Mario David Movies

Loursat (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a lawyer who has spent the last decade drinking himself into insensibility with a huge cache of gourmet wine in response to his grief at the death of his beloved wife. In the process, he has managed to alienate his now-grown daughter and is barely on speaking terms with his housekeeper. However, finding the corpse of a murdered young man in a room in his house snaps him out of his protracted reverie. He sobers up, investigates the murder, and takes his place in the courtoom to straighten out this mess. In the process, he wins back the respect and affection of his family. This courtroom drama and mystery is based on one of Georges Simenon's many novels. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this morbid, unbelievable story about a tyrannical mater familias who forces her two sons to kill one of their wives because she is rebelling against the mother-in-law's iron fist, death by poisonous snake bite in the middle of Buenos Aires is just as unlikely as the rest of the plot. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Antoine (Gerard Lanvin becomes a cool, controlled vigilante when his lover is murdered by three psychotic men preying on their victims in subways and trains. After acquiring a gun, Antoine starts his hunt for the killers and as both he and the police make progress in their search, they eventually end up at the killers' hideaway together. A police shoot-out kills two of the suspects, but a third is captured and put inside the police van to be booked and jailed. At that point, Antoine and the police differ on the value of the criminal justice system, and with his lover's gruesome death dominating his every thought, Antoine walks towards the van convinced that nothing short of vengeance can bring him personal peace. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

An inventor and a small-time industrialist, Guillaume (Louis De Funes) has come up with something which will take advantage of air pollution and manages to confuse a delegation of Japanese into placing an order for 3,000 of the things. Just a few obstacles stand in the way of his delivering on the order. For one thing, he has no factory in which to make them. He decides to dedicate all the extra space in his house to building them, though perhaps he should have told his wife (Annie Girardot) first, because she seems to have been made unhappy by these developments. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Borniche (Alain Delon) has three difficult tasks before him: to keep a rein on police violence, to cut through bureaucratic red tape in order to do his job, and to find Buisson (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and put him behind bars. Based on a true story which takes place in 1947, Buisson is a psychopath who enjoys finding excuses for blowing people to oblivion while ostensibly just robbing them. In his deranged way, Buisson achieves some kind of harmony with Borniche and the police. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this parody of James Bond movies, a dullard of a spy novelist finds himself the subject of an English sociology student's term papers. She travels to his Paris apartment to do her research and their relationship is interspliced with episodes from the writer's newest book that features his popular hero Bob St. Clair, master spy and anithesis to the writer, and his lovely assistant Tatiana, (who is of course, the lookalike of the lovely student). The spy's nemesis is in reality, his pushy publisher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Before there was "Club Med," there were already vacation resorts of all kinds which featured rustic settings, games, and parties designed for short-term romance. In this French-language crime comedy, a thief returns to the place where he buried some stolen jewels, only to discover that the site he chose was one of those hectic, heavily populated vacation resorts. Now he must deal with the resort's parties and romantic situations while searching for his booty. At the same time, he is pursued by a former associate of his, also an ex-con, the police, and his ex-girlfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Charlotte Armstrong, the story concerns Helene (Stephane Audran), the wife of a hopeless would-be writer and drug addict. Her husband's best friend tries to lay a trap for Helene, so that she will be forced to pay dearly for a divorce settlement. Also conspiring against Helene is her father-in-law, who wishes to wrest her child away from her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Brain (Le Cerveau) is a tongue-in-cheek caper film with more twists and turns than a rural Oregon highway. David Niven plays The Brain, so named because it was he who mapped out the British Great Train Robbery (it says here). Now The Brain plans to lift a fortune in NATO money, which is being shipped by train from France to Belgium. Complicating matters are a pair of free-lance thugs (Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil), who hope to steal The Brain's plans and claim the money for themselves. A plot device derived from The Lavender Hill Mob involves a 50-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty. An amusing closing-credits bit caps this exhilarating exercise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An alcoholic gangster joins up with a band of notorious gun runners after he is devastated by the death of his mistress in a car crash. A little girl manages to help him have a change of heart as he foils the plans of the gang. The story is taken from a gangster novel by William P. McGivern. Technical aspects are good, but the film lacks the intensity of the original text. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Arthur Lempereur (Jean-Paul Belmondo of Breathless) is a globe-hopping millionaire, engaged to Alice (Valérie Lagrange), a beautiful young woman. As the film opens, Arthur has cut the break line on his fine automobile and proceeds to drive it off a cliff. This, we learn, is his ninth suicide attempt in the past week. Arthur is bored with his easy life. Even learning from his accountant, Biscotton (Darry Cowl), that he's ruined doesn't perk him up. On a cruise to Hong Kong, his friend Mr. Goh (Valéry Inkijinoff) comes up with a solution to Arthur's woes: "Adversity carries the chance for happiness," he explains to the despondent young man. Goh convinces Arthur to take out a two-million-dollar life insurance policy, with Goh and Alice as the beneficiaries. The policy will expire in one month. Goh then tells Arthur that his life is in danger. He may be killed at any moment. Arthur soon realizes that he's being followed. He's not so eager to be murdered. Arthur and his valet, Leon (Jean Rochefort of The Hairdresser's Husband), frantically search for Goh to ask him to call off the hit. At one point, Arthur ducks into a nightclub to dodge his pursuers, and instantly falls for Alexandrine (Ursula Andress), the stripper on-stage. Alexandrine is fascinated by the ways men try to manipulate women and assumes that Arthur's story about hired killers is a bizarre ruse. All the more determined to survive the month, the bumbling Arthur engages in a fierce battle for his life. Up to His Ears is both a loose adaptation of a Jules Verne story (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) and a hyped-up return to the form of director Philippe de Broca's previous action comedy, That Man from Rio, which also starred Belmondo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

This comedy pokes fun at horror movies as it chronicles the exploits of two clumsy real estate salesmen who try to sell a piece of land that has a corpse upon its premises. Eventually they manage to solve the crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide