Louis de Funès Movies
French actor Louis de Funès started out as a comic in Paris nightclubs and as a radio performer. He began appearing in French films in 1945 and between then and 1979 made over 100 films. Through the 1950s and '60s, he was the most popular comedian in France. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1958
Ni Vu, Ni Connu (Neither Seen Nor Recognized) is built around the talents of rubber-faced Gallic comedian Louis De Funes. Our hero is a poacher in a small provincial village, who always manages to stay one step ahead of the Law. Through a fluke, De Funes finds himself the town's Leading Citizen when he is falsely arrested on another charge, forcing the village elders to bend over backwards making amends. Director Yves Robert anticipates such 1960s helmsmen as Clive Donner and Richard Lester by periodically speeding up the action in the manner of a silent movie. Adding spice to the proceedings is curvaceous actress-dancer Noelle Adam, who went on to a desultory American career as a protégé of actor-producer Keefe Brasselle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Moustache, (more)
- 1958
French filmmaker Sacha Guitry had intended to direct as well as write 3DLa Vie a Deux3D (3DLife as a Couple3D), but death claimed him before he could bring his plan to fruition. Adapted from Guitry's original by Jean Martin and directed by Clement Duhor, the film offers an all-star cast in a series of seriocomic anecdotes. The narrative is tied together by a millionaire novelist (based on Guitry himself), who on his deathbed wants to bequeath his fortune to several married couples upon whom he'd based one of his books. The proviso is that the couples must have remained happily wed to claim their money. The millionaire's family anxiously hire private detectives to prove that the couples in question are not only unhappy, but shameless philanderers in the bargain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1957
The French Photo Finish doesn't get much play these days, but it used to be a Late Late Show perennial in the 1960s. Fernand Gravey and Jean Richard play a pair of con artists who've run out of suckers. They decide to try their luck at the track, where they hatch an intricate scheme involving the fixing of the race results. It's an almost perfect caper, but be prepared for a slyly ironic finale. Filmed in 1957, Photo Finish didn't make the American theatrical rounds until 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The French/Italian Four Bags Full stars Jean Gabin as an aging artist, ever on the prowl for excitement. The time is World War II, and the place is occupied France. Timorous cab driver Gabin finagles Bourvil into transporting four suitcases full of precious pork through Paris, under the noses of the Nazi officials. While the film is not technically a comedy, there are several nervously amusing moments as the mismatched Gabin and Bourvil wend their way across the City of Light. Adapted from a novel by Marcel Ayme, Four Bags Full was originally released as La Traversee de Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Jean Gabin, (more)
- 1956
Fernand Gravey and Jacques Duby star as a pair of slick race track touts in need of some quick cash. Targetting rural rube Jean Richard as a patsy, the two sharpsters con him into putting up his hard-earned cash on a few sure things. Within what seems like seconds, Richard becomes wealthy by using his instincts, while the "clever" Gravey and Duby come a-cropper by playing the odds. If it's possible for a French film to be Runyonesque, then Courte Tete is that film. Though the title's "official" translation is By a Nose, Courte Tete was released to American TV as Photo Finish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernand Gravey, Micheline Dax, (more)
- 1956
Producer/director Sacha Guitry's contribution to the 1956 film season was the free-flowing historical pageant Si Paris Nous Etait Conte (If Paris Were Told to Us). Guitry himself appears as the ghost of King Louis XI, who relates the story of Paris to a group of fascinated modern-day students. As usual, Guitry manages to "humanize" history by depicting the great men and women of France in amusing warts-and-all fashion. Symbolizing the indomitable spirit of Paris is Robert Lamoureaux as Latude, a prisoner of the Bastille who repeatedly tries to escape, and just as repeatedly is captured and thrown back in jail. A note of pathos is provided by Jacques de Feraudy as the dying Voltaire. Though Sacha Guitry suffered a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair throughout much of the filming of Si Paris Nous Etait Conte, he still had two more films left in him before his death in 1957--just 10 days after Bastille Day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Jean Marais, (more)
Showing no signs of slowing down in his 70th year, Sacha Guitry served as director and writer of the lavish historical epic Napoleon, and also costarred as Talleyrand. It is now hard to assess the quality of the film, since most American prints are severely edited, and the color photography appallingly washed out. Reviewers in 1955 admired the effort that went into this $1,800,000 production, but complained that the viewer left the film with no deeper understanding of Napoleon Bonaparte than the viewer had had when coming in. Daniel Gelin poses impressively as the young Bonaparte, registering emotion only when things go wrong in his conquest of Europe, while Raymond Pellegrin is somewhat better as the older, more jaded Napoleon (the transition between the two actors is handled in a near-comic fashion). The Revolution is reduced to a few fleeting scenes, while the rest of the film is devoted to political infighting and betrayal. The huge supporting cast includes Michele Morgan as Josephine and Lana Marconi and Dany Robin, respectively, as Napoleon's mistresses Waleska and Desiree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Pellegrin, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1955
