Jim Gérald Movies
- 1959
In this drama, a freighter captain's family suffers financial difficulties. To help them, he involves himself in a plot to destroy his ship so they can collect the insurance money. They plan to destroy the vessel by loading it with a time bomb and then sailing it into an active mine field. En route, a crewman becomes trapped in a boiler and burns to death. This forces the captain to dismantle the bomb. He feels better for having done so and returns to Hamburg, where he learns that not all of his family approved of the plan either. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Curd Jürgens, Mylène Demongeot, (more)
- 1956
In the 1950s, French films were considered the ne plus ultra in naughtiness by certain impressionable filmgoers. It was to these movie fans that the American distributor of Jean Renoir's Elena et les Hommes (Elena and the Men) catered when it provocatively retitled the picture Paris Does Strange Things As further grist to the mill for American publicity hacks, the film starred Ingrid Bergman, who had recently returned to Hollywood after her career was nearly ruined by a marital scandal. Actually there was nothing overtly erotic about Paris Does Strange Things. The film was a sweet romantic comedy wherein Bergman plays a poverty-stricken Polish princess, who is wooed by eligible admirers Mel Ferrer and Jean Marais. Will she marry for love, or merely to restore her wealth? The suspense is bearable. Inexpertly cut to 86 minutes for its American showings, Paris Does Strange Things was restored to its full 98 minutes in 1986 and its title reverted to Elena et les Hommes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ingrid Bergman, Jean Marais, (more)
- 1956
Foreign Intrigue was one of the first major Hollywood films to be based on a popular TV series. Robert Mitchum stars as an American press agent who travels the length and breadth of Europe to learn the past of a recently deceased multimillionaire. After stopovers at the Riviera, Stockholm and Vienna, Mitchum learns that the dead man accumulated his wealth by blackmailing war criminals and Nazi collaborators--all of whom would be happy if Mitchum would disappear, or die, or both. In her first English-language film, Ingrid Thulin (billed as Tulean) plays one of the hero's several amours, as does the toothsome Genevieve Page, likewise making her first American film appearance. After a brief but profitable theatrical release, Foreign Intrigue returned to its roots when producer Sheldon Reynolds sold the picture to TV in 1958. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Geneviève Page, (more)
- 1954
Alec Guinness stars as Father Brown, full-time priest and part-time sleuth, in this comic mystery based on the character created by novelist G.K. Chesterton. When Father Brown is entrusted with transporting a valuable religious artifact from London to Rome, he's understandably upset when it's stolen from him. Brown has reason to believe that a notorious international thief lifted the cross he was carrying, and the good Father finds himself on a dual-purpose mission: to recover the stolen goods and to compel the thief to repent before God. The supporting cast includes Peter Finch, Joan Greenwood, and Cecil Parker as the Bishop. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, (more)
The Barefoot Contessa begins at the funeral of Ava Gardner, a former Spanish peasant, cabaret dancer and movie star, who at the time of her death was a full-fledged contessa. Her life story unfolds in flashback recollections from her mourners. Film director Humphrey Bogart recalls how his career was saved when he discovered Gardner on behalf of Howard R. Hughes-like mogul Warren Stevens. Press agent Edmond O'Brien remembers how Ava was wooed and then abandoned by mercurial millionaire Marius Goring, and Italian count Rosanno Brazzi reflects on how he was able to wed the tempestuous Gardner, only to watch his world crumble after revealing on their wedding night that he was "only half a man." O'Brien received Best Supporting Actor awards at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes in 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1953
Deux Crimes d'Amour (Two Love Crimes) is comprised of two separate, but thematically linked, short films. "Mina de Vangel," directed by Maurice Clavel and Maurice Barry, is based on a novelette by Stendhal (The Red and the Black), wherein a starry-eyed German lass (Odile Versois), betrayed by a French roue, vainly tries to find happiness with a decent man (Alain Cuny) for whom she works as a domestic. The second film is the award-winning "Le Rideau Cramoisi" ("The Scarlet Curtain"), adapted from a short novel by Barbey D'Aurevilly and directed by Alexandre Astruc. When a Napoleonic soldier (Jean-Claude Pascal) is billeted with a French family, all social proprieties are observed--a first. But a chance physical contact with the enigmatic daughter (Anouk Aimee) of the household leads to a torrid romance, which in turn leads to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Odile Versois, Alain Cuny, (more)
Moulin Rouge is the story of 19th century French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, portrayed by José Ferrer. The film records his frustration over his physical handicap (the growth in his legs was stunted by a childhood accident), his efforts to "lose" himself in Paris' bawdy Montmartre district, and his career as a painter, which brought him money only when he turned out advertising posters--but what posters! Toulouse-Lautrec's drinking and debauchery lead to his early death, which in the hands of director John Huston is staged (brilliantly) in the manner of a musical comedy finale. This is the film in which Zsa Zsa Gabor actually acts, in the role of demimonde entertainer Jane Avril. As a bonus, the film's musical score (by Georges Auric) managed to hit the Top Ten charts in the U.S. When this immensely successful film was released to television in the late '50s, Moulin Rouge proved to be one of the strongest-ever incentives to purchase a color TV set. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Colette Marchand, (more)
- 1951
