Clement Harari Movies

Three murders have been committed by an as-yet-unidentified Immortal. When Richie (Stan Kirsch) is framed for the killings, Duncan (Adrian Paul) offers to track down the killer. All of this greatly pleases the murderous Martin Hyde (Michael Siberry), who has being using the luckless Richie for the ultimate purpose of removing Duncan's head. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Gilbert Tanugi, who co-wrote the screenplay, this noirish French drama is set within the Paris music scene and centers on the attempts of a dangerously indebted record producer to scrounge up a fortune to pay back the vengeful loan shark who is trying to destroy him. Producer Sam Friedman thinks his salvation is finally at hand when he hears Joe and Puppet Bennet, two African American jazz musicians, singing and playing the blues in local night club. Desperate to have them, he pays their manager with money borrowed from his American jazz-addicted stepfather. Unfortunately, the deeply religious Puppet only wants God as her producer and refuses to sign. Friedman finally persuades her to sign, but only after he swears to watch over the flighty sax playing Joe. Unfortunately for poor Friedman, Joe turns out to be a psychopathic killer and has killed a prostitute. Knowing that he will be dead if he does not produce the couple's record and make some quick money, Friedman decides to shoulder the blame for the death himself. Though he is sent to jail, Friedman is at peace because he plans on telling the truth as soon as the Bennets cut their record. Things take a darker turn when the Bennets suddenly vanish, leaving poor Friedman stranded in prison. Desperate once again, Friedman escapes from jail and violent tragedy follows as he tries to save himself and clear his name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Per Olaf Sundman, Ingenjör Andrées Luftfärd (Flight of the Eagle) tells the real-life story of a Swedish engineer's attempted expedition to the North Pole in a hot air balloon. Jan Troell directs this over two-hour adventure drama set in 1897. Max Von Sydow stars as Salomon August Andrée, the engineer who leads the tragic journey in a balloon called The Ornen (The Eagle). He is accompanied by explorers Nils Strindberg (Goran Stangertz) and Knut Fraenkel (Sverre Anker Ousdal). Ingenjör Andrées Luftfärd was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in the 1983 Academy Awards. Using his experiences making this film, Troell went on to make the hour-long documentary En Frusen Drom (Their Frozen Dream) in 1998 with archival information from the remains of the expedition found in 1930 on an island near the North Pole. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A bizarre Euro-kink variation on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, this intriguing film from Polish director Walerian Borowczyk takes place almost exclusively in the palatial home of Dr. Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier), where the good doctor is being feted prior to his engagement to the austere Miss Fanny Osborne (Marina Pierro). The guest list -- comprised of various dignitaries, officials and symbols of bourgeois respectability -- could easily have strolled in from a Fellini film, complete with a closetful of perverse habits and barely-repressed sexual urges. At the onset of the festivities, it is learned that a young girl has been murdered on the streets that night -- an event somehow linked to Jekyll's insistence that his estate be willed to the yet-unseen Mr. Hyde. It comes as no surprise that Jekyll's infamous potion transforms him into a crazed sexual predator with desires so aggressive that his victims cannot survive... but the real twist comes when young Fanny joins Jekyll in his bath while he is transforming into Hyde, and the formula's malevolent effects are spread to her as well. Before long, the entire affair devolves into an orgy of sexual sadism and bloody violence as the evil is spread throughout the house. Borowczyk has imbued this quirky exercise with a doomed, nightmarish quality, contrasting the opulence of the festivities with dimly-lit, smoky rooms where the lecherous Hyde stalks his victims. Patrick Magee borrows a bit from his arch performance in Marat/Sade as the swaggering "General" who gets taken down a few notches at the end of a bullwhip. Released in the U.S. as Blood of Dr. Jekyll, then later on video as Bloodlust. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Playwright Frank D. Gilroy wrote and directed this subtle, down-to-earth and autobiographical depiction of an American screenwriter in Paris who befriends his chauffeur and has an affair with a British aristocrat. Wayne Rogers is Michael Moore, an American scenario writer who has traveled to Paris for the first time in his life in order to serve as a script doctor on a troubled film script. Upon arriving at the airport, he's met by his driver Jean-Paul Barbet (Jack Lenoir Gilroy's real-life chauffeur), who has served time in prison for manslaughter. Michael is assured that his chauffeur will be immediately replaced with a driver without a prison record, but Michael lets him stay, and the two become fast friends. All is going along swimmingly until Michael meets his hotel neighbor, attractive upper-class British woman Susan Townsend (Gayle Hunnicutt). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

When a master thief (Jacques Champreux) sets his sights on the centuries-old treasure of the Knights Templar, he must struggle to outwit the devoted keepers of the fortune. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The Man Without A Face is an archvillain, comic-book style, and in this French action movie, he proves to be a worthy foe. The villain has an extensive crime network, including a retreat under the streets of Paris. He has discovered that the Knights Templar, outlawed many hundreds of years before, still exist as a secret society, and that they have access to a hidden treasure of gold. He wants it, and it is up to the daughter of a murdered Templar and a few none-too competent policemen to prevent him from getting it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Adapted from his autobiography The Eddie Chapman Story, this is the story of a British safecracker who was in prison when WWII broke out. When the Germans occupied the area, he offers to work for them if they will set him free and they do so, sending him as a spy to England. Once there, however, he offers his services to the British and becomes a double agent. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

The first film directed by Costa-Gavras, The Sleeping Car Murders was based on a novel by Sebastien Japrisot. During a Marseilles-to-Paris overnight train trip, a girl is found dead in a sleeping car. As Paris detective Yves Montand steps up his investigation, more and more passengers turn up murdered. The unlikely climax is the only sore point of this otherwise well-wrought mystery. Bereft of the politicizing of Costa-Gavras' later works, The Sleeping Car Murders exhibits the director's fondness for American "film noir" thrillers. The film first hit Parisian movie screens under the title Compartiment Tueurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This tragic and suspenseful tale of domestic abuse concerns a couple who have drifted far from the intent of their marriage vows. Bob (Anthony Perkins) is a former soldier who met Lisa (Sophia Loren) when she was a poor girl living in Italy. After they marry, they take up residence in Paris where Lisa holds down a job and Bob is always going to the next job interview -- that ultimately yields nothing. The sniveling weasel slaps his wife around, endearing himself to no one. As he is leaving for an interview, Lisa tells him at the airport that she's had enough and it's over. The plane crashes, but bad-boy Bob is the lone survivor and returns to his long-suffering wife. He promises he will leave her for good once the life-insurance claim is processed. Her slap-happy spouse then decides when the money comes in, he will have her arrested and charged with insurance fraud. Meanwhile, Lisa has fallen for David (Gig Young). When Bob forces her to drive him out of the country, Lisa plans to drive Bob out of her life for good. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this routine spy story with primarily one setting -- a small cabin -- and only two protagonists, Peter (Robert Hossein, also the director) and Helene (Marina Vlady), the characterizations flag a little in the long scrutiny. The premise is that the Brits have intercepted a German spy in her attempt to deliver some important papers. In her place, they send the French operative Helene to meet with the German contact Peter. As the two spies interact in the cabin, their suspicion of each other never lets up, even when the two succumb to a mutual attraction. Interrogation increases as well as the questions. Can Helene convince Peter she is his German contact, and is Peter who appears to be? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide