Fernand Gravey Movies
The son of Belgian actors Georges Mertens and Fernande Depernay, Fernand Gravet was a stage performer at age 5, appearing under his father's direction. Thanks to his British education and his service in His Majesty's merchant marine, Gravet was able to thrive as a stage actor in several different countries, the usual language barriers posing no problem to him. Billed as Fernand Gravey, he made his first film, L'Amour Chante, in France in 1930. He was brought to Hollywood in 1937 amidst an elaborate publicity campaign which instructed filmgoers in the proper pronunciation of his name: "Rhymes with 'Gravy'." Curiously, Hollywood insisted upon billing him as "Gravet" rather than "Gravey," possibly in anticipation of film-critic wisecracks. He starred in standard urbane-continental roles in The King and the Chorus Girl (1937) and Fools for Scandal (1938) and was cast as Johann Strauss in MGM's expensive biopic The Great Waltz. He returned to France just before the Nazi occupation. Though he agreed to star in German-approved French films, he did his utmost to undermine the invaders as a member of the French Secret Army and the Foreign Legion. Gravet returned to films a war hero, continuing to star in such productions as La Ronde (1950) and Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954). Among Fernand Gravet's last English-language performances were How to Steal a Million (1966), Guns for San Sebastian (1968) and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), in which he played the Police Inspector. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Based on the Alice Duer Miller play Come Out Of the Kitchen, the Paramount musical Honey was filmed in several foreign languages for European distribution. The French version, titled Cherie, starred Mono Goya and Saint-Granier in the roles originated by Nancy Carroll and Skeets Gallegher. Down on their luck, aristocratic Olivia and Charles Dangerfield are forced to rent out their ancestral mansion to nouveau riche Mrs. Falkner and her daughter Cora. Remaining in the house as the butler, Charles falls in love with Cora, while his sister Olivia (retained as Mrs. Falkner's maid) is likewise smitten by Cora's ex-fiancee Burton. For French consumption, Cherie makes time for the routines of popular Jewish dialect comedian Marc Hely, playing a character who didn't appear in the original Honey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marguerite Moreno, Mona Goya, (more)
- 1930
Love Sings is the English-language title of this Made-in-Germany-for-Frenchmen concoction. Pierre Bertin plays Claude, a grammar teacher forced by a series of cute plot devices to pose as a professor of music. He is then obliged to teach a talentless musical-comedy star how to sing, lest the star's husband pull his financial backing for the show in which his wife is appearing. Things look pretty grim when wifey leaves hubby in favor of a handsome Egyptian prince, but all ends happily for Claude, who ends up marrying the daughter of the man he's been impersonating. Director Robert Florey also helmed the German-language version of L'Amour Chante, Komm' Zu Mir Zum Rendezvous, and the Spanish version, El Professor de Mi Senora. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Imperio Argentina, Yolande Laffon, (more)
- 1931
This easy-going French musical comedy was released in English-speaking countries as A Man in Swallow Tails. Recently separated from his wife, young Andre (Fernand Gravey) ends up with only a dress suit and eight cents' worth of pocket change to his name. Forced to wander around the streets of Paris in his swallow-tail coat, Andre soon learns the truth of the old adage "clothes made the man" when his sartorial state plunges him into a series of bizarre adventures. When he is finally reunited with his wife, Andre had learned a lot about the mysteries of life. Un Homme en Habit was based on a play by Yves Mirand and Andre Picard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzy Vernon, Fernand Gravey, (more)
- 1931
Marions-Nous (Let's Get Married) is based on The Wedding Night, a play by Avery Hopwood. Film star Gisele Landry (Alice Cocea) and her current lover Francis Latour (Fernand Gravey) check in at a Balkan hotel and sign what they think is the hotel register. Instead, the couple discovers that they've just become husband and wife. Making things even more complicated is the fact that Francis is impersonating another man, a famous -- and married--composer. Never letting up its pace for a single moment, Marions-Nous is a wonderfully wacky, door-slamming boudoir farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Cocea, Marguerite Moreno, (more)
- 1932
