matrimoniale would make a piquant double feature with the Hollywood comedy-drama The Model and the Marriage Broker (1952). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Blier, Michele Alfa, (more)
- 1950
Les Premieres Armes was one of three highly personal films directed by French screenwriter Rene Wheeler. Much of the story, concerning two young boys who are forced into becoming apprentice jockeys, was drawn from Wheeler's own bitter childhood experiences. Both despise the world of the racetrack, eventually rebelling against the cruelties of their superiors. The young actors playing the two protagonists don't seem not to be acting but to be truly living their roles. Uneven though it may be, Les Premieres Armes has a raw, unbridled power which compensates for its raggedness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Frankeur, Julien Carette, (more)
- 1941
Six friends who have won a large sum of money decide to split their fortune and reunite in five years to share all the money they will have earned in the meantime. When the time comes, one of them gets killed on his way back to France. Another gets shot and his body disappears. Police inspector Wens (Pierre Fresnay) has to solve the case before all six succumb to the mysterious killer. Scripted by Henri-Georges Clouzot from the novel by Stanislas Andre Steeman, this mystery suffers from Georges Lacombe's routine direction. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Alfa, Pierre Fresnay, (more)
- 1938
Lumieres de Paris (Lights of Paris) resurrects the old chestnut about a wealthy man hiding his identity so that he can romance a not-so-wealthy woman. Tino Rossi stars as a world-renowned music-hall star who chances to meet working girl Michele Alfa at an intimate café. Fearful that his image as a ladies' man will be tarnished if he devotes all his time to one girl, Rossi keeps the romance a secret, not even revealing who he is to the starry-eyed Alfa. Eventually she walks out on him, only to be on hand for a surprise reconciliation when she's chosen at random to replace Rossi's recalcitrant music-hall partner (Conchita Montenegro). Surprisingly, few of Tino Rossi's established song hits are utilized in Lumieres de Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Alfa, Tino Rossi, (more)
- 1938
This drama is set in the Balkans just before WW II erupts and chronicles the marriage of a Serbian soldier to an Austrian woman. During the wedding, the bride is accompanied by a friend who objects to the union on nationalistic grounds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erich Von Stroheim, Dita Parlo, (more)
- 1937
La Dame de Pique is the first talkie version of the frequently filmed Alexander Pushkin parable The Queen of Spades. Pierre Blanchar stars as Hermann, an officer in the Russian army whose chronic gambling brings him in contact with a wealthy old countess (Marguerite Moreno) known as "La Dame de Pique." Fascinated by the countess' incredible luck at the gaming tables, Hermann is determined to learn her secret. With the help of the old woman's niece (Madeleine Ozeray), Hermann gains access to the Countess's boudoir and tries to romance the secret out of her. When this fails, he produces a gun and demands that she tell all -- whereupon the Countess falls dead from a heart attack. From this point on, Hermann's own doom is sealed. The most famous version of the Pushkin original was filmed 12 years later, with Anton Walbrook as the foolhardy protagonist and Edith Evans as the enigmatic Queen of Spades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marguerite Moreno, Madeleine Ozeray, (more)
