Lana Marconi Movies

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, Rovi

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, Rovi

The second of Sacha Guitry's four 1950 offerings was Le Tresor de Cantenac. Once again, Guitry not only wrote and directed the film, but reserved himself a leading role, in this case Baron de Cantenac. Set in a rundown French village where everyone is related to everyone else (sometimes at the expense of chromosomes and brain matter!), the film is a series of vignettes illustrating the foibles of the human condition. The Baron de Cantenac, on the verge of suicide after losing his fortune, decides to take one last journey through the crumbling town. While ambling about, the baron is befriended by the town's oldest citizen, who reveals a royal treasure that he has been jealously guarding for years. The money enables the town to get back on its feet, and also has some very surprising effects on the citizenry. Amazingly, this fully realized paean to the recuperative powers of wealth was made on a skin-tight budget, even by French standards. Le Tresor de Cantenac was produced by Boris Morros, the former Hollywood musical director who'd previously produced Laurel & Hardy's Flying Deuces and Fred Astaire's Second Chorus, and who soon would figure in a real-life espionage adventure. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As always, French filmmaker Sacha Guitry wore several hats during the making of Toa. Guitry directed the film, wrote the script (from his own stage play), and cast himself in the leading role of playwright Michel Desnoyers. When his jealous mistress leaves him, Desnoyers finds an emotional outlet for his disappointment by writing a play about the situation. On opening night, Desnoyer's ex-lover sits in the audience and disrupts the proceedings. She then pulls a "life imitates art" by repeating the behavior of the play's fictional heroine. All turns out well when it is realized that the whole megillah was based on a silly misunderstanding. As for the title Toa, well, that too is explained towards the end. The film was the third 1949 release for the indefatigable Monsieur Guitry. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Private Life of an Actor was the English-language title bestowed upon Sacha Guitry's first postwar feature, Le Comédien. The film recounts the life and loves of Guitry's actor/father Lucien, with Guitry playing both himself and his dad. Most of the story takes place either on-stage or in the dressing room, satirically emphasizing the wide schism between an actor's public and private life. Adding to the Pirandellian ambience of the project is Guitry's wife, Catherine (Lana Marconi), cast as one of Lucien's various mistresses. To fully appreciate the wit and wisdom of Private Life of an Actor, one must be conversant in French. The English-language subtitles don't even try to match the excellence of Guitry's original screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi