Claude Giroux Movies
- 1970
The tragic Sharon Tate plays a crucial role (her last-ever appearance before the cameras) in 12 Plus 1 (aka The Thirteen Chairs). If the plot sounds familiar, it is because it's based on a popular Russian novel, also filmed in 1945 as It's In the Bag and in 1971 as The Twelve Chairs. Vittorio Gassman inherits a fortune, only to find that the money is hidden in one of thirteen antique chairs. Trouble is, he's auctioned off the chairs to pay for his transportation costs to and from his late aunt's mansion. The bulk of the film concerns Gassman's fevered scrambled throughout Europe to track down the Twelve-Plus-One chairs. Orson Welles and Vittorio De Sica turn up in cameos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Sharon Tate, (more)
- 1969
A family living on a remote island learns an escaped prisoner may be in the area. Allan (Sterling Hayden) is the professor who studies the migratory habits of birds. His wife Clea (Maureen McNalley) has a fascination for all things dead. Her sister Lis (Susan Strasberg) is visiting to break the news of her impending marriage to an older man. Clea leaves tobacco and food out for the unseen escapee. Lis meets the prisoner (Stuart Whitman) on the beach and the two make love. The quiet paradise is interrupted by the escaped prisoner who later suffers a potentially fatal wound while killing another man. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Maureen McNally, (more)
- 1967
During WW II, courageous Norwegian children defied the Nazi invaders and risked certain death to smuggle gold out of their country. This children's adventure tells their true story which centers on 12-year-old Anstad who sees his countrymen hiding gold in a cave shortly after the Nazi invasion. Anstad and his friends decide to take the gold in backpacks to Oyen, a member of the underground. At one point they are discovered by a German soldier (James Franciscus in an early role) who decides to help them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Franciscus, Ilona Rodgers, (more)
- 1966
In this crime drama, a gang of thieves steal an armored van carrying a gold shipment in the Moroccan desert. Though the caper is successful, the gang members begin fighting over the loot and two of them are killed. Three members are left and more trouble ensues when two of them (they are lovers) steal the gold and leave the other. The abandoned one swears revenge and begins to chase the two doublecrossers. When the angry crook catches up with the pair, the woman ends up betraying her lover and fleeing with him. The newly abandoned one, who decided he loved the girl more than he did the money, stays behind to nurse his broken heart. Eventually the fleeing crooks are cornered by the police and killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Hamilton, Claudine Auger, (more)
