Daniel Gélin Movies
Known for his sensitivity and keen intelligence, French actor Daniel Gelin has played starring and supporting roles in French cinema since the late '30s following studies at the Paris Conservatoire. He had his first major role the 1941 film Premiere Rendez-Vous, and after a lengthy break during WWII, went on to become a popular star in such light fare as Max Ophuls' Le Ronde (1950) and Le Plaisir (1955). In 1956, Gelin memorably played a villainous Arab spy in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, but was wearing so much makeup as to be unrecognizable. During the late '70s, Gelin disappeared from films until the early '80s. Since then, he has continued to make sporadic appearances in La Vie Est Une Longue Fleuve Tranquille (1988) and Hommes, Femmes: Mode d'Emploi (Men, Women: A User's Manual) (1996). His daughter, Maria Schneider, is an actress and is son, Xavier Gelin, is a producer. When not acting, Daniel Gelin writes poetry and has published a few volumes of his work. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The debate still rages as to whether Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much is superior to his own original 1934 version. This two-hour remake (45 minutes longer than the first film) features more stars, a lusher budget, and the plaintive music of Bernard Herrmann (who appears on-camera, typecast as a symphony conductor). Though the locale of the opening scenes shifts from Switzerland to French Morocco in the newer version, the basic plot remains the same. American tourists James Stewart and Doris Day are witness to the street killing of a Frenchman (Daniel Gelin) they've recently befriended. Before breathing his last, the murder victim whispers a secret to Stewart (the Cinemascope lens turns this standard closeup into a truly grotesque vignette). Stewart knows that a political assassination will occur during a concert at London's Albert Hall, but is unable to tell the police: his son (a daughter in the original) has been kidnapped by foreign agents to insure Stewart's silence. The original script for Man Who Knew too Much was expanded and updated by John Michael Hayes and Angus McPhail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Doris Day, (more)
- 1956
Mort en Fraude (aka Fraudulent Death and Fugitive in Saigon) was co-adapted by Jean Hougron from his own novel. The inward-looking plotline deals with France's Indochina debacle of 1950. Agreeing to smuggle a package into Saigon, apolitical Frenchman Horcier (Daniel Gelin) is waylaid and robbed by smugglers. Only when he is left broke and vulnerable in the middle of this Southeast Asian French colony does Horcier realize to what extent the Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians have been victimized by the West. Forgetting his own problems, he casts his lots with the insurrectionists. Mort en Fraude was the directorial debut of Marcel Camus, who was elevated to international fame with his next venture, Black Orpheus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin
Because of star Brigitte Bardot's single fleeting disrobing scene in the French farce Please, Mr. Balzac!, the film was retitled Mademoiselle Striptease by one enterprising American distributor. Essentially, this is a harmless little escapade in which Bardot, escaping the strictures of her puritanical father, jumps off a train bound for a proper girls' school to seek her fortune in Paris. Here she moves in with her brother, a museum curator. The presence of the voluptuous Bardot causes most of her brother's stuffy co-workers to behave like Tex Avery's cartoon wolf. Co-written by director Yves Allegret and Roger Vadim, Mlle. Striptease was released in France as En Effeuillant la Marguerite; some English-language prints bear the title While Plucking the Daisy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Brigitte Bardot, (more)
- 1956
The plot of Je Revendrai a Kandara is buried somewhere in its title, which translates to I'll Get Back to Kandara. Francois Perier plays a mild-mannered professor who inadvertently witnesses a murder while stopping over in the titular locale. The problem here is that the professor, feeling somewhat ineffectual and unimportant, finds no real reason to "get involved." Besides, murderer Daniel Gelin must have had his reasons, mustn't he? The two story elements prevalent in Je Revendrai a Kandara -- the murder melodrama and the professor's identity crisis -- do not altogether mesh. Onetime Hollywood leading lady Bella Darvi figures significantly into the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Bella Darvi, (more)
Showing no signs of slowing down in his 70th year, Sacha Guitry served as director and writer of the lavish historical epic Napoleon, and also costarred as Talleyrand. It is now hard to assess the quality of the film, since most American prints are severely edited, and the color photography appallingly washed out. Reviewers in 1955 admired the effort that went into this $1,800,000 production, but complained that the viewer left the film with no deeper understanding of Napoleon Bonaparte than the viewer had had when coming in. Daniel Gelin poses impressively as the young Bonaparte, registering emotion only when things go wrong in his conquest of Europe, while Raymond Pellegrin is somewhat better as the older, more jaded Napoleon (the transition between the two actors is handled in a near-comic fashion). The Revolution is reduced to a few fleeting scenes, while the rest of the film is devoted to political infighting and betrayal. The huge supporting cast includes Michele Morgan as Josephine and Lana Marconi and Dany Robin, respectively, as Napoleon's mistresses Waleska and Desiree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Pellegrin, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1955
Les Amants du Tage (The Lovers of Tage) was based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. Daniel Gelin plays a soldier who is acquitted after committing a crime of passion. Relocating to Lisbon, and still feeling remorse over his impulsive killing of his faithless wife, Gelin manages to find love in the form of gorgeous widow Francoise Arnoul. Alas, it turns out that Arnoul has a sordid past of her own, leaving our hero sadder but wiser. Trevor Howard, whose presence in this essentially Gallic entertainment comes as a surprise, plays the relentless police inspector who exposes the seemingly virtuous Arnoul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Françoise Arnoul, (more)
- 1954
La Niege Etait Sale (The Snow Was Dirty) is based on a novel and play by the phenomenally prolific Georges Simenon. Upon learning that his mother was a prostitute, Frank (Daniel Gelin) dejectedly vows that he, too, will live a life of debauchery. Part of his self-degradation program is to kill someone, and since the story takes place during the Nazi occupation of France, he chooses a German officer as his victim. His steady descent into psychosis and depravity becomes his ultimate undoing.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Valentine Tessier, (more)
- 1954
Rumeur Publique (Public Rumor) is a complicated story rendered nearly incomprehensible by poor English-language dubbing. Seeking a major news story, journalist Jaier (Daniel Gelin) pounces upon a mysterious small-town death. A young wife has fallen down a huge flight of stairs, and her husband is being held for her murder. Through a series of heartrending newspaper columns, Jaier manages to save the husband from the guillotine. Striking while the iron is hot, the journalist talks the young man into collaborating on a movie script about the tragic incident. In the process, the awful truth of the matter is fully revealed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Maria Mauban, (more)
- 1954
La Romana (Women of Rome) is a worthwhile early starring vehicle for Gina Lollobrigida. "La Lollo" plays a young woman who is strong-armed into a modelling career by her ambitious mother. Before long, she discovers that there's a lot more money to be had if she sells her body rather than merely putting it on display. Of the many men in her life, Lollobrigida truly loves only one, but doesn't realize this until it's too late. American prints of La Romana were heavily trimmed to avoid the steamier passages, but Lollobrigida's star quality comes through loud and clear. The film was adapted by director Luigi Zampa from a novel by Alberto Moravia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Daniel Gélin, (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)
- 1953
La Voca del Silenzio (Voice of Silence) was the only Italian production of fabled German director G. W. Pabst. Based on a concept by neorealism specialist Cesar Zavattini (fleshed out by a team of =12= prominent writers, including Pabst himself and Jean Cocteau), the film follows a small group of very troubled men during a three-day spiritual sojourn. One is a politician, laden with guilt over his comportment during WW II. The second is a war veteran whose wife has "grown away" from him. The third is a writer of detective novels whose works might have inspired a real-life killing. The fourth is a thief who has come to the spiritual retreat to avoid capture. And the fifth is a candle merchant whose livelihood is threatened by modern technology. One of the few concessions to popular taste is a striptease sequence involving Rosanna Podesta. In keeping with the film's title, few words are spoken in La Voca del Silenzio; in this respect, the film is an intriguing throwback to Pabst's classic silent films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Rue de L'Estrapade was filmmaker Jacques Becker's immediate follow-up to his 1952 classic Casque D'Or. That the film does not quite measure up to its predecessor shouldn't be held against it. Anne Vernon and Louis Jourdan play Francoise and Henri, a happily married Parisian couple. Despite his marital bliss, Henri decides to embark on a brief romantic fling. In answer to his infidelity, Francoise moves to the Bohemian artists' community, where she nearly succumbs to the charms of a scruffy existentialist (Daniel Gelin). This being a French film, a satisfactory ending is achieved without any harsh punishment being bestowed upon either husband or wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Vernon, Louis Jourdan, (more)
- 1953
Sang et Lumieres (Blood and Light) stars Daniel Gelin as Ricardo, a dashing matador. After a fellow bullfighter is killed in the ring, Ricardo decides it's time to retire. As a result, his fickle movie-actress mistress Marilena (Zsa Zsa Gabor) flounces out of his life. He is then targeted for persecution by journalist Riera (Arnoldo Foa). Still, Ricardo refuses to be coerced back into the ring. It takes the concerted efforts of the mercenary Marilena and Ricardo's equally greedy manager Naguera (Henri Filbert) to force Ricardo back into action. Tragedy inevitably ensues, though it is tragedy of the "grim irony" variety: Ricardo is not so much killed as he is loved to death by his fanatical fans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Henri Vilbert, (more)
- 1952
Newly married Daniel Gelin spends most of Adorable Creatures reflecting longingly on his previous amours. One of his past conquests was unhappy housewife Danielle Darrieux. Another was insatiable widow Edwige Feuillere. And yet another was avaricious Martine Carol (then married to director Christian-Jacque). Originally released in France in 1952, Adorable Creatures didn't get theatrical play in the US in 1956, and then only in a heavily bowdlerized addition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1952
La Minute de Verite (The Moment of Truth) stars Jean Gabin as happily married French physician Pierre. Upon treating a would-be suicide, Pierre finds out that his patient was once the lover of the doctor's wife Madeleine (Michele Morgan). Confronting his wife with this information, Pierre is compelled to trace back the history of his 10-year marriage to find out what went wrong. Director Jean Delannoy combines some very perceptive views of the human condition with moments of unexpected shock and sensationalism. Otherwise, La Minute de Verite is more straightforward and less laden with symbolism than earlier Delannoy works. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Jean Gabin, (more)
- 1952
The works of Guy de Maupassant have likely been adapted by more French filmmakers than those of any other author (with the possible exception of Georges Simenon). Max Ophuls harnesses three Maupassant short stories to suit his artistic purposes in Le Plaisir (House of Pleasure). In "The Mask," an aging lothario (Jean Galland) learns more about himself than he cares to when he dons a mask to cover his wrinkles. In "The House of Madame Tellier," the proprietress of a brothel (Madeline Renaud) closes up shop one day for an unusual (for her) personal mission. And in "The Model," both the title character (Simone Simon) and her artist-lover (Daniel Gelin) pay the price for her romantic impulsiveness. Each of the playlets in Le Plaisir explore conflicting sides of human nature -- a theme common to both the works of Maupassant and the films of Ophuls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Dauphin, Jean Galland, (more)
