Janine Crispin Movies
- 1955
It took over thirty years for D. H. Lawrence's "forbidden" novel Lady Chatterly's Lover to make it to the big screen, courtesy of director Marc Allegret. Updated to the 1950s, the film stars Danielle Darrieux as Lady Constance Chatterly, comfortably married to wealthy invalid Lord Clifford Chatterly (Leo Genn). Despite her husband's incapacitation, Lady Constance doesn't feel that anything is lacking in her life--until she meets handsome, earthy caretaker Mellors (Erno Crisa). Her sexual awakening is the nucleus of the story, though the film strives hard to avoid overt eroticism, a surprising creative decision for a French film of the mid-1950s. Even so, the dialogue in Lady Chatterly's Lover was ripe enough to be heavily bowdlerized when the film was translated into English. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Erno Crisa, (more)
- 1949
French filmmaker Henry Decoin was better known for his stylistic panache than his creative originality. In Au Grand Terrace (originally released in 1949 as Au Grand Balcon), Decoin weaves a familiar story with finesse. Like the director himself, the film's hero is World War I aviator Carbot, played by Pierre Fresnay. After the war, Carbot attempts to establish a commercial airline, for the purpose of delivering the mail to the outermost regions of France. There's plenty of Only Angels Have Wings-style heroics as Carbot's pilots face injury and death while braving the elements to meet their appointed rounds. The film's nominal heroine, Maryse, played by Jeannine Crispin, has little to do but wait anxiously as the pilots go about their duties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Suzanne Dehelly, (more)
- 1948
This French WW II film chronicles the invasion of France by scores of English paratroopers who have come to bedevil the Nazi troops before D-Day. Much of the story centers on the preparation of the troops and upon the planning of the invasion. The rest follows the paratroopers as they team-up with French fighters and fulfill their missions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Blanchar
- 1946
Le Batailon du Ciel (Sky Batallion) is a monumental undertaking, especially for the financially strapped postwar French film industry. Running nearly three hours, the film is a meticulous re-creation of but one aspect of the 1944 Normandy Invasion. Director Alexander Esway concentrates on the French paratroopers who participated in the invasion, with several of the actual battalion members appearing in minor roles. Throughout, the acting and direction is realistic, arguably even more so than in the larger-scale D-Day epic The Longest Day. Le Batailon du Ciel was filmed with the joint cooperation of the French Army and Britain's RAF. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Daphne Courtney, (more)
- 1943
Warner Bros.' The Constant Nymph was the third filmization of Margaret Dean's 1924 novel; the first two were filmed in Britain in 1928 and 1933 by producer Michael Balcon. The plot was substantially the same in all three versions: A self-centered European musician (Charles Boyer) is idolized by a young Belgian girl (Joan Fontaine) with a serious heart condition. Though he is fond of the girl, the composer opts for a wealthy marriage to her socialite cousin (Alexis Smith)--and lives to regret the move. Peter Lorre, taking a respite from villainous roles, is quite effective as a philosophical family friend. Composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold's six-minute symphonic tone poem for Constant Nymph was given class-A treatment in a specially recorded RCA Victor orchestration in 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1941
My Life with Caroline is a dizzy boy-chases-girl affair with a twist: the girl being chased is the boy's own wife. Wealthy publisher Anthony (Ronald Colman) weds dizzy socialite Caroline (Anna Lee, in her first Hollywood film), who sees nothing wrong with seeking out new boyfriends even after her marriage. Caroline thoughtfully informs Anthony that she can't make up her mind between De Valle (Gilbert Roland) and Paul (Reginald Gardiner), obliging Anthony to work overtime to win his wife back. The film is cleverly framed in a flashback, with Anthony's voiceover narration providing the audience information on a "need to know" basis. Based on the French stage farce Train for Venice, My Life With Caroline was co-produced by Ronald Colman and William Hawks (Howard's brother). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Anna Lee, (more)
- 1937
It really shouldn't be necessary to provide the English translation for Grandeur et Decadence. The story centers upon the Girbals, a bourgeois family living contentedly on the seacoast of France. Their lives are radically altered when Papa Girbal (Firmin Gemier) is persuaded to expand his cannery business. Suddenly showered with wealth, the family relocates to France, where despite the most persuasive of temptation the family manages to retain its fundamental decency. Even so, the Girbal's son Andre (Lucien Galas) becomes fed up with wicked old Paree and heads back home, there to marry his childhood sweetheart. Comes the Depression, which for the Girbals is depressing indeed: Papa Girbal loses his business, his wife Marie (Marcelle Geniat) dies, and daughter Suzanne (Simone Lencret) is "ruined" by a cad. Moving in with son Andre's family, a suddenly enervated Papa Girbal elects to start life all over again for the sake of his new grandson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcelle Geniat, Pasquali, (more)
- 1937
Originally released in 1937 as Nostalgie, The Postmaster's Daughter was one of a handful of French films directed by Russian moviemaker Viktor Tourjansky. The great Harry Baur plays Virine, an aging postmaster who operates a way station in Czarist Russia. Virine's daughter Dounia (Janine Crispin) falls in love with Lt. Minsky (Georges Rigaud), who willingly resigns his commission to marry the girl. This does not rest well with Virine, who remains overly possessive of Dounia because she so closely resembles his dear-departed wife. Based on an Alexander Pushkin novel, The Postmaster's Daughter was confiscated by the Nazis in 1942 because of the "undesirability" of Harry Baur, who was married to a Jewish woman and who died under mysterious circumstances in 1943. The film finally gained international release in 1946. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Gina Manès, (more)
- 1936
In this espionage romance, a French spy and a German agent fall in love and marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Murat, Vera Korene, (more)
- 1936
Moutonnet is a dim-witted French peasant, played by Noel-Noel. Merac is a sarcastic stage comedian, also played by Noel-Noel. During WWI, Merac's life is saved on the battlefield by Moutonnet. Seventeen years later, Merac returns the favor by starring in a picture based on Moutonnet's life. The latter heads to Paris to watch the film in progress, whereupon the inevitable mistaken-identity gags begin descending upon the proceedings. Fans of Noel-Noel were more than satisfied with the double dose of their favorite in Moutonnet, even if critics were not so enchanted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Suzy Prim, (more)
- 1936
Secret de Polichinelle roughly translates as Open Secret. The "secret" in question is an illegitimate child, the offspring of young-and-foolish Henri (Bernard Lacret). The baby is adopted by its grandparents, Monsieur and Madame Jouvenol (Raimu and Francoise Rosay). At first taking charge of the child because it is their duty, the Jouvenols come to love the little nipper as if he were their own son. At this point, the film threatens to drown in a morass of sentiment, but the actors and the director manage to stem the bathos with some first-rate comedy vignettes revolving around the care and feeding of the bouncing baby boy. Charles Spaak adapted the screenplay from a stage piece by Pierre Wolff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Janine Crispin, (more)
- 1935
Based on a novel by Charles Robert Dumas, Deuxieme Bureau is another espionager of the "Mata Hari" and "Fraulein Doktor" school. Vera Korine stars as Erna Flieder, notorious female spy of the WWI era. Though she seemingly has ice water in her veins, Erna forgets all about her mission in life when she falls in love with her AEF adversary Captain Benoit (Jean Murat). In time-honored tradition, our heroine ultimately lays down her own life to save Benoit from harm. Reviewers in 1935 felt that the film was stolen by Pierre Larquey in the supporting role of Benoit's adjutant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viviane Romance, Jean Murat, (more)
- 1933
This comedy of manners, set within a Viennese community, centers upon an uneducated soccer player who ends up being tutored by an unemployed teacher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Milly Mathis, (more)
