Jacques Famery Movies
Directed by TV-anthology veteran Jeannot Szwarc, Enigma has a certain small-screen "feel" to it. Adopting a musical-comedy foreign accent, Martin Sheen plays Alex Holbeck, an Iron Curtain defector who returns to East Germany at the behest of the CIA. His mission is to save five political "undesirables" from the communists. Holbeck runs up against some formidable opposition, namely ambitious KGB agent Dimitri Vasilkov (Sam Neill) and a quintet of highly trained Soviet assassins. Brigitte Fossey co-stars as Holbeck's former love, whom he involves in his escape plans by asking her to romance the susceptible Vasilkov. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Brigitte Fossey, (more)
- 1976
- PG
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In this Canadian thriller, Jodie Foster plays the title character, a reclusive, fiercely self-reliant teenager who lives alone in her father's house. When visitors call, Foster explains that her father is away on business. He's away, all right...far, far, away. And Foster, determined not to lose her independence, will go to any lengths to protect her secret, a fact that nosy neighbor Alexis Smith learns to her regret. A new danger to Foster's well-being looms in the form of pedophile Martin Sheen, who schemes to place the girl in a compromising position. Offering a helping hand to Foster is misfit teenager Mario (Scott Jacoby). Laird Koenig adapted his own novel to the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, (more)
- 1964
Inspector Cruchot takes his daughter to visit beautiful St. Tropez to celebrate his recent promotion to sergeant and ends up trying to arrest a beach full of nudists. Meanwhile, his daughter has her own problems when she, ashamed of her social status pretends to be an heiress and ends up getting involved with art thieves. This lively entry in the French "Gendarme" series follows what happens next. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Michel Galabru, (more)
- 1957
A film company on location happens to photograph a murder in progress. Ambitious police inspector Bernard (Michel Simon) hopes to advance his career by nabbing the culprit. Unfortunately for Bernard, the murderer closely resembles a set of identical twins! Once Simon finally figures out who's who, a gang of criminals, angered at all the publicity engendered by the case, fix it so that both the criminal and the inspector lose out in the end. A very minor piece, Les Trois Font la Paire (Three Make a Pair) is historically important as the last directorial effort of Sacha Guitry, who died 14 days after the film's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Sophie Desmarets, (more)
- 1951
Filmed in France during the Occupation years, My First Love attained an American release in 1951. This spiritual precursor to the "New Wave" efforts of Francois Truffaut et al stars Gerard Nery as 17-year-old Bob Darcourt. The boy receives a crash course in the Facts of Life when he walks in on a tete-a-tete between his widowed mother (Jacqueline Delubac) and her lover (Aime Clariond). At first outraged, Bob eventually wholeheartedly accepts his mother's plan to remarry. That's about all that happens, save for a few comic interludes provided by Bob's lighthearted Uncle Victor (Louvigny). My First Love was adapted from a play by Paul Vandenberghe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerard Nery, Jacqueline Delubac, (more)
- 1945
Fils de France can be described as an "instant movie," a dramatic feature-film constructed almost entirely of stock footage from earlier films. The title refers to the courageous members of a WWII tank crew. The protagonists participate in the French advance upon the Rhine in the waning days of the war. Most of the battle scenes -- and indeed, most of the non-battle scenes -- are culled from grainy newsreels and somewhat inexpertly integrated into the dramatized sequences. Fils de France paid its way in 1946, but seemed primitive and amateurish when reissued in later years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Famery
