Philippe Leroy Movies

Samuel Bronston produced this extravagant blockbuster, shot in Super Technirama 70. Nominally directed by Nicholas Ray (who makes a brief appearance as the U.S. ambassador), Ray was taken off the film and replaced by the more pliable directorial touches of Andrew Marton. Charlton Heston stars as Maj. Matt Lewis, the leader of an army of multinational soldiers who head to Peking during the infamous Boxer Rebellion of 1900. As the film unfolds, the foreign embassies in Peking are being held in a grip of terror as the Boxers set about massacring Christians in an anti-Christian nationalistic fever. Inside the besieged compound, the finicky British ambassador (David Niven) gathers the beleaguered ambassadors into a defensive formation. Included in the group of high-level dignitaries is a sultry Russian Baroness (Ava Gardner) who takes a shine to Lewis upon his arrival at the embassy compound with his group of soldiers. As Lewis and the group conserve food and water and try to save some hungry children, they await the arrival of expected reinforcements, but the tricky Chinese Empress Tzu Hsi (Flora Robson) is, in the meantime, plotting with the Boxers to break the siege at the compound with the aid of Chinese recruits. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A misguided attempt to dramatize the psychological triad formed by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (Erland Josephson), his Jewish friend Paul Rees (Robert Powell), and a Russian girl named Lou Von Salome (Dominique Sanda), this overbearing drama fails mightily. Nietzsche is portrayed as a jealous sociopath who drives Rees to suicide, and director Liliana Cavani cannot resist including a drug-hallucination ballet about Good and Evil which approaches the excesses of her controversial Il Portiere di Notte in its melodramatic sexual hysteria. Cavani's film is feverish where it should have been calculating and lurid where it should have been provocative. The result may be the first exploitation film aimed at philosophy students, and even deft supporting turns by Virna Lisi and Philippe Leroy cannot make the dialogue -- drawn hamfistedly from Nietzsche's own writings -- any less ridiculous. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

When Paola (Daniele Gaubert) feels her husband Marco (Philippe Leroy) is neglecting her, she willingly falls for his best friend Alberto (Horst Buchholz). Marco allows the affair to proceed and Paola experiences feelings of love she never knew were possible. She returns to her marital commitments but allows her romantic fantasies of Alberto and a Lesbian lover to continue. Marco soon experiences the positive benefits of his wife's imagination as their romantic romps take a favorable turn for the better. Nude scenes could mark this film as an exploitation feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Award-winning Italian writer/director Mario Camerini, who successfully bucked the "neorealist" movement of the 1940s, continued operating in a strictly commercial vein with 1966's Delitto Quasi Perfetto. The plot is sheer gossamer, handled with artistry: a journalist, stumbling upon a plot to swindle an heiress, decides to turn the tables on the crooks. The leading lady is the delightful Graziella Granata, while the male contingent is well represented by Massimo Serato and Phillipe LeRoy. If you're not expecting The Bicycle Thief of La Dolce Vita, you're in for a good time. Evidently, Delitto Quasi Perfetto was never released to US theatres, though video versions are available. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A traveling circus visits the Gothic abode of the evil Count Drago (Christopher Lee), whose pastimes include experimenting on various animals with his potions and formulas. Naturally, he's no longer content to stop there, and the visitors become unwilling participants in the next horrific progression of the Count's macabre hobby. In a surprising twist, it is one of the troupe's dwarf performers who saves the day. This Italian production is believed to have been augmented with scenes shot by Michael Reeves (Witchfinder General), which may account for occasional atmospheric touches in an otherwise pedestrian mad-scientist effort. Look for young first-timer Donald Sutherland in bizarre dual roles -- as a bumbling soldier and a withered old witch. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this light comedy based on a play by Aldo de Benedetti from the 1950s, Princess Lucia (Monica Vitti) is miffed that her husband, Prince Giulio (Philippe Leroy is single-mindedly focused on his race horses to the point that he is ignoring her. She decides to find out if he really does love her by convincing her bodyguard to pose as her lover - if her husband gets jealous, then he must care a little anyway. This seems like a fine plan until her bodyguard's girlfriend shows up unexpectedly, creating a few tight situations. Prince Giulio finally sees green through his equine-induced haze, and now all the Princess has to do is straighten out any misunderstandings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This romantic historical drama is based on the diaries of Agnes Von Kurowsky, who while serving as a nurse during World War I had a love affair with a young man who would later become one of the great literary figures of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway. In 1918, 18-year-old Hemingway has volunteered to fight in the great war; while he goes into battle imagining it to be a lark, he soon discovers that the realities of warfare are far more grim, and during a shelling attack in Italy, his leg is severely wounded. Hemingway has taken a great deal of shrapnel, and the doctors at the field hospital decide that amputation would be the quickest and most effective way to deal with the injury. However, the idea of losing a leg horrifies Hemingway, and he pleads with Agnes (Sandra Bullock), the Austrian nurse looking after him, not to let the doctors cut off his limb. Moved by Hemingway's concern, Agnes convinces the doctors to pursue other treatments, and she looks after him during his long and difficult convalescence. Love and passion bloom between the young and naive soldier and the 26-year-old nurse, but while he's eager for her to return home with him as he follows his muse as a writer, she regards him not as the love of her life but as a passing fling and thinks that he's too young to marry. Agnes eventually sends Hemingway a "Dear John" letter; later Hemingway would use her as the basis for several characters in his novels and short stories, not always flatteringly. In Love and War was directed by Richard Attenborough, previously an Academy Award winner for Gandhi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In a theme which seems to have been popular at this time in Italian cinema (as in La Parmigiana, for instance), country-born-and-bred woman Daniela (Daniela Rocca) comes to the big city to look for a wealthy man. Her dream is to one day live in a penthouse, that ultimate urban symbol of having "arrived" financially. Putting her ideal before all else, even her moral standards, she goes from bad to worse as she tries to realize her dream. This otherwise routine drama is interspersed with a few comic moments and sharp observations. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This drama examines the ethics of filmmaking as it chronicles the detached way in which a documentary maker exploits the misery of his subjects. It all begins with the seduction of another man's wife. He takes the woman to Bombay where he is filming opium addicts undergoing a rather extreme cure involving physical beatings. He then heads for Bali to chronicle the cruelty suffered deaf-mute prostitutes. Next, he goes to a Buddhist temple and tries to persuade a monk to light himself on fire. Back in India he cons a starving, deposed maharajah into eating bugs in exchange for canned food. The mistress is disgusted by the way her lover callously exploits and degrades these victims. She berates him, but still heads for war-torn Vietnam to catch some atrocities. The documentarist is excited when he learns the Viet Cong are planning to bomb a bar, and he hides his camera inside. The bomb goes off and most of the inhabitants are blown up. Later the delighted director retrieves the film. When he finds his lover dead inside the ruins, he orders his assistant to film his crying face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two isolated people fighting different uphill battles come together in this touching romantic drama by Amadeo Fago). Gioli (Alessandro Haber) is a puppeteer like many generations before him. He has just had to bury his mother alongside his father, near the river. While performing this sad duty, Gioli meets the ferrywoman Viola (Teresa Ann Savoy) who is trying to stop her brother from selling the family property. To assuage his loneliness Gioli has been driven to create a puppet baby that cries mechanically. Viola, however, sees Gioli as he really is and has her own answer to his puppet-child. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A rather leaden police story by director Charles Gerard (who refocused on acting after 1966), La Loi des Hommes is reminiscent of American tough detective stories involving seedy, violent gangsters. Police inspector Dandieu (Philippe Leroy-Beaulien) suspects that the beautiful Sophie (Micheline Presle) is somehow connected to a particular robbery. She is a journalist who seems to know much more than she should about the details of the case. And so Dandieu dedicates himself to tracking the woman's activities, in spite of harrowing encounters with thugs, violence, and other potent dissuaders. Eventually, he develops a relationship with her that leads him to the truth he seeks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this sex-charged character study, a woman's husband persuades her to share in his predilection for group sex. Later, she meets a student and has a one-day affair with him. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide