Henri Guisol Movies

Danielle Darrieux stars in this Belgian chiller as a songstress whose obsessively jealous husband suddenly dies. Feeling free for the first time in years, Darrieux inaugurates a romance with Michel Auclair. But even now she is the victim of her husband's omnipresence; evidently returning from the grave, the dead man haunts both Darrieux and her new lover. If you've seen Diabolique, you may catch on to a few of this film's many plot twists. Oddly, Murder at 45 R.P.M (produced in 1960, released in the US five years later) is frequently absent from the published resumes of both Danielle Darrieux and Michel Auclair. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Max Ophuls' final film (and his only movie in color) is a cinematic tour-de-force masquerading as a biography, in this case a dazzling fictionalized life of the notorious 19th century dancer, actress, and courtesan. A still beautiful, but weary and disillusioned (and, as we later discover, ailing) Lola Montes (Martine Carol) is first seen as the featured attraction at a seedy American circus, appearing at the center of a series of various tableaux depicting the scandalous events for which she is known. With a strangely sincere yet sinister and manipulative ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) providing color commentary, some of it very ironic on two or more levels, the movie flows between these staged recreations in the circus and the events as recalled by the subject. In a series of dissolves, the film takes us through her girlhood with her mother, interrupted when her mother's lover (Ivan Desni) becomes attached to the daughter; her unhappy marriage and its aftermath; romances with composer Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg), abduction by a Russian general (in the arms of Cossacks, no less); her affairs across the landscape of Europe with men great and notable; her thwarted aspirations as a dancer; and her romance with King Ludwig I (Anton Walbrook) of Bavaria, which led to her being made Countess of Landsfeld, and, later, to his abdication. The gracefulness of Ophuls' cyclical narrative, and the transitions between the recalled elegance of the locales, and the people with whom her romances and affairs took place, and the seediness of the circus -- where she is also compelled, in the course of performing, to perform as an aerialist -- were lost on viewers in 1955. And for many years the movie only existed in a version re-cut without the director's approval, in which the story was presented in linear fashion. It was only in the 1960's, long after Ophuls' death, that efforts were made to restore the original structure, and in 2008 the movie's original Technicolor luster was restored to its full depth and richness. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

The title of this French bedroom farce translates to A Fly in the Ointment. That "fly" is music-hall performer Lucette (Suzy Delair), the current girlfriend of rakish roue Bois D'Enghien (Noel-Noel). Preparing to marry into a wealthy and honorable family, Boris is bedeviled by Lucette, who refuses to break up their relationship. Her tune changes abruptly when a handsome millionaire enters the picture. Adapted from the stage play by George Feydeau, Un Fil a La Patte is all slamming doors, bedroom tete-a-tetes, and lines like "But mon cherie, I can explain everything!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The vivacious Suzy Delair, whose leading men ranged from France's Bernard Blier to Hollywood's Laurel and Hardy, stars in Lady Paname. Delair plays Caprice, a popular Parisian music-hall performer of the early 1900s. Caprice falls in love with a struggling young composer (Henri Guisol), leading to no end of misunderstandings and reconciliations. Louis Jouvet steals the show as an off-the-wall photographer whose "harmless" eccentricities spark the film's many subplots. Lady Paname represented the only directorial effort of actor/journalist/screenwriter Henri Jeanson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this French film, Nicole (dancer Violette Verday) must choose between three men. Her suitors are a jeweler (Henri Guisoi), a producer (Romney Brent), and a thief (Nicholas Orloff). Nicole imagines, in ballet terms, what life with each man would be like. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

If a French film of the 1940s or 1950s had Claude Dauphin in the cast, the producers were assured of a decent box-office turnover. In Ainsi Finit la Nuit, Dauphin is teamed with another audience favorite, Anne Vernon. The stars play a pair of clandestine lovers, while Henri Guisol is cast as Vernon's insensitive husband. The film is strongest in its first half, where characterization rather than situation dominates. The final portion of the film suffers from the scriptwriter's attempts to wrap things up as quickly as possible. Ainsi Finit la Nuit was also released as L'Affair. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi