Louis Jourdan Movies
Born Louis Gendre or Gendice, he was educated in France, England, and Turkey. He trained as an actor with Rene Simon at the Ecole Dramatique. He debuted onscreen in 1939, going on to play cultivated, polished, dashing lead roles in a number of French romantic comedies and dramas. After his father was arrested by the Gestapo, Louis and his two brothers joined the French underground; his film career came to a halt when he refused to act in Nazi propaganda films. In 1948 David O. Selznick invited him to Hollywood to appear in The Paradine Case (1948); he remained in the U.S. and went on to star in a number of Hollywood films. After 1953 he appeared in international productions. His career was hampered by the limitations of the roles he was offered, most of which featured him as an old-fashioned Continental lover. ~ All Movie Guide- 1968
Taken from the 1907 comedy play by Georges Feydeau, A Flea In Her Ear is a comedic sex romp about a wife suspicious of her husband's activities away from home. Gabrielle (Rosemary Harris) is convinced her attorney husband Victor (Rex Harrison) is seeing another woman because of his inattention to her amorous needs. Gabrielle sets up a meeting with her husband at a bordello-hotel, and he is completely unaware that the woman he is going to meet will be his own wife. She soon discovers just who is being unfaithful to their wives after meeting a number of lovers and both faithful and unfaithful husbands. Louis Jourdan and Rachel Roberts also star in this light situation comedy containing turn-of the-century-sensibilities that appear somewhat dated in 1968. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosemary Harris, Louis Jourdan, (more)
- 1951
Jean Peters is at her feisty best in Anne of the Indies. Harboring a grudge against all men (and not without reason), Anne becomes "Captain Providence," one of the most notorious pirate leaders of the Spanish Main. Anne is pursued by French captain Pierre la Rochelle (Louis Jourdan), who intends to bring her to justice. To this end, La Rochelle makes romantic overtures to Anne, but she gloms onto his scheme and abducts the captain and his wife Molly (Debra Paget). After leaving her victims to die on a desert island, Anne relents and rescues them. She later fully redeems herself (at great personal cost) during a battle with her fiercest rival, Blackbeard (Thomas Gomez). Few actresses could have pulled off the contrarily-written title character in Anne of the Indies with as much determination and conviction as Jean Peters; surprisingly, the actress was reportedly never comfortable before the cameras, often insisting that she'd rather be a schoolteacher! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan, (more)
- 1986
Faye Dunaway stars as a successful madam who is faced with difficulties from her "girls" in this made-for-TV movie. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Richard Walton Tully's war-horse theatrical drama Bird of Paradise was filmed twice in Hollywood. This second version stars Louis Jourdan as French sailor of fortune Andre Lawrence, who joins his Polynesian friend, Tenga (Jeff Chandler), on a visit to the South Seas. Once he's arrived in the tropical paradise, Andre falls in love with Chandler's nubile sister, Kalua (Debra Paget). Alas, their romance brings only disaster to all concerned. To appease the gods and prevent a volcanic eruption that will destroy her home and people, the girl offers herself up as a sacrifice. This Technicolor remake of Bird of Paradise prevented the TV release of the superior 1932 version, which starred Joel McCrea and Dolores Del Rio; only when the 1932 film lapsed into public domain was it afforded TV exposure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Debra Paget, (more)
Cole Porter's Gay Paree musical about the introduction in Montmartre in 1896 of the notorious Can-Can dance, is brought to the screen, filtered through a Rat Pack sensibility. Shirley MacLaine stars as Simone Pistache, the perky and vivacious owner of a Parisian cafe, who, aided by her swingin' boyfriend Francois Dumais (Frank Sinatra), is trying to keep her establishment from being closed down by the Paris authorities because of Simone's insistence on treating her patrons to the Can-Can, the salacious dance outlawed by French law. Maurice Chevalier is a kindly French judge who graciously looked the other way, but another hard-nosed judge, Philippe Forrestier (Louis Jordan), turns up the heat on Simone to close her cafe. That is, until Simone turns up the heat on him, and Phillippe falls hard for Simone. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
- 1969
- PG
This epic Spanish biopic chronicles the life of Cervantes, Spain's great novelist, playwright and poet, during the 16th-century, when as a young man he goes to Italy to become a soldier for the Pope. Later he helps the Pope's emissary wage war against the Spanish Moors. His exploits win him great favor. He falls in love with a famous Italian courtesan and she with him. Unfortunately, the Pope splits them apart with his newest decree which demands that all prostitutes leave the city. Upset, Cervantes goes to fight in the famed sea battle of Lepanto and comes back a hero. Later he is captured by Barbary pirates and ransomed by Trinitarian friars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Count Dracula is a three-part British television adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. Louis Jourdan plays the count not as villain or pathetic victim of circumstance, but a charismatic charmer, who doesn't need to suck the blood of his lady victims to make them faint. Part One takes place in Transylvania, with British attorney Jonathan Harker (Bosco Hogan) arriving at Dracula's castle to close a real estate deal--and to nearly lose his life and soul to his sinister host. Part Two finds Dracula at large in England, beckoning the unfortunate Lucy (Susan Penhaligon) into the world of the Undead. The story grows more intense in Part Three, with vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing (Frank Finlay) rallying the forces of Good against the elusive Dracula. Count Dracula was first telecast in the US on PBS' Great Performances series in March of 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
In this actioner, a crack unit of elite mercenaries must protect a recently deposed Middle Eastern leader and his family from assassination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
What if the Dauphin of France managed to escape the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution? That's the premise of the opulent British swashbuckler Dangerous Exile. Louis Jourdan stars as the Duc de Beauvais, who manages, at great personal sacrifice, to smuggle the son (Richard O'Sullivan) of King Louis XVI into England. The boy takes up residence in Wales, where he is protected by local lass Virginia Traill (Belinda Lee) and her wealthy Aunt Fell (Martita Hunt). When time comes for the boy to return to France, he refuses--but local newspaper editor Patient (Finlay Currie), a spy for the French revolutionaries, has other ideas. Keith Michell, future star of TV's Six Wives of Henry VIII, is well cast as a French Republican with whom the Duc de Beauvais must inevitably cross swords. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Belinda Lee, (more)
- 1953
Director Hugo Fregonese and writer George Oppenheimer do the unthinkable: they manage to transform Giovanni Boccaccio's bawdy -- and downright raunchy -- medieval tales of martial discontent and infidelity into harmless white-bread treacle. Louis Jourdan plays Boccaccio in a framing story set in a villa in the Florentine hills. With a widowed woman and her sex-starved female wards hungrily hunched over listening to his every word, Boccaccio spins three tales of illicit romance involving a trio of medieval husbands and wives. All three tales feature Jourdan as the romantic male lead and Joan Fontaine -- spruced up in a collection of bright costumes -- as the misunderstood and mistreated women of the tales. The first story concerns the bored housewife, of a middle-aged husband, who willingly jumps into the arms of a roustabout. The second tale tells the story of a husband who is highly suspicious of his wife's fidelity and the wife's circumspect way of proving her virtue to her husband. The third story is an ineffectual lark about a wife who fools her indifferent husband into demonstrating his proper marital role. Boccaccio had to wait for Pier Pasolini in order to get the spirit of his Decameron right. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, (more)
- 1984
This unexciting story is about a woman who leaves her husband for an interlude of illicit romance and crime. The film begins with two parallel sequences: the fashion model Christine (Angela Punch McGregor) is at home, bored with her married life to Peter (Louis Jourdan) a wealthy businessman, and while those scenes play out, a silver-suited biker is on the prowl. Soon the biker steals a Rolls and follows Christine home, where in quick order they trash her house, take off together, and later rob a post office dressed as clowns. As the film cuts between Peter, Christine, the biker, and Peter's secretary, it is difficult to tell who really has the upper hand, who is actually in control, and who is being manipulated. Unfortunately, this guessing game becomes less interesting as the events in the film become less plausible, and the lack of surprises or shocking scenes -- especially to modern audiences with well-constructed shock absorbers -- makes for a dull 90 minutes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Craig
- 1982
Filmed in 1982, Escape to Love wasn't given a general release until 1986. Clara Perryman plays an American student who falls in love with a Polish dissident (Ahron Idale). The girl aids her lover in his escape from the KGB. While rushing towards Paris by train, the two fugitives are forced to do a great deal of crucial soul-searching--especially when politics once more rears its ugly head. Louis Jourdan plays a pivotal role in this well-mounted combination of thrills and romance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Richard Alan Simmons, scriptwriter of Fear No Evil, evidently held fond memories of the old British chiller Dead of Night (a cornucopia of inspiration for programs like The Twilight Zone). The "Mirror Sequence" in the earlier film was gussied up for the basic plotline of this 1969 TV-movie. Bradford Dillman purchases an antique mirror, which turns out to be the portal for a supernatural world. Upon Dillman's death, his fiancee (Lynda Day) discovers that the mirror might be able to bring back her lost lover. Fear No Evil did so well in the overnight ratings that it spawned a sequel, 1970's Ritual of Evil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
In this made-for-TV movie, a jealous mother tries to break up the burgeoning romance between her son and a young clerk at her husband's jewelry store. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Leslie Caron plays Gigi, a young girl raised by two veteran Parisian courtesans (Hermione Gingold and Isabel Jeans) to be the mistress of wealthy young Gaston (Louis Jourdan). When Gaston falls in love with Gigi and asks her to be his wife, Jeans is appalled: never has anyone in their family ever stooped to anything so bourgeois as marriage! Weaving in and out of the story is Maurice Chevalier as an aging boulevardier who, years earlier, had been in love with Gingold's character. Chevalier gets most of the best Lerner & Loewe tunes, including Thank Heaven for Little Girls, I'm Glad I'm Not Young Any More, and his matchless duet with Gingold, I Remember it Well. Caron's best number (dubbed by Betty Wand) is The Night They Invented Champagne while Jourdan gets the honor of introducing the title song. Filmed on location in Paris, Gigi won several Oscars, including Best Picture; it also represented the successful American movie comeback of Chevalier, who thanks to this film was "forgiven" for his reputed collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, (more)
- 1987
In this crime comedy, the daughter of a notorious French burglar must follow in her father's illustrious footsteps after he is suddenly killed. She soon finds herself nearly in over her head as she is required to perform a variety of death-defying stunts in order to ply her trade. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Originally titled Mariee est trop belle, this Brigitte Bardot romp is better known as The Bride is Much Too Beautiful. BB plays an innocent country lass who heads for Paris in hopes of becoming a model. This she does, not by posing in the nude but by showing off wedding frocks. Bardot falls in love with magazine editor Louis Jourdan, but he falls to respond until she takes drastic action-which means of course, removing most of her outer garments. Costar Micheline Presle isn't given much to do: this is Bardot's film all the way (in every sense of that phrase). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Disorder was a French/Italian co-production, released as Le Desordre in France and Il Disordine in Italy (somebody was in a rut). This leisurely paced modern fable stars Renato Salvatore as a poor young man, struggling to pay for his mother's medical bills. Virtually everyone whom Salvatore approaches for help fails him: An industrialist reneges on a promise, a well-to-do friend laughs in his face, and a priest is defrocked before he can do any good. When the young man is finally able to raise the necessary money, he discovers that the ex-priest has sold all his possessions in order to help Salvatore's mother. Thus it is the film's one Good Samaritan whose life ends up in "disorder." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renato Salvatori, Louis Jourdan, (more)
This romantic comedy opens with a resounding warning: its chief concerns are passion, bloodshed, desire, and death. "Everything," exclaims the narrator, "that makes life worth living." Irma La Douce (Shirley MacClaine) is Paris' most prosperous prostitute. Wise, endearing, and compulsively clad in green, Irma rules the rue Casanova. She triumphantly works the most coveted corner on a street where the cops gladly look the other way and the naughty johns leave tips. Her street is a content community of live and let live and good-natured desire, an Augean stable of human understanding. However, to upright Nester Patou (Jack Lemmon), the area's new policeman, genial wrongdoing is still wrongdoing. Freshly promoted from day patrol at a children's playground, the scrupulous Nestor arrests Irma and her colleagues in a bumbling, unauthorized raid. He takes pity on Irma, but harasses the guilty johns -- including the police captain. Promptly unemployed, Nester returns to the scene of his crime, the rue, and to Irma. After physically besting her pimp, Nester unwittingly takes his position. The two fall madly in love, but Nestor quickly grows jealous of Irma's patrons. Thus, he masquerades as a wealthy English aristocrat and becomes Irma's sole customer -- only to eventually grow violently jealous of himself. Soon enough, this formally righteous cop is comically jailed for his own brutal murder! As the film's prologue promises, Irma La Douce is a celebration of life from beginning to end -- unabashedly adoring lust, emotion, fervor and, above all, foolish love. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
- 1956
- NR
Julie is most enjoyable if one doesn't take it too seriously. Doris Day plays Julie Benton, whose off-the-coop musician husband Lyle Benton (Louis Jourdan) confesses that he in fact killed Julie's first husband. She immediately recognizes that he is so possessive of her that he would sooner rub her out than lose her altogether, and leaves Lyle, seeking protection under the wing of a country club acquaintance, Cliff Henderson (Barry Sullivan).
The San Francisco police deduce that Julie is in danger from Lyle, and begin to close in on the poor woman to protect her, but she inadvertently misses them. In the film's thrilling final sequence, Julie has returned to the stewardess job she once held - without realizing that Lyle has boarded the plane sans detection, planning to murder out most of the crew and take her out next. Silent film star Mae Marsh, a "regular" in the films of director Andrew L. Stone, appears in the closing scenes as an hysterical passenger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The San Francisco police deduce that Julie is in danger from Lyle, and begin to close in on the poor woman to protect her, but she inadvertently misses them. In the film's thrilling final sequence, Julie has returned to the stewardess job she once held - without realizing that Lyle has boarded the plane sans detection, planning to murder out most of the crew and take her out next. Silent film star Mae Marsh, a "regular" in the films of director Andrew L. Stone, appears in the closing scenes as an hysterical passenger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, (more)
