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- 1951
Une Histoire D'Amour served as the last starring film of Louis Jouvet, who died in 1951 at the age of 63. Jouvet is cast as Planche, a philosophical police inspector, investigating the suicides of two young lovers. Though he really doesn't have to, Planche delves into the past to find out what would motivate these two attractive people to destroy themselves. As he does so, their foredoomed love story is slowly revealed in a series of flashbacks. Dany Robin and Daniel Gelin are well cast as the star-crossed lovers, who play their scenes sincerely, with a minimum of movie-star histrionics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Dany Robin, (more)
- 1951
Les Main Sales is based on the Jean-Paul Sartre play of the same name. The hero, Hugo Barine (Daniel Gelin), is a dedicated communist. Hugo suffers a crisis of conscience when he is ordered to assassinate his Marxist mentor Hoederer (Pierre Brasseur) at the behest of a more radical Red faction. It turns out that Hoederer is even more idealistic than Hugo, thoroughly understanding the "necessity" of his elimination in the scheme of things. At least, that's what seems to be happening; with Jean-Paul Sartre involved, one can never be entirely certain who's doing what to whom and why. Whatever the case, poor Hugo eventually learns to his dismay that most so-called revolutionaries are more concerned with power than proselytizing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1950
An exercise in style, La Ronde was one of the few films of the 1950s to contain overtly sexual themes. The story is a series of character vignettes, set in Vienna in the early 1900s and held together by a narrator (Anton Walbrook). As the title implies, both the story and the film's visual motifs are circular. Director Max Ophuls uses an old-fashioned merry-go-round to foreshadow the film's events, in which each segment introduces a new character, who has an affair with a character from the previous scene. The film demands that the audience pay attention to the structure, to the interplay among the characters, and to the opulent visual elements; and the effect is synergistic delight, in which the viewer is engaged both visually and intellectually. Because it was filmed in black-and-white, La Ronde does not have the garish look of some of Ophuls' other films, notably Lola Montès. La Ronde is among the few foreign language films to receive multiple Oscar nominations, for Black & White Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, (more)
- 1950
French filmmaker Jean Dellanoy once again combines visual poetry with box-office savvy in Dieu a Besoin des Hommes. Set on a remote French coastal island in the 19th century, the film stars Pierre Fresnay as a peasant named Thomas. In the absence of a priest, Thomas, the village sacristan, is coerced into conducting religious services. Suddenly, and much against his will, he becomes the spiritual leader of the community. He eventually runs afoul of both the Church and the Law by administering last rites, an illegal act for a non-clergyman. Despite its rather remonstrative attitude towards organized religion, the film won an award from a major Catholic organization. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Fresnay, Madeleine Robinson, (more)
- 1950
French filmmaker Jacques Becker's Edouard et Caroline has been described as a film without a story. This isn't quite true, though the most memorable aspect of the film is the byplay between the two title characters. Edouard (Daniel Gelin) is a young, headstrong musician. Caroline (Anne Vernon) is his flibbertigibbet spouse. The two quarrel over an evening dress, they separate and then reunite. These farcical proceedings are counterpointed by Becker's naturalistic choice of settings, including Eduoard and Caroline's less-than-fashionable apartment and the prison-like confines of Caroline's uncle's mansion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Vernon, Elina Labourdette, (more)
- 1949
Jacques Becker's Rendez-vous de Juillet has been credited as the first postwar European film to accurately depict the Continental "youth culture." Teenaged Lucien (Daniel Gelin) aspires to become a filmmaker, and to that end organizes his friends into a film unit. The young cineastes hope to make a journey into Africa, there to film an uncompromisingly realistic documentary. Amusingly, Lucien and his friends are shown to be rather ill-equipped for "real life," shuttling as they do between theatre classes, jazz bars and coffee houses. Also, Lucien will have to overcome some family problems before he can embrace the responsibilities of adulthood. The winner of a critics' award at the Cannes Film Festival, Rendez-vous de Juillet was released in the U.S. as Appointment with Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Maurice Ronet, (more)
- 1946
Absent from the screen since 1944's Kismet, the incomparable Marlene Dietrich returned in the French romantic melodrama Martin Roumagnac. La Dietrich is cast opposite Jean Gabin, here playing a small-town contractor with an eye for the ladies. He is entranced by Dietrich, a woman who's "been around" and who intends to remain in circulation even after trapping Gabin in her web. When Gabin figures out he's been had, the results are unexpectedly tragic. Martin Roumagnac was a second-choice project for Dietrich and Gabin, who'd originally been offered the leads in Marcel Carne's Les Portes de la Nuit, which frankly would have been a better vehicle for them. In America, Martin Roumagnac was released as The Room Upstairs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlene Dietrich, Jean Gabin, (more)
- 1945
Returning to films after a six-year absence, French director Raymond Bernard called the shots on Un Ami Viendra Ce Soir (A Friend Will Come Tonight). Michel Simon heads the cast of this pulse-pounding WWII resistance film, set surprisingly in an insane asylum. In truth, the establishment is but a front for anti-Nazi underground activities; after all, who would suspect a group of lunatics? Some of the scenes in which the French patriots feign insanity to throw the Nazis off the track may seem a bit ludicrous to American viewers, but director Bernard makes up for these off-kilter moments with a thrilling finale. Un Ami Viendra ce Soir works on a pure-entertainment level, but it isn't nearly as good as La Bataille du Rails, Rene Clement's definitive French Underground drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Sologne, Michel Simon, (more)
- 1945
La Tentation de Barbizon is a romantic fantasy, a genre quite popular in postwar France. Daniel Gelin and Juliette Faber star as a blissfully happy honeymooning couple. They are so happy, in fact, that they arouse the jealous attentions of Satan. Intending to break up the romance, the Dark Prince sends an emissary to do the deed. The devil's advocate is promptly challenged by a representative from "up above". Engagingly written and well acted, La Tentation de Barbizon is laid low by the listless direction of
ean Stelli. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Renant, François Perier, (more)
- 1941
In this romantic comedy, a lonely orphan answers a singles ad in a paper and then slips out of the orphanage to meet the man whose letters she has come to love. However, the college professor she meets has actually been ghost writing for the real lonely heart. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Fernand Ledoux, (more)
