Charles Lamy Movies
- 1932
He was known as Anatole Litvak during his Hollywood directorial career, but he was still Anatole Litwak when he helmed the German musical Das Lied Einer Nacht (The Song of Night). Famed Polish tenor Jan Kiepura stars as famed Italian tenor Ferraro. Escaping from his tyrannical manager, Ferraro switches identities with a young tourist (Fritz Schulz) and goes off on an unscheduled Swiss holiday. Still travelling incognito, our hero falls in love with a winsome mountain girl (Magda Schneider). Alas, both his romance -- and his freedom -- are placed in jeopardy when it turns out that the charming young fellow with whom Ferraro traded identities was actually a notorious swindler. Anatole Litvak also directed the English-language version of Das Lied Einer Nacht, Be Mine Tonight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Magda Schneider, (more)
- 1932
Two directors collaborated on this Austrian-made comedy, which was filmed simultaneously in French- and German-language versions. The title translates as Should We Wed Them?, and it's all about the romance between Anny Ondra, daughter of college professor Lucien Baroux, and circus performer Jean-Pierre Aumont. The hero wants to marry the heroine, but she will lose a huge inheritance unless she marries a businessman. But Ondra doesn't care anything about money, and soon she's training herself for the rigors of circus life, including a dangerous act involving a lion's cage (the film's highlight). Most of the laughs are provided by Lucien Baroux, who could steal a scene merely by arching his eyebrows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anny Ondra, Lucien Baroux, (more)
- 1932
Galeries Levy et Cie (The Levy Department Stores) was a sequel to the popular ethnic comedy Levy and Company. Leon Bellieres and Charles Lamy repeat their roles as the Levy Brothers, Solomon and Moses. Now in charge of a department-store chain, the Levys never let their success get in the way of their constant kvetching. Hoping to increase their wealth by marrying off their niece to a continental charmer, the brothers allow the girl to chart her own romantic course when her would-be husband turns out to be a fraud. As was the case with the earlier film, Galeries Levy et Cie contained a great deal of Jewish-stereotype humor which might seem offensive today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Belieres, Christiane Dor, (more)
- 1931
Sacha Guitry wrote the play on which Le Blanc et le Noir was based, but it was Hollywood-trained Robert Florey who officially handled the directorial reins. While vacationing in the mountains, child-hating Raimu leaves his wife Suzanne Dantes alone in their hotel room while he dallies with the local maidens. Feeling neglected, Dantes accepts the invitation of her neighbor, a celebrated tenor, for a nocturnal rendezvous. She enters the tenor's darkened room, whereupon she enjoys an evening of purple passion with a man whom she assumes is her host. Nine months later, however, Dantes gives birth to a black child -- her lover of the evening had been the tenor's capricious servant! The flustered Raimu scurries about trying to set things right, and in so doing finds out that he genuinely loves children -- whereupon he declares he'd like to become a daddy himself (one can only imagine that Dantes by this time has developed quite a headache). Though racy and risque, Le Blanc et le Noir remains firmly within the bounds of good taste. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1931
Paris Beguin finds Parisian cinema star Jean Gabin playing a familiar role, that of the martyred criminal with a golden heart. A burglar by profession, Jean forces his way into an apartment one night. While he's ransacking the joint, the resident unexpectedly returns. It turns out to be a nightclub singer Jane Diamand, and in a wonderful scene they move from cagey opponents to one-time lovers. On the following day, Jean is arrested by the police for a murder, one that he did not commit. Jane graciously supplies him with an alibi but is forced to say that Jean spent the night with her maid. This gets back to Jean's longtime girlfriend, who, in an act apropos jealousy, takes out a contract on Jean with the real killers. Jean runs, but they eventually catch up with him and he dies held in Jane's arms. Paris Beguin is a dark atmospheric crime film typical of this period of French B movie production. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin
- 1930
This French production was released in English-speaking communities as Song to an Unknown Woman. A young man rescues a pretty girl from her criminal cohorts, whereupon he installs her in the servant's quarters of his home. Later he hires the girl as his secretary, with the implication that he expects her to do more than take dictation. She falls in love with him, only to be abruptly fired when she interferes with one of his various extracurricular romances. Turning the tables on her employer, the heroine begins treating him like dirt -- which of course convinces him that he's in love with her after all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annabella
The French silent film La Chute de la Maison Usher is adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. Director Jean Epstein studiously avoids cheap shocks in this tale of hereditary madness, choosing instead a tightly controlled, spookily subtle technique. The hero, having indirectly caused the death of his beloved, stubbornly tries to resurrect her spirit by devoting himself to painting and sculpture. Epstein conveys the twilight zone between life and death with lingering dissolves and brilliant utilization of slow motion. The production design of La Chute de la Maison Usher, together with the earlier Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, obviously inspired the "look" of Robert Florey's 1932 Poe derivation Murders in the Rue Morgue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marguerite Gance, Jean Debucourt, (more)
- 1927
French filmmaker Max DeRieux was responsible for this well-received adaptation of Honore de Balzac's Cousin Bette. The title character, played by Alice Tissot, is the "poor relation" of a prosperous French family. Hoping to wreak vengeance on the man who jilted her years earlier, Cousin Bette insinuates herself into the family's household, intending to destroy the lives of everyone in her orbit. The moment of truth arrives when Bette nearly succeeds in sabotaging the marriage of her virginal niece. Fans of public television will recall the serialized version of Cousin Bette, which ran on Masterpiece Theater in the spring of 1974; more recently, Jessica Lange played the embittered title character in an R-rated Anglo-American movie version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Tissot
