Hervé Bromberger Movies
French director Hervé Bromberger made films during the '50s and '60s. With the exception of Les Fruits Sauvages (1954), most of his films were rather routine. Prior to becoming a director, Bromberger worked as a journalist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Claude Chabrol's Violette was based on the true story of 19-year-old Violette Noziere, who in the 1930s was tried and convicted for the poisoning of her father and the attempted murder of her mother. As played by Isabelle Huppert (who won several awards for her performance), Violette is a thrill-seeking girl who falls for a no-good slug from the slums of Paris. Anxious to give money to her lover, Violette hatches the patricide scheme in order to inherit her father's fortune. But Violette's mother, played as an deglamorized drudge by the otherwise stunning Stephane Audran, is not so easily disposed of; it is her testimony that condemns Violette, first to the guillotine, then to a commuted life sentence. In emulation of his idol Alfred Hitchcock, director Chabrol manages to evoke a measure of sympathy and audience identification for his thoroughly dislikable leading character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Jean Carmet, (more)
- 1964
Laure (Pascale Audrei) enters a convent to escape the real world and surround herself in pity in this distaff drama that plays like a soap opera. As a young girl she is accused of lesbian leanings towards another girl when her brother turns her letter over to her father. A priest tries to help Laure when she attends a religious school, and a man with an invalid wife falls for Laure before she loses her virginity to a doctor. She chooses to take refuge in a convent to isolate herself from any further bad experiences. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascale Audret, Laurent Terzieff, (more)
- 1962
The four "truths" are in this instance, four different romantic or dramatic vignettes in a slightly uneven compilation film. All four segments are loosely related to fables by the 17th-century French poet Jean de la Fontaine. In the first fable "Death and the Woodcutter" directed by Luis Berlanga, a well-adjusted, normal organ grinder runs up against the obstacles of torpidity and bureaucracy combined, driving him to the brink of despair. In the second story "The Crow and the Fox" directed by Hervé Bromberger, an insecure husband keeps his beautiful wife locked up, though an amorous neighbor is determined to outsmart him and get to her. In the third fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" directed by Allesandro Blasetti, a wife is unwilling to share her husband with a mistress. In the last fable "Two Pigeons" by René Clair, a fashion model (Leslie Caron) and a lowly worker (Charles Aznavour) are thrown together by unexpected circumstances. The American release of this film cut the first segment, reducing the fable parodies to three. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Aznavour, Leslie Caron, (more)
- 1959
This is a fast-paced, effective drama about some "wolves" or gangsters who take over a reformatory for juvenile delinquents with consequences that are deadly, and much more reformative than any programs on the books. The professional thugs are on the run from a police dragnet when they hole up in the home for wayward adolescents, run by an understanding couple. A range of teen offenders are serving time in this institution without bars, but none are as brutal, cowardly, and miserable as the killers who now control the place. As the action picks up, leading the drama to its inevitable conclusion, the gangsters turn out to be the perfect anecdote to criminal tendencies in the young inmates. Notable among the juveniles is 17-year-old Francois Deloreac, killed in an auto accident in 1967. She was the stunningly beautiful sister of Catherine Deneuve. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascale Roberts, Françoise Dorléac, (more)
- 1958
The celebrated fables of 17th century poet/fantasist Jean de la Fontaine were brought to life on this weekly, 15-minute Canadian children's series. Since virtually all of La Fontaine's stories were adapted from Aesop, it was logical that the series featured an all-animal cast. But instead of utilizing cartoons or puppets, this program used actual animals, borrowed from Lorna Jackson's farm in Mount Albert Ontario; she enacted the fables on tiny scale-model sets. It was up to the series' supremely patient cinematographer Fritz Spiess to elicit the proper expressions and reactions from his non-human actors, and to gently coerce the "cast" into cooperating for the camera (a well-publicized incident occurred when, during filming of the "Tortoise and the Hare" sequence, the hare chosen as the lead character could not be persuaded to leave the tiny set and race with the equally blasé tortoise). Fables of La Fontaine was aired by CBC on Thursdays from January 2 to July 3, 1958. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this routine melodrama by director Herve Bromberger, Francoise Arnoul stars as a somewhat confused young woman from an impoverished family who marries well out of her economic class. Life on the leisurely side eventually becomes boring, and so she decides to cruise back to her old neighborhood one night and check up on the action there. She discovers that her former boyfriend is living a shady existence and then circumstances, including a blackmail plot, place her precariously on the fence as she is forced to decide whether to return to her old life or continue with her marriage. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Arnoul, Massimo Girotti, (more)
- 1953
The innocence of childhood is juxtaposed with terror in Les Fruits Sauvages (The Wild Fruit). Estella Blain plays Maria, the oldest of three children of a drunken, sadistic father. Unable to endure any more abuse, Maria kills her father, then flees for the Italian border with her siblings in tow. En route, they are given food and shelter by enigmatic gypsy-girl Lolita (Talina Sauzer). She also experiences a brace of desultory love affairs. Eventually the authorities intervene, bringing events to logical if not entirely pleasant conclusion. Though Les Fruits Sauvages is uneven dramatically, the film succeeds by virtue of the unaffected performances of its youthful cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estella Blain
- 1950
Identite Judiciare stars Raymond Souplex as wily French police inspector Basquier. The villain is Berthet (Jean Debucourt), a high-ranking government official. Basquier suspects that Berthet is a vicious murderer, but is unable to prove anything thanks to bureaucratic interference. Thus, the good inspector plays a waiting game a la Columbo, hoping for that one fatal slip on the part of the killer. Certain portions of Identite Judiciare proved a bit too intense for American audiences, and were accordingly snipped by the censors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Souplex, Jean Debucourt, (more)
- 1949
The heroine of La Bonne Tisane (Good Medicine) is a young nurse (Estella Blain) on her first tour of duty. No sooner has she begun making her rounds than she is accosted by a wounded gangster (Bernard Blier), who'd been caught in the crossfire of a territorial takeover. The gangster tries to use the girl as a hostage in an escape bid, but he softens his adversarial attitude towards her as the night wears on. Offering contrast to the sensitive dedicated nurse is the gangster's blowsy, hardbitten gun moll (Madeline Robinson). Standing on the sidelines throughout most of the proceedings is Raymond Pellegrin as the nurse's would-be boyfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Pellegrin, Madeleine Robinson, (more)
