René Masson Movies
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
Brigitte Bardot is the sensual gamine once more in Light Across the Street. She pouts and purrs her way through a romantic triangle involving herself, her injured truck driver husband, and a handsome interloper. The fun comes crashing to a halt when murder is committed. Released in France as La Lumiere d'en Face, this film was first issued to the US as The Flame and the Flesh. But this caused confusion with a 1954 Lana Turner vehicle of that name, hence the more antiseptic cognomen The Light Across the Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Pellegrin, Roger Pigaut, (more)
- 1959
An off-beat, uneven tale about a man intent on suicide and the three people who try to talk him out of it, Pantalaskas stars American Carl Studer in the title role of the morose, would-be suicide. Set in Paris and taking place over an entire night, the story has a complication in that the trio who want to prevent the suicide do not speak the man's language -- he is Lithuanian and speaks no French. So the protagonists comb the underbelly of a nighttime Paris, looking high and low but mostly low for anyone who speaks Lithuanian. Depending mainly on dialogue for its impact, the verbose drama reveals how the protagonists undergo a transformation as the night wears on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Studer, Albert Remy, (more)