"Tu Seras Duchesse!" ("You'll Be a Duchess!") With these words, self-made industrialist Poisson (Andre Berley) orders his daughter Lucie (Marie Glory) to marry a wealthy Duke (Paul Clerquot). The duke's father objects to the union, whereupon Poisson arranges another marriage for his daughter, this time to an impoverished and sickly young marquis (Fernand Gravey). Poisson's strategy runs something like this: the Marquis is expected to die soon, whereupon the widowed Lucie will become a marquess, and thus a worthy bride for the Duke. But the Marquis foils these plans by staging a miraculous recovery. The explanation? The Marquis and Lucie have been in love all along, and this was the only way that they could wed with Poisson's blessing. Darned clever, these Frenchmen!. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Glory, Fernand Gravey, (more)
- 1932
Passionement is the film version of the successful stage musical by Maurice Hennequin and Albert Willemetz. Koval plays Mr. Stevenson, an American millionaire who takes a business trip to the Riviera in the company of his attractive wife Ketty (Florelle). The jealous millionaire refuses to allow Ketty to leave the yacht, forcing her to resort to a disguise -- a blonde wig and thick glasses -- to grab a few moments on shore with her lover Robert (Fernard Gravey). Catching on to this disguise, Stevenson decides to test his wife's fidelity by pretending not to recognize her then attempting to seduce her. But after a few healthy swigs of the local wines, Stevenson is more kindly disposed to his wife's peccadilloes, generously granting her a divorce so that she can spend the rest of her life with Robert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernand Gravey, Baron Fils, (more)
- 1932
Mario (Fernard Gravey), a rough-hewn sheepherder, unexpectedly finds success as a Parisian hairdresser. Having never learned the social graces, Mario treats his female customers like sheep and shears their hair like wool -- and do they love it! Rising to the top of his profession, the uncouth hero is finally tamed by the beautiful Alene (Mona Goya), who handles Mario just as rudely as he does his customers. Not so much a satire as a slapstick lampoon, Coiffeur pour Dames proved an enormous success thanks in no small part to the built-in appeal of star Fernand Gravey. The film was produced at the Joinville studios of Paramount Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mona Goya, Fernand Gravey, (more)
- 1933
This musical tells the love story of a manicurist and a night waiter who discover that they are sharing the same apartment. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1933
The first of two film versions of Noel Coward's operetta, 1933's Bitter Sweet stars British favorite Anna Neagle and continental star Fernand Graavey (who spelled his name "Gravet" in Hollywood). The wisp of a plot finds Victorian Neagle persuading Graavey to march her to the altar. A brilliant musician, Graavey is unfortunately also a chronic gambler. He is killed in a duel of honor, but his legacy lives on in his music. The already obscure 1933 Bitter Sweet was all but confined to oblivion by Hollywood's 1940 Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald version. The earlier film was produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox, whose long professional association with his star Anna Neagle culminated in marriage in 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Fernand Gravey, (more)
- 1935
In this musical, set in the mythical country of Ruritania, a princess finds herself exiled by revolutionaries before she can ascend her rightful throne. She returns and takes over as soon as the revolution fails; soon she and the former leader fall in love, marry, and form a democratic monarchy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Varietes started out as a remake of E. A. DuPont's silent German classic Variety. Unfortunately, DuPont himself made his own remake, so writer-director Nicholas Farkas was obliged to whip up a new story. Annabella, Jean Gabin and Fernand Gravey star as a trio of circus trapeze artists. Both Gabin and Gravey love Annabella, but she has eyes only for Gravey. Seething with jealousy, Gabin plots revenge against his rival. He "accidentally" drops Gravey into a net during rehearsal -- but does he plan to do the same during a performance, when the trio works without a net? Though the audience may have thought that it was a step or two ahead of the story, there's a last-minute surprise in Varietes that never failed to elicit gasps from the viewers back in 1935. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annabella, Jean Gabin, (more)
- 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)
