René Dary Movies
This unusual comic tragedy is filmed both in color and black-and-white and concerns the residents of the mythical island of Goto. Goto III (Pierre Brasseur) is the pompous dictator who allows children to witness public execution and has criminals fight it out in a theater to resolve their differences. Everyone is assigned a menial position, leading to full employment but aimless pursuits and no chance of social advancement. A man scheduled to fight on stage runs to the dictator's wife and begs for mercy. The man is given a job in the stable but ends up killing the local flycatcher. He tells the dictator that his wife is having an affair with a lieutenant. The informer is given a gun and ordered to kill the lieutenant, but he shoots the dictator instead and assumes power. After the new dictator professes his love for the unfaithful woman, she jumps onto the stage rather than subject herself to his amorous advances in this bizarre story of social isolation and compliance. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Ligia Branice, (more)
- 1967
Doucet (Jacques Brel) is a dedicated and happily married schoolteacher in a small town. One day he is accused of making sexual advances toward a fourteen-year old girl. One of his young students has come home with a ripped dress and a story about the tutor's misconduct. The police and the mayor are called in to investigate the allegations, and another girl accuses him of seduction. Yet another girl comes forward to indicate the teacher also made advances towards her. A series of flashbacks tell why each of the girls has made these serious charges against the concerned scholar. He maintains his innocence while the investigation threatens to destroy his marriage, career and life. Director Andre Cayatte is a former attorney who draws upon his legal experiences to reveal social injustice. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Brel, Emmanuelle Riva, (more)
- 1967
Antonin (Jacques Perrin) is a young French soldier who returns home from World War I to recover from his wounds. When he falls in love with a young widow (Macha Meril), Antonin questions his role in battle and contemplates desertion as he recalls the horrors of war. He is pressured by his patriotic father (Rene Dary) to honor his military commitment even if it means he will die. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Perrin, Macha Meril, (more)
In this espionage drama a French model is shooting a layout in Rome when she finds herself entangled with spies who have hidden microfilm in her lipstick case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivan Desny, Elke Sommer, (more)
- 1960
Perhaps intending to make a point that criminals have their own code of justice, this undistinguished prison drama by director Jean-Paul Sassy revolves around the experiences of a new inmate. As is usually the case, there is a shakedown to see where he fits in the hierarchy, and the current top honcho singles him out for harassment. The rough treatment continues in spite of the fact that the persecuted man stands his ground, no matter what. Whether due to his attitude or the discovery that he is innocent, or both, his tormentors begin to rethink their tactics. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Blain, René Dary, (more)
This strangely-christened French film noir was released in the U.S. as Grisbi. Jean Gabin stars as a racketeer known by the Runyonesque nickname of Max the Liar. Seeking out the finer things in life, Max intends to pull one last job and retire. After stealing a fortune in gold, our "hero" is faced with a crisis of conscience when his best friend (René Dary) is kidnapped and held for a huge ransom. Somehow Max manages to turn the tables on the abductors, but his dreams of a life of ease explode in his face. Up-and-coming leading lady Jeanne Moreau plays a pivotal role as the femme fatale who leads Dary into the hands of his kidnappers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, René Dary, (more)
- 1951
Paul Dupuis is featured in Son Copain as a Royal Canadian Mountie who, as the saying goes, always gets his man. This time, however, Dupuis is after a woman: accused murderess Helen (played by British film-favorite Patricia Roc). Sheltering Helen is Pierre (Rene Dary), who happens to be an old friend of the Mountie. The film is essentially a continent-wide chase, with pauses for romance and pontification. Son Copain was a co-production of feisty young Quebec Films and old, established Eclectique Films of Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- René Dary, Patricia Roc, (more)
- 1945
Amidst a sea of French wartime melodramas, the nonsensical plot convolutions of 120 Rue de la Gare came as a relief. The film exists solely as a vehicle for the comic talents of Rene Dary, here cast as a private detective. Dary finds himself up to his neck in danger when he endeavors to solve a baffling mystery. 120 Rue de la Gare was taken (presumably as far as possible) from a novel by Leo Malet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Desmarets, Gaby Andreu, (more)
- 1944
No relation to the same-named 1934 Maurice Chevalier musical nor the 1954 Toulouse Lautrec biopic, the French Moulin Rouge began life as a showcase for the dazzling talents of African American entertainer Josephine Baker. Alas, Baker's provocative dance routines-not to mention the hints of miscegenation in the storyline-resulted in a complete story overhaul when Moulin Rouge was released stateside in 1944, nine years after its original French release under the title Princess Tam Tam. Originally, the story concerned the efforts by a famous author (Albert Prejean) to pass off an African peasant girl (Baker) as an Indian princess. The heavily censored and extensively reshot version concentrates on the misadventures of an aspiring nightclub singer (Rene Dary), who lands a job as a caretaker for the proprietor of the famed Moulin Rouge nightclub. Thus it is that Josephine Baker's starring role has been whittled down to a few specialty numbers, while Albert Prejean has been eliminated from the story entirely! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucien Baroux, René Dary, (more)
