Carla Marlier Movies
Released in Europe as Histoires Extraordinaires and Tre Passi Nel Delirio, this is a portmanteau picture, comprised of three supernatural playlets based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. "Metzengerstein," directed by Roger Vadim, stars the director's then-wife Jane Fonda as a medieval woman prone to acts of vengeance. Her brother Peter Fonda is somewhat perversely cast as her cousin, for whom she holds incestuous yearnings. When he gives her the cold shoulder, she spitefully sets fire to his stable of horses. He is himself killed in the blaze, but it seems that he has been reincarnated as a horse. In "William Wilson," directed by Louis Malle, a sadistic Austrian officer (Alain Delon) commits various S&M misdeeds upon a variety of victims, including a woman (Brigitte Bardot) with whom he plays cards. The officer himself comes to grief when he finds that the Church will not allow him to say an act of contrition. And "Never Bet Your Head," directed by Federico Fellini, updates the Poe original by casting Terence Stamp as a self-indulgent movie star. Driving drunk one evening, the actor literally bets his head that he can escape a potentially fatal accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Jane Fonda, (more)
- 1967
In this provocative sci-fi drama from Alain Resnais, a man wakes up in a hospital after an attempted suicide. He has invented a time machine that has proven effective, but only transports the subject back in time for one minute. Upon his release, he gets his hands on the machine to go back to a time he fondly remembers spending with a woman he apparently has feelings about. The two stroll on the beach before she leaves for Scotland. He follows her, but tragedy ensues and it is not clear if he has killed her or if she died an accidental death. The time-machine angle of the film features a dreamlike series of flashbacks making it unclear if the action is presently unfolding or is merely a vague memory from the past. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, (more)
- 1965
This French version of the notorious spy's life centers less on her romantic escapades, and more on those that reveal the person she actually was during WW I when her German superiors ordered her to seduce the French captain Trintignant so she can steal classified papers from him. Instead she falls in love with him, blows the cover, and ends up convicted of espionage and shot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
- 1963
Jean Gabin plays Charles, an aging gangster, newly released from prison. In fine Bogart tradition, the unrepentant Charles immediately sets to work planning a major casino heist in Cannes. His go-between for this endeavor is a chorus girl, whom Charles's associate Francis (Alain Delon) beds in order to win her confidence. This rapidly-paced suspenser was based on a novel by John Trinian. When first distributed in the US, the film travelled under the title Any Number Can Win. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, (more)
- 1962
In this sword and sandal adventure, Aeneas and his Trojan warriors take on the evil Etruscans to preserve the honor of their hometown. The tale is also known the Last Glory of Troy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1961
This routine film by novice director Jean-Gabriel Albicocco handles the taboo subject of a homosexual relationship between women, though the story still implies that if a man falls in love with a lesbian she can change her sexual orientation. Loosely based on a novel by Honore de Balzac, a skirt-chasing fashion photographer meets a charming young woman who captures his interest immediately. She is not wholly forthcoming, but after a period of time, he realizes that he is in love with her -- she is not just another conquest. It takes awhile before he also realizes that she is the partner of his femme associate who is possessive, at the very least. As it turns out, one corner in this odd triangle is highly unstable. This was one of the early films of Françoise Dorleac, Catherine Deneuve's beautiful sister who was killed in an automobile accident in 1967. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Laforêt, Paul Guers, (more)
- 1961
Popular American actor on the European scene, Eddie Constantine has a role that is slightly out of character for him. Instead of the usual, slightly ironic treatment of a tough guy out to fight gangsters, drug-runners, and other types from the demi-monde of crime, he is Charlie, a man sent up against a serious Nazi war criminal. Charlie has done well for himself but when a close friend asks him to track down the Nazi in Athens, he takes on the job -- his friend's brother was a victim of the Nazi during the war. Charlie runs into the usual resistance and soon finds that the Nazi's philosophy and arrogance have hit closer to home than what he thought. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Constantine, Carla Marlier, (more)
- 1960
The lighthearted comedy Zazie Dans Le Metro, an early directorial effort from Louis Malle, stars Catherine Demongeot as a 12-year-old girl named Zazie. Zazie is forced to travel to Paris when her mother wants to rendezvous with her lover. Zazie is left in the care of Uncle Gabriel (Philippe Noiret), an eccentric transvestite. Both with him, and on her own, Zazie meets a variety of unusual city dwellers, and gets into a series of misadventures that reach their greatest level of wackiness during a café food fight. The film is based on a novel by the distinguished French author Raymond Queneau. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Demongeot, Philippe Noiret, (more)
