Marie Bell Movies

Thomas (Jacques Charrier) is a sailor who has deserted from the Navy in this gentle French drama. He has found refuge in a seaside bordello. Romantic difficulties blossom as he and Flora (Catherine Rouvert), one of the house's prostitutes, fall in love with each other. When he hurts her, however, the denizens of the house agree that he must leave ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

While his icy wife is away tending to a sick friend, Benedict Boniface (Alec Guinness) has an affair with Marcelle Cot (Gina Lollobrigida), the pretty but neglected wife of the pompous architect Henri (Robert Morley). When Henri unexpectedly returns, Marcelle and Benedict don disguises and hide out to avoid being caught by her husband. The comedy of errors allows for several sight gags and farcical bedroom situations. Peggy Mount is particularly effective as the dominating wife who makes her husband tremble with fear by her very presence. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this romantic drama, a middle-aged gambler tells a casino croupier her life story. The story is told in flashback and chronicles the woman's romantic exploits with men. Though she was involved with many men, only one really touched her heart. He was a bartender who was tragically shot and killed during an attempted robbery. She later marries and has a daughter. Unfortunately she alienates herself from her daughter when she has an affair with her daughter's fiance. Her remorse is short lived. The film jumps back to the present with the woman leaving the casino on the arm of a handsome millionaire. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Legions D'Honneur begins during the final stages of a military court-martial. The tribunal demands that lieutenant Albert Jacquin explain how he received the gunshot wound which prevented him from returning to his regiment. When he refuses to do so, it is determined that Jacquin shot himself to avoid service, and he is stripped of his rank. Re-enlisting as a private, Jacquin at last decides to tell his story in its entirety to his attorney Pierre Renoir. The hero's reminiscences are filled to overflowing with amorous intrigue involving Marie Bell, the wife of his superior officer Charles Vanel. With a final, characteristically self-sacrificial gesture, Jacquin is able to secure Bell's future happiness at the expense of his own. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this episodic French drama, a widow uncovers a 20-year-old dance card from a ball. Just for fun, she decides to find all of her former partners. Her search becomes the framework for the episodes. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Jacques Feyder's sole directorial contribution in 1934 (and his first film since 1931) was the superior Foreign Legion melodrama Le Grand Jeu (The Full Deck). Scripted by frequent Feyder collaborator Charles Spaak, the film focuses on Pierre Martel (Pierre Richard-Willm), whose efforts to support his beloved Florence (Marie Bell) in the style to which she's accustomed cause him to run afoul of the Law. Escaping a charge of embezzlement, Pierre signs up with the Foreign Legion, intending to "forget." After a particularly violent skirmish with the natives, Pierre briefly loses his memory, whereupon he begins keeping time with Irma, a sexy camp-follower whom he imagines to be Florence. When his tour of duty is over, Pierre prepares to return home to Paris to collect an unexpected inheritance. Reunited with the real Florence, he finds he cannot get over Irma, the little trollop who gave him a new lease on life back in the desert. Unwilling to go back to France without Irma, Pierre returns to the Foreign Legion -- where, inevitably, he meets his doom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi