Robert Dalban Movies

In this adventure, a secret society, the Sons of the Panther, stop a ring of jewel thieves from stealing diamonds from a downed plane in Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This movie is the first in a trilogy that parodied the popular silent Fantomas serials of director Louis Feuillade, which followed the adventures of the titular master criminal created by writers Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. After a daring jewelry heist signed "Fantomas," police commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) goes on national television claiming that Fantomas doesn't exist and that there is no reason for public concern. Riding the wave of public interest, journalist Fandor (Jean Marais) publishes a bogus interview with the master criminal. Fantomas (also played by Jean Marais) doesn't appreciate the joke and kidnaps Fandor to teach him a lesson. A master of disguise, he pulls an even more daring robbery wearing the Fandor mask. Comic relief is provided by commissioner Juve's awkward attempts to capture the elusive arch-criminal. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Paul Meurisse is a suave, phlegmatic Gallic secret agent known as The Monocle. Always sartorially resplendent, he is as fast with a gun as he is with his rapier-like wit. His mission is to track down a group of terrorists who are trying to bring about world peace by killing anyone associated with the atom bomb. Sight gags accompany the requisite fights and car chases in this routine spy actioner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this non-sensationalistic drama, a young woman becomes a prostitute to prevent her lover from committing a robbery. Unfortunately, she soon finds herself involved in an international prostitution ring. She is soon plying her trade the world over until she lands in Hong Kong where she finally learns the bitter truth about her "lover" and becomes a heroin addict. The truth is told to her by an Interpol agent who informs her that her boyfriend's love was but a ruse to trick her into becoming a high-class hooker. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this French crime drama, two safe-crackers are breaking into a safe when they are caught in the act by a guard. One of the crooks kills the guard and flees leaving his partner behind. The abandoned accomplice is captured and convicted. One year passes before the convict is able to escape from prison and set out to exact his revenge. As he flees, he becomes friends with a gas station owner married to a gold-digging ex-hooker. When the wife learns that the hero is a fugitive she blackmails him into cracking her husband's safe. Unfortunately, they are captured by the owner who is killed in the ensuing scuffle by his wife. The fugitive hero then buries the body. He refuses to open the safe. As fate would have it, the fugitive's ex-partner happens upon the scene, but he too will not open the save. A short time later, the wife leaves. The partners then attempt to open it, but are surprised when the murderous wife returns with a shotgun. The fugitive's partner kills the girl, but as he tries to flee the police, his car careens into the gas pumps and explodes in a tremendous ball of fire. Fortunately, the hero escapes at the very last second. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, an amiable, popular middle-age man (Bernard Blier) abruptly changes when he heads out for a nice picnic, sees a half-naked girl, makes a pass at her, gets rejected, and kills her. No one is the wiser and her lover ends up taking the rap. During the ensuing trial, the real killer finds himself on the jury. As he listens, his conscience begins to bother him and he helps get the defendant acquitted but the town community refuses to accept it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This somewhat verbose, standard comic thriller involves one sharp gangster nicknamed Le Dabe (Jean Gabin) pitted against three others as they work on a counterfeiting operation. Le Dabe has just been cooling his heels in the hot tropics and has now resurfaced in France where he hooks up with the counterfeiting trio. Together, they print out millions in fake Dutch guilders, but along the way, the three friends scheme to double-cross Le Dabe as soon as their operation is completed. They obviously underestimate the man. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Sois Belle et Tais Toi is more popularly known by its American-release title Be Beautiful but Shut Up. Mylene Demongeot plays a birdbrained young lady who gets mixed up with a gang of juvenile-delinquent smugglers. The crooks use the heroine as their go-between, intending to leave her holding the bag if and when the cops show up. Fortunately, a handsome police inspector (Henri Vidal) catches on to their scheme. One of the screenwriters for Sois Belle et Tais Toi was no less Roger Vadim. When the film was first released, its direction was often erroniously credited to Marc Allegret. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film is comprised of three vignettes focusing upon women and war. The first episode, set in WW II, chronicles the sad journey of an American woman who goes to Italy to bring her husband's body home. In Italy she makes a heart-wrenching discovery: he had been living with an Italian family and had impregnated their daughter and sees the child. The second story chronicles the abandonment of Joan of Arc, by her king and her soldiers. The third episode is a humorous adaptation of "Lysistrata," the Greek play where Athenian wives refused to sleep with their husbands until they stopped making war. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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