Released in some markets as The Toy Wife, the French Frou-Frou stars Dany Robin in the title role. The heroine is a WW1-era cigarette girl who captures the hearts of four wealthy, middle-aged cabaret patrons. The jovial foursome take it upon themselves to pluck Frou-Frou out of her tawdry surroundings and transform her into "a lady". Through their sponsorship, she emerges as one of the top singing attractions of the Roaring Twenties--and, eventually, as the wife of one of her "fairy godfathers." A few early scenes, in which Frou-Frou is shown living without benefit of clergy with one of her benefactors, were trimmed for American consumption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dany Robin, Gino Cervi, (more)
- 1954
Though the screenplay for La Reine Margot (The Queen Margot) was written by legendary filmmaker Abel Gance, the directorial reins were handled by Jean Dreville. Adapted from a novel by Alexandre Dumas, the film centers around Margot (Jeanne Moreau), the headstrong sister of France's King Charles IX (Robert Porte). Consigned to a politically expedient marriage to Huguenot prince Henry de Navarre (Andre Versini), Margot nonetheless carries on a romance with the handsome Count De la Mole (Armando Francioli). This romantic intrigue is played out against Charles' slaughter of the Huguenots, and the contrast is rather jarring. Francoise Rosay steals the show as Margot's mother, Queen Catherine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Françoise Rosay, (more)
- 1954
The title of this Gallic "filmed essay" translates to Men Think Only of That. What plot there is concerns "timid soul" Jean Bellanger, who loves salesgirl Catherine Erard from afar but hasn't the nerve to tell her. Bellanger is visited by the ghost of Don Juan (Jean-Marie Amato), who demonstrates a variety of courtship and seduction techniques for our hero's edification. Structurally, the films resembles such later "how to" comedies as Bedazzled and Guide for the Married Man. Because of its episodic structure, Les Hommes ne Pensent Qu'a Ca was deemed a likely candidate for early television release by contemporary critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Arletty heads the cast of this first film version of Jean-Paul Sartre's existential theater piece No Exit. The scene is a tawdry hotel room in Limbo, where several damned souls are gathered. At first, the group fails to comprehend where they are or why they're there. When the horrible truth dawns upon them, they carp and snipe at one another, blaming everyone but themselves for their dismal fate. The Sartre original had only one setting and three characters. Pierre Laroche's screenplay unnecessarily "opens up" the play, adding four more characters and several sequences in the "real" world. A more successful (but no more faithful) version of No Exit was filmed in Argentina in 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arletty, Gaby Sylvia, (more)
- 1954
Isa Miranda essays the title role in Le Secret de Helene Marimon. In flashback, aging engineer Jacques (Frank Villard) recalls the great love of his life. After being wounded in WW I, Jacques makes the acquaintance of Helene (Miranda). He falls hard for her, never suspecting that she is actually the wife of his best friend. When he does find out, he elects not to tell her of his relationship with her husband. Only unhappiness can result from this deception, as the film's climactic scenes prove all too well. Director Henri Calef co-adapted the screenplay from a novel by J. B. Cherrier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
The French Les Impures was one of a cycle of filmed "exposes" of the white slavery trade. The heroine, played by Micheline Presle, is innocently inveigled into a life of sin by slimy Raymond Pellegrin. By and by, Pellegrin falls in love with poor, put-upon Presle. When things really get sticky, he lays down his life for the woman he's ruined, an act of largesses that was evidently meant to symbolize something or other. Throughout the film, the stars are infinitely superior to their material. Fortunately for Micheline Presle, she'd previously costarred in Sacha Guitry's Napoleon, so she was forgiven by her fans for her participation in Les Impures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Micheline Presle, Raymond Pellegrin, (more)
- 1954
Having escaped the clutches of a white-slavery ring in They Were So Young, Johanna Matz is back in the "mannequin" business in Ingrid--Die Geshchichte Eines Fotomodel (Ingrid--Story of a Model). A wartime refugee, Ingrid (Ms. Matz) secures a job as a seamstress, working her way up to fashion model. Soon success becomes more important than anything else, nearly costing Ingrid the love of her sweetheart Robert (Paul Humschmid, who acted in the US as Paul Christian). Though the "reunion" finale is conventional, the lovers' method of perpetuating their romance is most daring for a mid-1950s film. Ingrid was directed by Geza Radvanyi, who'd previously helmed the well-received "displaced person" drama It Happened in Europe (1947). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johanna Matz, Paul Hubschmid, (more)
