Jean Angelo Movies
French actor Jean Angelo began formally studying acting under the tutelage of stage legend Sarah Bernhardt, whose stage company he joined at the age of 15. He made his film debut in 1908 in L'Assassinat de Duc de Guise. During WW I, he left acting to fight. Later he returned with combat injuries, but still went on to become a popular leading man in French silent films; Renoir and Feyder are among the noted directors that Angelo has worked with. His career continued until 1933 when he died while working on the film Colomba. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
Celebrated Russian actor Ivan Mosjoukine plays the title role in the French Foreign Legion meller Le Sergent X. Reported killed in battle, Russian officer Moujoskine returns home, only to find that his wife is remarried. Hoping to cut himself off from the rest of the world, our hero signs up with the Foreign Legion, where he is known only as Sergeant X. In this guise, he ends up rescuing his former wife and her new husband from insurgent Arabs. Filmed on location in North Africa, Le Sergent X was remade in 1960, with most of the original plot intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzy Vernon, Bill Bocket, (more)
- 1932
Also known as Die Herrin von Atlantis, this expansive G. W. Pabst production is a remake of the 1921 Jacques Feyder film of the same name. Like the earlier film, the remake was largely shot in the Sahara Desert and cost a fortune to put together. Based on the best-selling novel by Pierre Benoit, the original story of adventure, sacrifice, fantasy and mysticism is largely dispensed with as Pabst focuses on the pivotal character of Anitnea, played by the always fascinating Brigitte Helm. Still, plenty of time is afforded the narrative of a group of French soldiers literally stumbling upon the underground city of Atlantis, their efforts to escape, and the ultimate destruction of the lost metropolis. Though Feyder's film is still the superior of the two versions, there is still much to recommend Pabst's L'Atlantide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Helm, Pierre Blanchar, (more)
- 1931
La Derniere Berceuse is the French-language version of the Italian drama Song of Love. Based on Silence, a novel by Luigi Pirandello, this is the story of a woman who saves her mother from disgrace by raising her deceased mother's illegitimate baby as her own. So devoted is the heroine to her responsibility that she tells her fiance she no longer has time for him. Ultimately, both the fiance and the child's father re-enter her life, offering to marry her, but she turns them both down. A German-language version, Liebesleid, was filmed simultaneously with the French and Italian adaptations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolly Davis, Jean Angelo, (more)
- 1931
Director Henri Roussel adapted the screenplay of Atout Coeur (Hearts are Trumps) from a play by Felix Gandera. The troubles begin for heroine Arlette (Alice Cocea) when she is forced into a marriage with a self-styled nobleman. In truth, Arlette's new husband is a common burglar who has stolen the real nobleman's identification papers. Thanks to the intervention of a resourceful cousin, Arlette meets and falls in love with the actual nobleman, to whom, under the eyes of the law, she has been married all along. The intricacies of the storyline are presented in an attractive, intelligent fashion by Roussel and his talented cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Cocea, Jean Angelo, (more)
- 1930
Somehow, the original French title of this romantic melodrama is so much more poetic than its English title, Illegitimate Child. The plot spans the years 1910 to 1927, as seen through the eyes of a celebrated stage actress. In the early portions of the story, the heroine is the secret mistress of a rising politician, bearing him a son. Realizing that she will ruin her lover's career if she reveals that she is the mother of the baby, she agrees to tell no one. Seventeen years later, the son has grown up to become a star newspaper reporter, dedicating himself to destroying the politician's career -- never dreaming that he is targeting his own father. Though her lover has long since deserted her, the actress comes forth to persuade her son to cease his vitriolic newspaper campaign. The fact that she is still faithful to him despite his callous behavior forces the politician to rethink his priorities, whereupon he finally proposes marriage to her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Glory, Jaque Catelain, (more)
- 1926
Jean Renoir's second film was this lavishly appointed adaptation of Emile Zola's novel Nana. Renoir does an admirable job retelling Zola's woeful tale of a covetous Parisian slum girl in purely visual terms. Hoping to escape her tawdry surroundings, Nana has an affair with high-ranking government official George Muffat. Instead of elevating herself to Muffat's level, however, Nana drags the poor man down to hers -- and in the end, both lives have been utterly destroyed. Catherine Hessling gives a stylized but effective performance in the title role. Taken to task for the over-elaborate set designs (by Claude Autant-Lara), which resulted in France's most expensive film to date, Jean Renoir merely explained that he was endeavoring to contrast the splendiferous lifestyle of Muffat and his friends to the shabby origins of the heroine. On an artistic level he succeeded, but Nana ended up costing way too much to ever post a profit, and it would be several years before Renoir would be entrusted with a big-budgeted film again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Hessling, Werner Krauss, (more)
