Paul Dupuis Movies

Sleeping Car to Trieste is a remake of one of the best railroad melodramas of the 1930s, Rome Express. The film's "maguffin" is a diary containing important political information. Stolen from a diplomat in Paris, the diary finds its way on board the Orient Express. Already, the two thieves have double-crossed each other, and among the passengers there are plenty of interested parties-heroes and villains alike-who hope to claim the diary for their own purposes. When one of these parties is murdered, police chief Jolif (Paul Dupuis) takes charge of the case, but there's still many a plot twist to come before the guilty are punished and the innocent rewarded. An inordinate amount of footage is devoted to the wisecrackery of Bonar Colleano, cast as yet another stereotyped American. The climax of Sleeping Car to Trieste is a classic, endlessly imitated by future-and lesser-Orient Express espionagers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The French Revolution provides the setting for the British musical. The story centers on the notorious rebel Robespierre who cuts a deal with the son of a duchess headed for the guillotine. Robespierre tells the son that if he can go to England and find a pearl necklace Marie Antoinette gave as a gift that his mother will be saved. The lad does so, finds the owner, a pretty young woman engaged to the Prince of Wales. They fall in love and the fellow decides not to take the pearls back. The would be princess then takes the pearls back to France herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The White Unicorn would be worth watching if only for that lyrical title. The film itself, however, isn't quite so whimsical, not with disgruntled widow Lucy (Margaret Lockwood) and hard-bitten unwed mother Lottie (Joan Greenwood) at the forefront. Trying to find a purpose in life, Lucy takes a job as warden at a home for wayward girls. She tries to bring comfort to Lottie, who faces a stiff prison sentence for attempting to murder her baby. As the two women compare their life stories, they realize that they're truly sisters under the skin. A "woman's picture" if ever there was one, White Unicorn also affords its male actors (Ian Hunter, Dennis Price, Guy Middleton et. al.) ample opportunity to reach new dramatic heights. Featured in the cast as Lucy's daughter Norey is Margaret Lockwood's real-life daughter Margaret Julia. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This British drama was originally titled Naughy Arlette. The title character, played by future director Mai Zetterling, is a French exchange student at a British art school. Teacher Hugh Williams is unable to resist Arlette's seductive charms, a fact that brings about his downfall. The girl's randiness also adversely affects Williams' daughter Petula Clark. Based on Serge Weber's novel Lycee des jeaunes filles, The Romantic Age lacks the stylishness demanded by its subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this melodrama, a London girl falls happily in love with a Frenchman and immediately goes blind. Convinced her affliction is a Divine punishment for her sins, she joins a convent. The good sisters know she does not belong there and gently convince her to leave. Shortly after returning to secular life, the Frenchman marries her and they move to France to live in his parents' manor. There, the poor bride begins feeling like an unwelcome guest and like someone wants her dead, but cannot prove it. She expresses her fears, but no one believes her and after a particularly terrible fight, she miscarries. Feeling unloved by her own husband, the poor woman returns to England. There she undergoes a potentially dangerous but successful operation to restore her sight. Still upset her husband's lack of belief, she returns to France to prove her allegations. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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, Rovi

French-Canadian actor/playwright Gratien Selinas' popular theatre piece Tit Coq was brought to the screen in 1953, with Selinas himself in the title role. The story concerns an arrogant young soldier of illegitimate birth, whose amoral behavior and chip-on-the-shoulder attitude proves a roadblock in his romance with lovely young Marie-Ange (Monique Miller). Through a misunderstanding, Marie-Ange weds another while Tit Coq is overseas, convincing the ill-tempered young man that life's a cesspool after all. A last-minute effort to steal Marie-Ange away from her husband is foiled when Tit Coq's long-dormant sense of morality is awakened. Filmed on a tiny budget, Tit Coq was a significant success in Canada. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi