Gaston Rey Movies
- 1963
- NR
In this WWII comedy, a French POW escapes and hides at an inn. After the war, he stays at the inn to help the innkeeper, whom he has become involved with, rather than return to his wife. When the innkeeper's husband shows up ten years later, the POW goes back to his wife, whom he finds married to the chef at the cafe he ran. His wife refuses to sleep with the chef until a divorce is granted. The chef returns home to Normandy, thinking that he is out of luck, but the POW follows him and tells him that if he takes responsibility for his wife and the cafe, he will grant the divorce. The POW's loneliness is relieved when the innkeeper tells him that her husband has gone to Siberia and they are free to get married. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this melodrama, a widow falls in love with a much younger man who is only interested in her money. When her fortune is gone, her lover gets ready to leave. But then he meets the widow's 19-year-old daughter as she returns from a sanitarium. He is determined to seduce the young woman, but she is not interested. Later the young cad teams up with smugglers to earn some fast cash. Once again he endeavors to force himself on the hapless girl. This time the mother walks in. But strangely, she accuses the girl of wrongdoing, not the lover. The girl leaves, but the cad professes his love and proposes. Meanwhile, the smugglers find the police are hot on their trail and decide to frame the young man. He gets wind of this and goes to the cops first resulting in the gang's kidnapping of the girl. He tries to rescue her, but is killed in the ensuing scuffle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The raincoated gent of the title is horse-faced French comedian Fernandel, who plays luckless jazz musician Albert Constantin. Thanks to the chicanery of a slick gangster boss, Albert finds himself up to his ears in murder and treachery. The farcical elements of the film are juxtaposed with moments of startling violence, but in the end laughter wins out. American actor John McGiver, in France to film his supporting role in Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon, is herein cast as a pivotal character. The Man in the Raincoat (L'Homme à l'Impermeable) was not officially remade as The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972), though the similarities between the two films are quite pronounced. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Jean Rigaux, (more)
- 1956
In this frothy romantic comedy, the lovely Brigitte Bardot plays Chouchou, a successful model. Chouchou is single but hoping to change that soon; she's become infatuated with Michel (Louis Jordan), the editor of a fashion magazine, but Michel, apparently unaware of an opportunity when it presents itself, seems unaware of her interest in him. The harder Chouchou tries to make herself noticed, the less Michel seems to understand, until she takes drastic measures by making him chase her though the woods while she wears sheer lingerie which leaves little to the imagination. La Mariée est trop belle was one of a number of light comedies starring Brigitte Bardot which arrived in American theaters after the international success of ... And God Created Woman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Bardot, Micheline Presle, (more)
- 1955
Perhaps because its American distribution was brief, Le Printemps, L'Autumne et L'Amour is one of the lesser-known Fernandel vehicles. The lantern-jawed comedian plays a confirmed middle-aged bachelor, whose life is radically altered when he rescues 18-year-old Nicole Berger from drowning. Out of gratitude, the girl marries Fernandel, but predictably the union is far from satisfactory. Complications arise when Berger falls in love with Phillipe Nicaud, a boy closer to her own age. If one must have a May-December drama, better one with Fernandel than those overheated Hugo Haas-Cleo Moore extravaganzas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Nicole Berger, (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)
