Claude Dauphin Movies

The film for this rare full-length animated feature was fully developed and shot by 1930 - just when sound was beginning to be heard in movies. It was made by the nearly legendary animator Ladislas Starevich, a Russian-born Pole who worked almost exclusively in France; this was his only full-length feature. The original plan was for it to be shown with a coordinated soundtrack played on records, but technology outpaced those plans, and the film was put in storage until several years later. In 1939, the cartoon characters were given voices by well-known French actors, a musical score was composed, and the film was released in Paris in the winter of 1940-41. The master prints of this witty cartoon, which is amusing both for the young and for adults (who are the only ones who will get many of the jokes) were retrieved from the animator's estate and restored for re-release in 1990. In the story, Renard the fox is a charming creature who is so very clever that he often outsmarts even himself. Practically every animal in the kingdom has some complaint about being bamboozled by him, but when he flim-flams the king himself, something must be done. The king attacks Renard's castle, which is ingeniously (if ineffectively) defended. Once Renard is captured the king can't bring himself to harshly punish the errant rogue, and instead makes him his prime minister. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A pair of slippers is the plot catalyst for this rambling French comedy. Hoping to save the reputation of a philandering friend, do-gooder Beatrice (Betty Stockfield) drives all the way from Paris to Switzerland to return an incriminating slipper to its mate. Along the way, she is sidetracked by handsome Georges (Roger Treville). By the time Beatrice arrives at her appointed destination, she finds that her friend has already replaced the tell-tale slipper. Now she's got to get rid of that pesky third slipper-which isn't as easy as it sounds, and which results in all sorts of merry misadventures. The Slipper Episode is based on a story by Tristan Bernard, who appears briefly at the beginning of the film to "explain" the action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Gina Kaus, The Affair Lafont is the tragic tale of two sisters. Claire (Corinne Luchaire) is 20 years old, unmarried and incredibly naïve; Catherine (Annie Ducaux), nearing thirty, is terrified that her husband will leave her because she's never borne him a child. When Claire is rendered pregnant by her casual beau, Catherine adopts the baby, intending to pass it off as her own when her archeologist husband returns from a long expedition. Unfortunately, the father of the child sees this set-up as an ideal opportunity for blackmail; once this problem has been dealt with, Claire begins having second thoughts and demands her baby back. Told in flashback, this series of events is offered as explanation for the burst of gunfire that opens the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi film, a scientist invents a prescient machine that can tell people when they will die. Oddly enough, the people do not want to know and therefore begin to riot, thereby causing the death of the inventor--something that the machine had predicted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This disturbing melodrama centers upon the relationship between two sisters. One sister is married, but unable to bear children; her husband, who wants kids, is ready to leave her. The other sister is single and pregnant. The baby's father left her. The married sister talks her sister in to giving her the child, so she can save her marriage. The little sister does so, and then falls in love herself and gets engaged. Trouble ensues when the baby's father reappears and blackmails her. Now the sister must decide when and how she is going to tell her fiance the truth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Paris-New York is set aboard the French luxury liner Normandie, and it goes without saying that the story takes place before that great ship went down in New York Harbor. Most of the passengers in this seafaring "Grand Hotel" are en route to the Big Apple to attend the 1939 World's Fair, which shows up in brief newsreel vignettes. The main storyline involves the forbidden romance between wealthy Giselle Preville and impoverished journalist Claude Dauphin. When Preville disappears, Dauphin is accused of kidnapping by the girl's snobbish father Rene Alexander. By the time the Normandie reaches New York, however, the "mystery" is solved and all misunderstandings blithely swept away. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide