Yves Deniaud Movies
- 1961
In this thriller, a greedy young woman becomes a police informer. Her father is in prison for participating in a jewel theft. The girl is looking for the jewels he hid. Unfortunately, she must compete with other real criminals. In the end she is arrested for killing her own lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
La Moucharde stars Dany Carrel as a young miss who loves neither wisely nor well. Duped into a life of crime, Carrel remains on the wrong side of the Law because she's hopelessly in love with a two-bit crook. Soon she becomes as jaded and hardened as her criminal cohorts. When the police threaten to throw her in the Bastille, Carrel agrees to turn informer, with the expected disastrous results. A few nude scenes enabled La Moucharde to receive bookings on the U.S. "art-house" circuit. For those not interested in nudity, the film ends with a thrill-packed chase. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dany Carrel, Pierre Vaneck, (more)
- 1957
Quand la Femme S'en Mele (When the Woman Butts In) stars French film favorite Edwige Feuillere as a high-class gangster's moll named Maine. When Maine's first husband and daughter pay a visit, it's an awkward time for our heroine and her current amour, gang boss Godot (Jean Servais). In addition to fielding a lot of embarrassing questions, Godot also has to deal with a pesky turf war with a rival mobster. Not that the ex-husband is a paragon of virtue: he's busy trying to get even with a crooked business associate. Billed fourth in the cast of Quand la Femme s'en Mele is Alain Delon, who, according to contemporary viewers, "shows promise". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1957
The title of this French seriocomedy translates to This Pretty World. Yves Denaud plays a gangster boss who decides to infiltrate High Society, the better to become reacquainted with the son he hasn't seen for 25 years. Much to Denaud's chagrin, Sonny Boy (played by comic actor Darry Cowl) is as prudish and moralistic as his dad is not. This personality conflict pays off in some big laughs, though not all the humor is in the best of taste. The ever-increasing popularity of Darry Cowl enabled Ce Joil Monde to attain excellent bookings throughout France. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Deniaud, Darry Cowl, (more)
- 1954
Crainquebille is the third film version of Anatole France's satiric novel. The title character, played by Yves Deniaud, is an elderly pushcart peddler much beloved by one and all. Well, almost all: the gendarme on the beat inexplicably despises Crainquebille, and the first chance he gets, he throws the old man in jail. By rights, the peddler should be back on the street in 24 hours, but thanks to a judicial bottleneck he spends two weeks behind bars. Upon his release, Crainquebille finds he is a "marked man," shunned by those who once pledged undying devotion. On the verge of ending it all, Crainquebille finds a ray of hope in the form of a hero-worshipping little boy (Christian Fourquade, who'd previously co-starred with Bing Crosby in 1953's Little Boy Lost). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Deniaud, Christian Fourcade, (more)
- 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
Sacha Guitry's Si Versailles M'Etait Conte (If Versailles Were Told to Me) is best known by its American title Royal Affairs in Versailles. In addtion to writing and directed the film, Guitry reserves for himself the plum role of Louis XIV. Concentrating on the palace of Versailles over a period of 300 years, the storyline concentrates on the various amorous and political intrigues of three French kings. The plot manages to wend its way through the French revolution, coming to a halt in "the present". The star-studded supporting cast includes Jean Marais as Louis XV, Claudette Colbert as Mme. Montespan, Micheline Presle as Mme. Pompadour, and, best of all, Orson Welles as a gouty Ben Franklin. Most currently available prints of Si Versailles M'Etait Conte are severely edited, and fail to do justice to the rich Eastmancolor hues of the original version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Michel Auclair, (more)
- 1952
A Simple Case of Money (originally released in 1950 as Millionaires d'un Jour) is set in motion when a greenhorn reporter (Bernard Lajarrige) carelessly prints the wrong winning number in the French national lottery. As the reporter and his boss (Leon Bellieres) defend themselves in court, they are confronted with several people whose lives were profoundly affected by the error. Gradually, these "victims" come to realize that they are far better off as losers than they ever would have been as winners. This is especially true of estranged husband and wife Pierre (Jean Brochard) and Helene Berger (Gaby Morlay), whose tattered marriage is patched together by the experience. Simple Case of Money is most effective as a character study, and least effective as a satire of provincial manners and mores. Coming off best in the large cast is Pierre Laquey as a lovably antisocial centenarian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Ginette Leclerc, (more)
- 1952
Smuggler's Ball is the English-language title for this French-Belgian seriocomedy. The action takes place along the borders separating Belgium, Holland and France. It is here that the worldly Pierre (J. P. Kieran) carries on a profitable smuggling operation, all the while romancing Siska (Christian Lenier), the daughter of a local customs official. Various subplots and secondary characters weave in and out as the plotline guides the viewer through the WW II years. Towards the end, the story shifts gears when the Benelux Frontier Agreement eliminates all government regulations. The film's screenplay is by Charles Spaak, himself the descendant of a Belgian political family, and thus well-versed in bureaucracy and red tape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Yves Deniaud, (more)
- 1951
Jules Romain's satirical theatre piece Dr. Knock was brought to the screen by director Guy Lefranc in 1950. Louis Jouvet plays the title character, a medical charlatan who banks upon the hypochondria of others. He convinces every resident in a small French village that they're suffering from some malady or other, and soon he's doing a land-office business. Dramatic irony is achieved when Dr. Knock ultimately becomes a victim of his own success. Though Dr. Knock would probably work better on stage than on film, the end result is for the most part quite satisfying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Pierre Renoir, (more)
- 1951
Set in fin de siecle Paris, La Maison Bonnadieu stars Bernard Blier as a middle-aged bourgeois husband named Felix. Much to his discomfort, Felix learns that his wife Gabrielle (Danielle Darrieux) is carrying on with a young man--a very young man. Rather than express outrage, Felix decides that there's something lacking in him. He spends the rest of the picture trying to keep his wife by altering his own personality and outlook. La Maison Bonnadieu managed to secure good American bookings on the strength of Danielle Darrieux's star appeal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1950
Monseigneur offers a few intriguing speculations as to what really happened to the little Dauphin, aka King Louis XVII, after the French revolution. Fernand Ledoux stars as an absentminded Parisian professor who befriends Louis, a mild-mannered locksmith (Bernard Blier). Engaging Louis in conversation, the professor becomes convinced that the locksmith is in fact the long-lost Dauphin. The excited professor manages to get several aristocrats interested in Louis' story, and soon the meek artisan finds himself mingling with the upper levels of French society. Monseigneur does what it does so well that the audience truly wants to believe that Bernard Blier is, indeed, the rightful heir to the throne of France. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadia Gray, Marion Toures, (more)
