Jean-Louis Barrault

An urban gigolo on the run from a mobster hides out at the remote cabin of a female novelist in this plodding romantic drama. Her neighbors include an elderly man with a penchant for growing sunflowers and an unhappy neighbor girl with emotional problems. Love blossoms for the unlikely couple who somehow realize their liaison is doomed to failure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Triquet (Bourvil) is a policeman who is forced to retire early when he nabs too many crooks while he is not on the clock in this satirical crime comedy. He captures a criminal who is headed for the guillotine, but the condemned man escapes when the instrument of death malfunctions. Triquet is called on to find the crook and convince him that, according to the law of the land, since the execution attempt failed, he is free from his death sentence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Experiment in Evil, Jean Renoir's Testament of Dr. Cordelier was originally produced for French television. This retelling of the Jeckyll-Hyde legend adheres to Renoir's long-standing leitmotif of the individual who must stand alone because he is incapable of conforming. The original Robert Louis Stevenson story is updated, making several pointed comments about the good-evil dichotomy of the modern world. One problem: by utilizing the standard live-TV multicamera technique, Renoir is never able to impose his own high artistic standards. Telecast in France in 1961, Testament of Dr. Cordelier was never released theatrically in the US, though in recent years it has been made available on videocassette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An exercise in style, La Ronde was one of the few films of the 1950s to contain overtly sexual themes. The story is a series of character vignettes, set in Vienna in the early 1900s and held together by a narrator (Anton Walbrook). As the title implies, both the story and the film's visual motifs are circular. Director Max Ophuls uses an old-fashioned merry-go-round to foreshadow the film's events, in which each segment introduces a new character, who has an affair with a character from the previous scene. The film demands that the audience pay attention to the structure, to the interplay among the characters, and to the opulent visual elements; and the effect is synergistic delight, in which the viewer is engaged both visually and intellectually. Because it was filmed in black-and-white, La Ronde does not have the garish look of some of Ophuls' other films, notably Lola Montès. La Ronde is among the few foreign language films to receive multiple Oscar nominations, for Black & White Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide

In this French romance, a genius composer/violinist finds great success but no love because he cannot seem to connect with his soul mate, a beautiful woman whom he met and wooed when they were both young. It was he who ended the relationship. Ten years pass, and finally they meet again. Now he is ready to commit to her. Unfortunately, his current girl friend has her own ideas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1941, Christian-Jacque's La Symphonie Fantastique at last attained an American release in 1947. In an elaborate, almost orgiastic manner, the film details the life and times of 19th century composer Hector Berlioz, here played by Jean-Louis Barrault. Expansively dividing his valuable time between his music, his friends (including Balzac and Delacroix) and his many women, Berlioz illustrates Christian-Jaque's thesis that there is always grandeur in genius. The film's highlight is Berlioz' feverish creation of the title composition, which is staged in a florid manner reminscent of Disney's animated Fantasia. Alas, the English-language prints of Symphonie Fantastique were cursed with a substandard soundtrack, rendering virtually inaudible the brilliant orchestrations of Berlioz' works by the Paris Conservatory Orchestra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released in 1942 as Les Destin Fabuleux de Desiree Clary, this Sacha Guitry production made it to America six years later as Mlle. Desiree. Based on the romance between Napoleon Bonaparte and merchant's daughter Desiree, the film is divided into two parts. In part one, the younger Napoleon (Jean-Louis Barrault) pledges eternal fidelity to Desiree (Genevieve Guitry), but destiny dictates that he marry the much-older Josephine. Part Two takes place several years later, as Napoleon, now Emperor of France and now played by Sacha Guitry himself, renews his romance with the older-but-wiser Desiree (now portrayed by Gaby Morlay). Mlle. Desiree was later remade, sort of, as Desiree, with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made in France with an international cast, Le Puritan was scripted by, of all people, Irish poet-dramatist Liam O'Flaherty. Jean-Louis Barrault plays Ferriter, the "puritan" of the title, whose warped sense of justice is second only to his paranoia. When he is spurned by the woman he loves, Ferriter kills her, convinced that "justice" has been served. He then squanders his family's money on liquor, wandering from one gin mill to another to "explain" his actions. Everyone considers Ferrier a harmless eccentric, but eventually he spills too much to the wrong person and is thrown in jail. Even as the cell door closes on him, Ferrier is triumphant, convinced that his perverse brand of justice absolves him of all his sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide