Suzet Mais Movies

France's Fernandel and Italy's Alberto Sordi provide an abundance of laughs in Sous le Ciel de Provence (Under Skies of Provence). Fernandal plays a travelling salesman who makes the mistake of his life when he offers to help his fellow bus passenger, a very pretty and very pregnant young lady (Tina Roca). For purposes of decorum, the girl begs the salesman to pose as her husband. He agrees, little realizing how inextricably he will be involved in her family's trials and tribulations. A remake of the 1943 Italian comedy Four Steps in the Clouds, Sous le Ciel de Provence was wittily scripted by the great Cesar Zavattini. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In their very last feature film, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy travel to London so that Stan can claim his uncle's inheritance. All of the cash has been eaten up by taxes, but at least Stan is able to claim a tax-free island and yacht that his uncle has left him. Boarding the yacht (actually a run-down tub) in Marseilles, Stan and Ollie set sail for their island in the company of stateless refugee Max Elloy, who signs on as a cook, and Italian bricklayer Adriano Rimoldi, a stowaway. The little party is nearly torn to bits by a storm at sea, but the yacht runs safely aground on a newly formed atoll. Its population is increased to five when nightclub singer Suzy Delair, fleeing her domineering naval-officer fiancé Luigi Tosi, takes refuge with the other castaways. Laurel & Hardy and their friends live an idyllic, Robinson Crusoe-like existence until Delair's fiancé shows up. He announces he hasn't come to claim her, but to investigate reports that the atoll is rich with uranium. Indeed it is, and soon every nation in the world is clamoring to claim the island's radioactive deposits. Laurel and Hardy take quick action, declaring sovereignty over "Crusoeland." They then devise an anarchic government over which Ollie presides. Stan is relegated to the position of "The People." Comical chaos reigns when their "no laws, no taxes" policies attract the attention of various unsavory types, including rabble-rouser Michael Dalmatoff. Filmed over a period of 12 months, this expensive Franco-Italian co-production suffers from a too-complex plot, lazy direction, poor voice-over dubbing of the largely European supporting cast, and especially the horrible physical condition of Laurel, who was suffering from several life-threatening illnesses during filming. Fortunately, he regained his health after the production wrapped, as proven by his hale-and-hearty appearance on a 1954 installment of TV's This Is Your Life. Though some disciples of Laurel and Hardy will have a great deal of difficulty sitting through Atoll K, it does contain a few isolated moments of pantomimic brilliance and first-rate sight gags. Originally running 98 minutes, Atoll K was judiciously pruned down to 82 minutes for its English-language release. In Great Britain, the film was titled Robinson Crusoeland, while it was released as Utopia in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This French morality play is fraught with cynical undertones as it tells the tale of a group of French people from every social strata trying to flee the Nazis who have just invaded Paris. En route they meet a cruel German officer who threatens to kill the others if the heroine Presle refuses to sleep with him. The others, fearing for their own lives, force her to submit. Soon afterward another enemy officer makes the same threat. The woman, disgusted by the selfishness of her companions, decides that she has had enough and kills the would-be rapist, causing her companions all sorts of problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Colette, Claudine stars Blanchette Brunoy as the title character. The 16-year-old heroine finds herself the romantic bone of contention between two of her schoolteachers. Eventually tiring of the tug of war, Claudine finds happiness in the arms of handsome young doctor Dubois (Pierre Brasseur). The "naughtier" aspects of the Colette original were apparently dispensed with long before Claudine went before the cameras. As a result, this was one of the few French films of the early 1940s that could be released in the U.S. with virtually no censorial cuts at all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lightning-paced actioner is based on a popular series of French pulp novels. His somewhat effeminate moniker notwithstanding, Cheri-Bibi (Pierre Fresnay) is a two-fisted he-man gangster, albeit with a heart of gold. Sentenced to life imprisonment in a brutal French penal colony, Cheri-Bibi befriends wastrelly first offender Palas (Jean-Pierre Aumont), helping the boy to survive life behind bars. Also on hand is the matchless Marcel Dalio as a philosophical convict known as "The Giver." Dialogue is at a minimum: this is one instance where actions definitely speak louder than words. The original story for Cheri-Bibi was written by Gaston Leroux, of Phantom of the Opera fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amour a L'Americaine (American Love) focuses on a Yankee millionairess, played by Gallic comedienne Spinelly. Jilted by her French lover, Spinelly heads to Paris in hopes of winning him back. She spots her errant Romeo in a night club, where he is entertaining a pretty young woman. Assuming that the woman is his wife, Spinelly does everything she can to break up the marriage. By the time she learns that he was never married at all, it hardly matters: like the Mounties, Spinelly has finally gotten her man. The music in Amour a L'Americaine was provided by world-renowned bandleader Ray Ventura, who appears onscreen at several junctures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Flower-shop owner Clo-Clo (Michel Simon) is known to his friends as "Jean de la Lune" ("Moondreaming John") because he fantasizes about remaking the world to his own specifications. Falling in love with Marceline (Madeline Renaud), a girl who's "been around," Clo-Clo idealizes his sweetheart, blinding himself to her many faults. At first, Marceline laughs at Clo-Clo behind his back but eventually is so touched by his wistful sincerity that she falls genuinely in love with him. Based on a play by Marcel Achard, Jean de la Lune is treated in a frank, realistic manner. This serves to make the happy ending, in which Clo-Clo's "moondreaming" comes true, all the more powerful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide