Louis Jouvet Movies
A superb leading man of French stage and screen with an ugly, humorous, tragic face, Jouvet is considered by some to be the finest French actor of his time. Determined to be an actor, he was rejected three times by the Paris Conservatoire; in 1908 he joined a stage company as an administrator, then debuted onstage two years later. In 1913 he was appointed director of the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris. During World War One he served in combat at the front. From 1919-21 he was in New York, appearing with his troupe in a repertory of productions that received much acclaim. Back in France, he became the director of the Theatre de Champs Elysees; by the early '30s he was one of the most prominent performers on the Paris stage. Having appeared in one film (1913's Shylock), in 1933 he began taking film roles to support his theatrical work; his subtle, forceful, witty performances redeemed poor movies and intensified high-quality work. During World War Two he toured South America with his company; after the war he returned to Paris, continuing to appear on stage and screen until shortly before his death. His daughter is actress Lisa Jouvet. ~ All Movie Guide- 1951
Jules Romain's satirical theatre piece Dr. Knock was brought to the screen by director Guy Lefranc in 1950. Louis Jouvet plays the title character, a medical charlatan who banks upon the hypochondria of others. He convinces every resident in a small French village that they're suffering from some malady or other, and soon he's doing a land-office business. Dramatic irony is achieved when Dr. Knock ultimately becomes a victim of his own success. Though Dr. Knock would probably work better on stage than on film, the end result is for the most part quite satisfying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Pierre Renoir, (more)
- 1951
Une Histoire D'Amour served as the last starring film of Louis Jouvet, who died in 1951 at the age of 63. Jouvet is cast as Planche, a philosophical police inspector, investigating the suicides of two young lovers. Though he really doesn't have to, Planche delves into the past to find out what would motivate these two attractive people to destroy themselves. As he does so, their foredoomed love story is slowly revealed in a series of flashbacks. Dany Robin and Daniel Gelin are well cast as the star-crossed lovers, who play their scenes sincerely, with a minimum of movie-star histrionics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Dany Robin, (more)
- 1950
Dany Robin plays Monelle in this French romantic drama. The heroine is the protégé of world-famous composer Gerard Favier (Louis Jouvet). Their inevitable romance results in plenty of soul-searching, especially since Favier is still deeply in love with his wife. What threatens to become a Gallic version of the old Ingrid Bergman-Leslie Howard weeper Intermezzo goes off on several surprising story tangents in the last ten minutes. Cast as Favier's wife is Louis Jouvet's real-life spouse Renee Devillers. Unhappily, Monelle was one of Jouvet's final films; he died a year or so after its release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Dany Robin, (more)
- 1950
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Suzy Delair, (more)
- 1950
Miquette et sa Mere was the second of Henri-Georges Clouzot's directorial efforts of 1949. Co-scripted by Clouzot, this lighthearted film is easier to digest than the director's more celebrated mysteries and melodramas. Daniele Delorme plays Miquette, a winsome lass who aspires to be an actress. She runs off with a lascivious nobleman (Saturnin Fabre) who promises to make her a star. When Miquette's mother (Mirelle Perrey) searches for her wandering daughter, she finds the girl working with a ragtag touring company. The mother takes a job with the troupe, if for no other reason than to keep the lecherous nobleman away from Miquette. The film works best when re-creating the milieu of 19th-century provincial theatre; standing out in the proceedings is Louis Jouvet as Monchablon, the sort of actor for whom the word "ham" was invented. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Bourvil, (more)
- 1949
Writer/director Henri Decoin serves up another sure-fire box-office winner in Entre Ouze Heures et Minuit (Between 11 O'Clock and Midnight). Louis Jouvet stars as Inspector Carrel, who is quite surprised to learn that he has an exact double, a notorious criminal. When his look-alike is killed, Carrel assumes the dead man's identity, hoping to pick up a few clues concerning a few unsolved cases. The first thing he learns is that his double had a very healthy sex life. When he's not up to his kneecaps in dead bodies, Carrel is fending off a steady stream of lovely young ladies. Filmed in 1948, Entre Ouze Heures et Minuit received a limited American release the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Madeleine Robinson, (more)
- 1949
Four top French filmmakers were involved in the "omnibus" feature Retour a la Vie. The film offers four separate stories, each involving a liberated prisoner of war. The first episode, directed by Andre Cayatte, finds a wealthy old woman (O. Revinsky), unhinged by her prison-camp experiences, trying to cope with greedy relatives who voraciously wait for her to die. The second story, directed by Jean Dreville, stars Francois Perrier as a bartender who goes to work in a hotel for American military women. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot helmed the third episode, in which a crippled, half-crazed ex-inmate (Louis Jouvet) has a tense confrontation with a former Gestapo chief. The last installment, directed by Georges Lampin, is the comic tale of a nebbishy returnee (Noel Noel) who causes an uproar when he brings his German war bride home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helena Manson, Patricia Roc, (more)
- 1948
This French comedy offers a tour-de-force for Jouvet who plays most of the major characters. His main role is that of a super con-artist whose newest con involves selling museums to naive clients. He is assisted by many shady look-a-likes. Trouble ensues when one of his assistants is arrested and charged with the crimes of the gang leader. The other doubles must now work together to confuse the police and free their compatriot. The arrested one wins it all in the end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Suzy Delair, (more)
Following a three-year suspension from filmmaking after his Le Corbeau (1943) was judged too critical of his native France, director Henri-Georges Clouzot returned with this thriller that's equal parts crime drama and character study. Suzy Delair stars as Jenny Lamour, an ambitious music hall singer who wants to be a star and is willing to befriend the lecherous old men who ogle her act, inspiring the jealousy of Jenny's husband Maurice Martineau (Bernard Blier). One particular fan of Jenny's is a wealthy financial backer who extends repeated invitations to the entertainer to join him at fine restaurants and his expansive mansion. Armed with a gun, Maurice goes to the estate to confront his rival one night but discovers that the master of the house is already dead, his wife having smashed a bottle of champagne over his head to stave off a sexual advance. Soon, a gruff but dedicated detective, Inspector Antoine (Louis Jouvet) is on the case, with Maurice taking the heat for Jenny. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1946
Christian-Jacque's sole directorial effort for 1946 was Le Revenant, better known to English-speaking audiences as A Lover's Return (though the title literally translates as The Ghost). Jean-Jacques Sauvage (Louis Jouvet) plays a ballet impresario who entices wealthy young Francois (Francois Perier) to leave home and join his ballet company. Accustomed to playing with other people's lives, Jouvet also seduces and abandons beautiful Genevieve (Gaby Morlay), his former lover, who resides in Francois' hometown. French ballet artist Ludmilla Tcherina is prominently featured in the dance sequences. Two years later, Tcherina was "officially" discovered for films in Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gaby Morlay, Louis Jouvet, (more)
Heart of a Nation was filmed in 1940, just after the Nazi occupation of Paris. The film traces the fortunes of the Froment family of Montmartre, from the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 to World War II. Comedy and tragedy are deftly blended throughout; Raimu's visit to the Moulin Rouge is as hilarious as Michele Morgan's loss of an arm during World War I is heartbreaking. When the Nazis became privy to the existence of Heart of a Nation, they ordered its director (Julien Duvivier) arrested and the negative destroyed. Both director and negative managed to escape to the U.S., where a dubbed version of Heart of a Nation was finally made available in 1943. Intriguingly enough, the man responsible for the salvation of the film was a German officer who happened to be a fan of Duvivier's work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Suzy Prim, (more)
- 1940
Though he died in 1943 at the hands of his Gestapo persecutors, the great French stage and screen actor Harry Baur was represented onscreen in 1947 by the first American release of his 1940 vehicle Volpone. Adapted from the Ben Jonson play of the same name, the story concerns a cynical, unscrupulous merchant named Volpone (Baur)-aka "the fox" -- who intends to get even with his enemies by pretending to be dead and watching them fight amongst themselves for his estate. He appoints his servant Mosca (Louis Jouvet), outwardly as dishonest as Volpone, as the executor of his will, then sits back to enjoy the fireworks. Volpone's plan inevitably backfires, setting the stage for an ironic denoument. Director Maurice Tourneur completed Volpone in 1939, but political upheavals in wartime France delayed its original release by a full year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Harry Baur, (more)
- 1940
Serenade represented the return to the screen of international favorite Lillian Harvey after an absence of two years. Based loosely on the life of composer Franz Schubert, the film casts Bernard Lancret as Schubert, Harvey as his dancer sweetheart, and Louis Jouvet as a possessive Baron who has his own designs on our heroine. Ultimately, the Baron gracefully bows out of the girl's life, allowing her to serve as the inspiration for Schubert's classic compositions "Serenade" and "Rosalinde". Felix Oudart provides the standard comedy relief as Harvey's excitable stage director. At the time of the film's release, critics felt that 34-year-old Lillian Harvey was a bit long in tooth for her role, a notion vehemently put down by her legions of admirers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lilian Harvey, Madeleine Suffel, (more)
- 1939
This poignant drama peeks in at the lives and relationships between elderly thespians living in an actors' retirement home. The home is almost bankrupt and so the actors must support themselves. The residents include a faded sex symbol, an intellectual actor who kept a great distance between himself and the audience, and a depressed thespian who tries to conceal the fact that he was only an understudy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Madeleine Ozeray, (more)
- 1939
In The Alibi, clever, ruthless nightclub mind-reader Prof. Winckler (Erich von Stroheim) murders an old enemy and bribes the nightclub hostess Helene (Jany Holt) into saying that they were together for the entire night. However, police investigator Calas (Louis Jouvet) doesn't believe the alibi and pursues the investigation. The Alibi is well-directed by Pierre Chenal who makes the most of his interesting cast. Louis Jouvet is outstanding as the very intelligent and cunning police inspector. Erick von Stroheim, at the end of his career, gives a showing, scene-stealing and quite menacing performance as Wincler. This fine French production, shown with subtitles, has a well-conceived and executed premise and an excellent score, partially composed by the innovative Georges Auric. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erich Von Stroheim, Louis Jouvet, (more)
- 1939
Previously filmed in Sweden by Victor Sjostrom in 1921, Selma Lagerloff's haunting fable The Death Cart was remade in 1940 by Julien Duvivier as La Charette Fantome. According to Scandinavian legend, whosoever dies on the stroke of Midnight on the last day of the year (St. Sylvester's Night) must assume the duties of the "phantom charioteer," collecting souls for the next 365 days. Pierre Fresnay stars as a boorish lout who is forced to relive the events of the past year -- and to find spiritual salvation -- as the death chariot approaches. Louis Jouvet co-stars as Fresnay's best friend, the most recent candidate for the "honor" of driving the phantom cart. Filmed in 1939, La Charette Fantome was released in March of 1940. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Le Vigan, Pierre Fresnay, (more)
- 1938
Pierre Chenal's La Maison du Maltais was released outside of France as House of the Maltese and Sirocco. The film represented the starring debut of Marcel Dalio after several years' faithful supporting-cast service. Dalio plays Matteo, a young Tunisian native who makes his living telling stories to the tourists in the "pleasure district" of the portside city of Sfax. He also sidelines as a petty thief, and it is in this capacity that he meets good-time girl Safia (Vivienne Romance), whom he eventually marries and whisks off to Paris. After a while, Safia tires of Matteo's irresponsibility, but with a baby on the way she can't very well leave him. The solution to her problem arrives in the portly shape of kindly anthropologist Chervin (Pierre Renoir). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Pierre Renoir, (more)
- 1938
Entree des Artistes details the lives and loves of several artistically-inclined students at the Paris Conservatory. Wealthy Cecilia (Odette Joyeux) and not-so-wealthy Isabelle (Janine Darcey) vie for the affections of wise-guy Francois (Claude Dauphin). Isabelle finally lands Francois, forcing him to work as a gigolo to support the two of them. Things take a melodramatic turn when Cecilia is murdered, casting suspicion upon the now-chastened Francois. Trying to make sense of all this is Professor Lambert (Louis Jouvet), one of the Conservatory's leading lights, and the Examining Judge (Marcel Dalio). The throbbing musical score by Georges Auric makes Entree des Artistes seem a lot more profound than it really is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Claude Dauphin, (more)
- 1938
Hotel du Nord was the second in Marcel Carne's trio of "fatalistic romantic melodramas", bracketed on either side by Quai des Brumes and Le Jour se Leve. Star-crossed lovers Annabella and Jean-Pierre Aumont draw up a suicide pact, making their fatal rendezvous at the Hotel du Nord. Aumont shoots Annabella, but loses his nerve when time comes to take his own life. Seedy criminal Louis Jouvet and his mistress Arletty help Aumont to escape the authorities-but he can't very well run away from himself. Happily, Annabella recovers from her wounds and forgives the repentant Aumont. Fate, however, has other things in store for the tormented hero, as elucidated by the grimly ironic ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arletty, Louis Jouvet, (more)
- 1938
This French melodrama was originally released in 1938 as Education de Prince. Comic actor Fernand Charpin plays the Bargekeeper, whose daughter (Josette Day) falls in love with prince-in-exile Sascha (Robert Lynen). Wealthy baron Cercieux (Louis Jouvet) raises enough money to restore Sascha to his throne, but this will require a marriage of convenience to a worthy member of royalty. Refusing to renounce his sweetheart, Sascha cleverly arranges to ascend to the throne and marry the girl of his dreams -- but it takes a heap of operetta-style plotting to do so. By the time the New York censors were finished with The Barge-Keeper's Daughter, it had been shorn by nearly three reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvire Popesco, Josette Day, (more)
- 1938
Shanghai Drama was originally released in France in 1938 under the title Le Drame de Shanghai. Director G. W. Pabst, best known for the erotic classics Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, seems artistically subdued in this standard tale of pre-WW2 intrigue. The villains are the Japanese, who inveigle a group of exiled White Russians to aid in the subjugation of China. Trapped in the web of deceit is nightclub chanteuse Kay (Christine Mardayne), whose efforts to break away from a sinister Black Dragon-like society are doomed to failure. The film's only ray of hope is manifested in the character of Kay's daughter Vera (Suzanne Dempers), who is afforded the opportunity to start life anew with journalist Franchon (Raymond Rouleau). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christiane Mardayne, Elina Labourdette, (more)