Filmed on location, the Franco-American co-production Pardon My French stars Merle Oberon and Paul Henreid. Oberon is cast against type as Elizabeth Rockwell, a staid Bostonian schoolmarm who insists that all "squatters" remove themselves from the French chateau she's just inherited. The head squatter Paul Rencourt, played by Henreid, turns on his patented charm in hopes of deflecting Rockwell from her eviction plans. It so happens that the widowed Rencourt is the father of five precocious children, who despite their appalling behavior eventually endear themselves to Rockwell. Director Bernard Vorhaus was blacklisted not long after Pardon My French was released; the reasons, of course, were political, and had nothing to do with the quality of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Henreid, Merle Oberon, (more)
- 1951
In this comedy, dishonest stable boys from Britain and France join forces in a smuggling operation. Using a horse blanket, the crooks stuff a horse blanket full of counterfeit money. Unfortunately the horse they've chosen to wear the blanket is hurt and taken out of the race and the bad boys must choose a replacement. He is the worst horse in the stable, Dunderhead. When the nag's jockey overhears the stablehand's scheming he stops them and manages to prove that there is more to his horse, indeed a champion, by winning the Big Race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
La Taverne de N.O. is the French title for the Franco-American costume drama Adventures of Captain Fabian. As sea captain Michael Fabian, Errol Flynn (who also adapted the screenplay from the Robert Shannon novel Fabulous Ann Madlock) is ostensibly the star. Most of the footage, however, is devoted to Micheline Presle as servant girl Lea Marriote, whose thirst for revenge against the prominent New Orleans family who wronged both her and Fabian motivates the film's plotline. After Fabian defends Lea on a murder charge, she promptly weds George Brissac (Vincent Price), scion of that aforementioned family, thereby laying the groundwork for a spectacularly unhappy finale. Filmed in Paris and Nice, La Taverne de N.O. represented the second film which Errol Flynn made in partnership with producer-director William Marshall; the first was the abortive Hello God. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Micheline Presle, (more)
- 1950
Released in the U.S. in 1950, Mask of Korea has the sort of title that suggests a tie-in with the then-raging Korean Conflict. Not true. The film was actually lensed in France in 1940, under the title Macao l'Enfer de Jeu. Silent-film veterans Erich Von Stroheim and Sessue Hayakawa star as, respectively, a gun-runner and a gambling-house proprietor. The two men are brought into conflict over a revolution in Korea, and are also rivals for the affections of a beautiful woman (Mirielle Balin). When customers complained about the misleading title Mask of Korea, the film was rechristened Gambling Hell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erich Von Stroheim, Sessue Hayakawa, (more)
- 1939
This Anglo-American coproduction was based on the popular West End stage comedy by Terrence Rattigan. It all begins when Diana (Ellen Drew), the sister of a British boy studying in France, arrives in town to flirt with all of her brothers' schoolmates. Alan (Ray Milland), one of the students, successfully resists Diana's charms-meaning of course that Alan and Diana will be in each other's arms by fadeout time. Much of the wit and zest of the original stage production has been blunted for the screen, moving one critic to describe French Without Tears as "Comedy Without Laughs". In all fairness, however, the film does boast a hilarious drunk scene in a musty old French wine cellar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Drew, Janine Darcey, (more)
After making his first appearance as the title character in Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond" series, John Lodge was rushed to England to star in the quota quickie Bulldog Drummond at Bay. Though lacking the polish of Hollywood's Drummond pictures, this one is closer to the original concept of series creator H. C. Neile (aka "Sapper") than any other film. The plot is motivated by the nefarious activities of a gang of munitions smugglers, disguised as a pacifist organization. The leader of the gang is Gregoroff (Victor Jory), justifiably nicknamed "The Mystery Man of Europe." Gregoroff masterminds the kidnapping of the inventor of a revolutionary new robot airplane. Adopting strong-arm tactics that border on the fascistic, soldier-of-fortune Bulldog Drummond (Lodge) tackles the villains, while Scotland Yard remains in the background, presumably twiddling its collective thumbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lodge, Dorothy Mackaill, (more)
- 1937
This surrealistic film contains almost no dialogue even though it is a sound film. Instead of talk and subtitles, music is used to convey the action. The trouble begins when a young pianist finds that burglars have hidden stolen money in his piano. When his mother is mistaken for a gang member and arrested, the pianist grabs the loot and sets off across the snow-covered mountains; the gang follows, but eventually, they are arrested and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Graves
- 1937
In this romance a run away schoolgirl impersonates a socialite to hook a handsome RAF pilot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Filmed in 1936 as Mr. Flow, this Robert Siodmak production was based on a novel by Gaston Leroux. Set in summertime Paris, the labyrinthine plotline is set in motion by the title character, a gentleman safecracker played by Louis Jouvet. To recount the entire plotline would require a dictionary-sized synopsis, but its essence can be captured in a single sentence: the clever Mr. Flow is finally outmaneuvered by his beautiful but chronically unfaithful mistress, Lady Helena Scarlett (Edwidge Feuillere). At the time of the film's release, Robert Siodmak was brought to task by critics who felt that the director was trying too hard to imitate Ernst Lubitsch. Such an accusation could never be levelled against Siodmak's Hollywood films, which relied heavily upon horror and melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Mila Parély, (more)
