Philippe Forquet Movies
This lavishly costumed historical epic had an estimated $100 million price tag. Spectacularly photographed battle action contrasts with often plodding individual scenes that bog down the plot. Fearing his growing power, European monarchs force Napoleon Bonaparte (Rod Steiger) to abdicate as Emperor and retire to Elba, and the French are concerned they will be outnumbered by a force of combined armies from many countries in Europe. Napoleon no sooner says goodbye to his loyalist troops than he begins to rally his men and prepare for another takeover. King Louis XVIII (Orson Welles) sends Marshal Michel Ney (Dan O'Herlihy) and his men to counter Bonaparte, but upon seeing his old commander (and ally), Ney thrusts his sword to the ground and takes up arms with the deposed emperor. They all return to Paris by popular demand, defying the orders of Louis (who flees from the palace) and running the monarchy tout seul. Soon England, Austria, Prussia and Russia unite to try and stop the dictator. Wellington (Christopher Plummer) readies his troops near Waterloo, refuses to retreat anymore, and waits for Prussian Marshall Blucher (Sergei Zakhariadze) and his army to join up with the British as the only hope to stop the French juggernaut. Jack Hawkins and Michael Wilding portray key military commanders Picton and Ponosby, respectively. Napoleon and his troops cut into the Prussian and British forces dramatically, weakening their power, but three problems arise. First, Ney refuses to lead his segment of the troops onward; and second, Bonaparte's men are plagued by the wet weather, which causes
the cannon brigade to become immobilized in mud (when Wellington strategically gives Bonaparte's troops the lower ground) rendering it ineffective until late in the day. And even more calamitously, Bonaparte - growing increasingly ill -- insists on leading his men from the rear, which causes the information to become outdated as soon as it gets to him. The Russian version of this film was nearly four hours long, while western audiences saw an edited version slightly over two hours long. Unfortunately, Waterloo bombed at the box office. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, (more)
This story from Alexander Dumas is updated to modern times and tinged with graphic nudity and eroticism. Marguerite (Daniele Gaubert) is the tart who sleeps her way up the social ladder to help Armand Duval (Nino Castelnuevo), a commoner who happens to be her boyfriend. The original story has Camille dying from tuberculosis, but in this version she suffers from an unknown ailment. She takes a variety of drugs and becomes a walking zombie (when she can stand up) in this expertly photographed sexploitation feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniele Gaubert, Nino Castelnuovo, (more)
Louis Jourdan, Kurt Krueger, Phillippe Fourquet and Stuart Nesbet star in To Die in Paris. Jourdan carries most of the film as a World War 2 resistance leader. His value to his comrades is compromised when he is targetted by an unknown assassin. All evidence indicates that the would-be killer is another member of the resistance, who may or may not be a traitor As indicated by the title, To Die in Paris was largely filmed in France. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This drama is set in Cambodia and centers upon an orphaned French girl who was raised by a native family after they found her wandering alone in the forest. The young woman is preparing to marry her foster brother, but then the government informs her that her real brother has been searching for her for many years. She then learns that she was orphaned in 1943 during a Japanese attack on her family's plantation. At first her brother only wants to have her love him as a brother, but then a darker passion flares and the girl becomes frightened. Fortunately, her fiance comes to her aid. They flee to the woods with the enraged brother driving behind them. He drives too fast and his car skids off the road and explodes in a great fireball. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this generation gap movie of the early 1960s, Sandra Dee is Mollie Michaelson, a teenage rebel enamored with long-haired hippies and radical anti-nuclear political causes. Her involvement in such activities sends her ultra-conservative father Frank (James Stewart) into a tizzy. His reassuring wife is played by Audrey Meadows. Frank's furor deepens when Mollie is sent to Paris on an art scholarship. Back at home, Frank picks up a popular magazine and finds that his daughter has posed on the cover for a radical artist, Henri Bonnet (Philippe Forquet). He pursues her to save her from further degradation, but he ends up in a café in the wrong part of Paris just as it is raided by police. They arrest him on trumped-up and erroneous charges, and he struggles to prove that he's not guilty. This film was based on a play by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Sandra Dee, (more)
Author Irwin Shaw wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of two of his short stories set in Paris. Christina James (Jean Seberg) is a footloose American girl living in the City of Lights. She becomes involved with Guy (Philippe Forquet), who tells her that he's a student at the University studying engineering, but when they plan a rendezvous at a cheap hotel, he confesses to her that he's really only 16 years old. Christina breaks it off with him and goes through a series of brief and unsatisfying affairs with a variety of men until she meets Walter Beddoes (Stanley Baker), a journalist with an unfortunate appetite for alcohol. Despite the fact his work often forces him to travel abroad on a moment's notice, Christina is deeply in love with Walter, and when her father (Addison James) tries to persuade her to come back to the United States, she refuses, preferring to stay with Walter. In time, Christina realizes that Walter is away from her more often than he's with her, and when she meets John Haislip (James Leo Herlihy), an American doctor vacationing in France, she has to decide if her passion for Walter is more important than her feelings for John, who wants her to come to his home in San Francisco, where he'll always be there for her. In the French Style offered an appropriate role for actress Jean Seberg, who was born in Iowa but found most of her best film roles after she moved to France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Seberg, Stanley Baker, (more)











