Jane Marken [Jeanne] Movies

In this French comedy, a toy inventor travels to the factory of his childhood friend, now an industrial magnate, and tries to persuade him to lend financial backing to his newest invention. Unfortunately their reunion is marred by the reopening of old emotional wounds, but fortunately, the inventor's wife smooths things over. Later she discovers love letters written to her adolescent daughter. Trouble ensues when the toymaker begins suspecting his old pal, the industrialist, of writing the letters. He then blackmails his pal with the letters. When his daughter finds a new boyfriend, the inventor abandons his extortion scheme. The two old pals then reconcile and go into business together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, the hero finds himself beaten by gang members whose operation involves capturing young women and selling them as prostitute/slaves. When the hero's own fiancee ends up involved, he does everything he can to save her. Fortunately the police intervene, with guns blazing, and the day is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With Mirror Has Two Faces (Miroir a Deux Faces), French director Andre Cayatte takes a respite from his usual broadsides against the iniquities of the French judicial system. Michele Morgan stars as a plain, middle-aged woman, miserably unhappy with her go-nowhere existence. She submits to plastic surgery, and as the years are cosmetically removed she vows to alter her life. The first major change is in her relationship with her self-involved schoolmaster husband (Bourvil). Where once he'd taken Morgan for granted, the husband now reacts with lunatic jealousy whenever anyone comes near her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Roger Vadim production was released in the US as ...And God Created Woman. Vadim's then-wife Brigitte Bardot plays the central character, a curvaceous nymphet with a voracious sexual appetite. In fact, it isn't what Bardot does in bed but what she might do that drives the three principal male characters (Curd Jurgens, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Christian Marquand) into an erotic frenzy. Most available prints of ...And God Created Woman have been heavily edited to conform with the prevailing censorial standards of 1957. Vadim remade his own film in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Slovenly Parisian cabdriver Pierre (Michel Simon) wants nothing more than to get through the day, go home, and knock off a bottle of wine. One day, Pierre looks into the back seat of his cab and finds a huge amount of money. Though he's never really done anything dishonest in his life, he is sorely tempted to keep the money for himself. Meanwhile, Pierre's brother-in-law, a policeman, senses that something is weighing on the cabbie's mind. After a promising start, Monsieur Taxi settles into a rut of familiarity, but any film with Michel Simon is well worth the time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

L'Homme De Ma Vie (Man of My Life) stars Madeleine Robinson as Madeleine, who after being abandoned by her lover is forced to raise her baby all by herself. Supporting herself and her child as a prostitute, Madeleine manages to give her daughter an expensive girl's-school education, all the while keeping her own identity and profession a secret. The girl grows up to be an insufferable snob; nonetheless, Madeleine attempts to re-establish a relationship. Things take a sorry turn when the daughter takes drastic actions to defend her mother's honor. L'Homme de Ma Vie served as a stepping-stone to stardom for Jeanne Moreau, here cast as Suzanne, the daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ways of Love grew from an unfinished film: Jean Renoir's A Day in the Country, of which 46 minutes had been completed before funds ran out. In this French/Italian compendium, Country is combined with Marcel Pagnol's 1933 short subject Jofroi and Roberto Rosselini's 1948 character study The Miracle. It was this last component, the story of an impressionable woman who is seduced by a man whom she thinks is Jesus Christ, that prevented The Ways of Love from being released in the US in 1950. In a landmark court decision, the US Justice Department decreed that The Miracle was not the dire threat against morals that its detractors made it out to be, and permitted the film to be shown in New York. For the record, A Day in the Country is based on a Guy de Maupassant story of unrequited love during a family picnic, while Jofroi tells the tale of a peasant who sells his land--but not the trees on that land. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ma Pomme is not only the title of this charming Gallic comedy, but also the name of its principal character, a carefree tramp. As portrayed by Maurice Chevalier, Ma Pomme is a cheerful indigent who has voluntarily dropped out of the Mainstream, preferring to sing for his supper in the streets. His blissful no-responsibilities lifestyle is shattered when he falls heir to a fortune. After several "money is the root of all evil" negative experiences, Ma Pomme chucks his newfound wealth to return to the sort of life he loves best. Maurice Chevalier is evenly matched in the romantic department by Sophie Desmarets, cast as a world-weary golddigger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Italian drama, an independent, sensual woman married to the owner of a riding academy has a string of affairs. She is looking for a bigger better husband and is assisted in her endeavors by her mother. Though she succeeds in destroying her marriage and the fortune of her husband, she does not reach her goal. Instead she gets involved with a gigolo who dumps her. In despair, she has a serious accident and almost dies. The story is told in flashback. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Both controversial and compelling, this is the story of a naive peasant girl who becomes pregnant after being seduced by a shepherd and believes that she is carrying a specially blessed child. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide