Georges Marchal Movies

French filmmaker Henry Decoin was better known for his stylistic panache than his creative originality. In Au Grand Terrace (originally released in 1949 as Au Grand Balcon), Decoin weaves a familiar story with finesse. Like the director himself, the film's hero is World War I aviator Carbot, played by Pierre Fresnay. After the war, Carbot attempts to establish a commercial airline, for the purpose of delivering the mail to the outermost regions of France. There's plenty of Only Angels Have Wings-style heroics as Carbot's pilots face injury and death while braving the elements to meet their appointed rounds. The film's nominal heroine, Maryse, played by Jeannine Crispin, has little to do but wait anxiously as the pilots go about their duties. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Danielle Darrieux stars as Arabella Delvaire in this baroque adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel Bethshabee. Arabella is a woman of the world who arrives at a remote Foreign Legion outpost for a rendezvous with her current lover, Captain Duveuil. It so happens that one of Arabella's previous amours, Captain Somerville (Paul Meurisse), is also serving at the same post. So much for joining the Foreign Legion to forget. A climactic knife duel "solves" the film's various plot complications. Despite its Foreign Legion background, Bethsabee has next to no action, which must have made things difficult when the film was distributed to the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The French Way (Fausse Alert) stars American expatriate musical star Josephine Baker as a Parisian cabaret singer. The plot is your standard "star-crossed lovers" melange, distinguished by the conspicuous lack of clothing on the female characters. The coy ingenue is played by 18-year-old Micheline Presle, several years removed from her international stardom vis-a-vis Devil in the Flesh. Because Josephine Baker was black, and because she performed in the nude for the most part, The French Way didn't make it to American shores until 1952. Even then, Ms. Baker's climactic feather dance was entirely excised, though the film spends its last two reels building up to it. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Italian fantasy looks at life after Snow White marries Prince Charming. Following the wedding, the happy couple begin ruling the kingdom in which her friends the dwarfs live. One day the horrible Prince of Darkness shows up and begins scaring the daylights out of the commoners. Prince Charming and his troops gallop off to stop him, but they are captured, leaving brave Snow White to come to his rescue. Unfortunately, she too is caught. Fortunately, the Seven Dwarfs delve into their bag of tricks and save Charming who then rides off to save his delicate wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan borrows a handful of the characters and little else from the works of Dumas. Like many Italian films of the early 1960s, this swashbuckler stars an American actor, George Nader, in hopes of broadening its market. Nader plays D'Artagnan along more mature lines than most actors; he's even something of a ladies' man, a fact which very nearly gets him killed on several occasions. Confounding D'Artagnan's efforts to work on behalf of Louis XIII is Magali Noel as a buxom Milady De Winter. The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan became an American TV standard in the late 1960s thanks to its sumptuous color photography. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Benjamin (Jean Tissier) is the irresponsible patriarch of a fun-loving Roman family. Ostensibly the owner of a drug store, Benjamin would much rather rummage through ruins in search of ancient Roman artifacts. While searching for a valuable statue of the great God Jupiter, our hero must contend with his status-seeking wife (Huguette Duflos), who intends to marry off her daughter (Dany Robin) to a wealthy distant cousin. The comic complications come thick and fast when a genial escaped lunatic named Jupiter (Georges Marchal) shows up, and is immediately mistaken for the much-anticipated cousin. Jupiter is a faithful adaptation of a stage play by Robert Bolsey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Patricia Caron (Nicole García) watches a television debate, she is shocked to hear her long-dead husband described as a war criminal and a torturer. Her husband Marcel (Jacques Perrin) had died more than two decades earlier when French troops fought in Algeria -- and although she had been married only a short time before he went off to his death, she was certain that he could never have tortured anyone. Irate and determined to clear her husband's name, she takes the television speaker to court -- where once the case progresses, there are flashbacks to the war and the activities of Captain Marcel Caron. As the court case drags on, director Pierre Schoendoerffer has hewn to acceptable topics and avoided the controversy surrounding the French army's behavior in Algeria. (French forces took over Algiers in 1830 and ruled Algeria as a colony for 132 years. In 1954, Algerian independence fighters started an armed revolt; in 1957, French troops were sent to quell the revolt, but by 1961, French insurgents were fighting alongside Algerians against the loyal French army and were defeated. Finally, on July 3, 1962, France granted independence to Algeria. The French sensitivity to their conduct in this war was still running high when this film was released.) ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

La Castiglione is set in 19th-century Italy during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III. The only way for Italy to declare her independence from Napoleon is to form a united front -- a monumental task, in that the various provinces aren't all that fond of each other. La Castilogne, played by Yvonne de Carlo, is the lover of firebrand Italian revolutionary Georges Marchal. When Marchal's efforts to unite Italy result in his arrest and condemnation, La Castilogne offers herself to Napoleon in exchange for her sweetheart's life. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi