Mireille Perrey Movies
Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, (more)
- 1960
The oft-filmed Maurice Renard novel Hands of Orlac was given another cinematic go-round in this Franco-British production. Famed concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Mel Ferrer) survives a plane crash, but his hands are permanently destroyed. Helpful surgeon Volcheff (Donald Wolfit) grafts a pair of new hands on the hapless Orlac. Unfortunately, they're the hands of an executed murderer--useless for a pianist, but quite handy (no pun intended) for less delicate work. Before long, Orlac is convinced that he himself has become a killer thanks to his new extremeties. Two-bit magician Nero (Christopher Lee) decides to exploit Orlac's fears for his own financial gain, with horrifying results. Originally filmed in 1959, Hands of Orlac was finally released in the US in 1964 . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Ferrer, Dany Carrel, (more)
- 1959
In this French drama a horse dealer is quite surprised when one of his mares foals a green colt. The verdant critter brings his family fame and fortune. When the mare dies, her picture is hung in a prominent place in the house. It is not long after her death, that the dealer dies, leaving his land to his two sons. Things are well until a jealous neighbor turns them in to the Prussians. When the boy's mother gives herself to a Prussian officer to save her son, she does not realize that her son and his friends are under the bed. The lad swears to have revenge on the traitorous neighbor, and indeed he does. Fifteen years later, the boy seduces his neighbor's daughter. Unfortunately his brother, not knowing of his mother's disgrace, nominates the wicked neighbor for mayor. The vengeful brother is even more enraged when he discovers that the neighbor's family has known about the betrayal all along. To add insult to injury, his daughter has fallen in love with the neighbor's son! Unable to bear it any longer, the brother forces the neighbor's son under his bed and makes him listen to the love-making between the brother and the boy's mother (who willingly sacrifices her honor for him.) ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Francis Blanche, (more)
- 1953
The winning combination of star Fernandel and director Henri Verneuil scored another success with 1953's Carnaval. Fernandel plays Dardamelle, an architect who is only mildly put out when he discovers that his wife Francine (Jacqueline Pagnol) has been unfaithful. In fact, he takes great pride that Francine is so attractive to another man, bragging about her indiscretion to all his friends. He even founds an organization for cuckolded husbands, culminating in a carnival parade float celebrating his friends' "betrayal." The satiric mood is broken at the finale, giving way to unexpected sentimentality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Jacqueline Pagnol, (more)
Max Ophüls' masterpiece stars Danielle Darrieux as the titular Madame Louise de..., who in the film's opening scenes is forced to discreetly sell a pair of earrings, a gift from her military officer husband Andre (Charles Boyer), in order to make good on her debts. After she claims the earrings to be lost, the story of their possible theft hits the newspapers, prompting the jeweler who bought them (Jean Debucourt) to secretly sell them back to Andre, who then gives him to his mistress Lola (Lia Di Leo) as she prepares to leave for a holiday in Constantinople. There, the earrings again change hands as Lola pawns them to cover her gambling losses. They are then purchased by Donati, an Italian diplomat (Vittorio de Sica) on his way to France to meet with Andre. Of course, the earrings soon find their way back to Louise. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1952
Filmed in 1950 as Le Rosier de Madame Husson, The Prize was produced and scripted by Marcel Pagnol, of "The Marseilles Trilogy" fame. The plot is motivated by a contest, wherein a prize of 100,000 francs will be bestowed upon the most virtuous maiden in a tiny French village. Virtue being a scarce commodity hereabouts, the money is eventually claimed by a young man named Isidore (Bourvil). Once the farcical situation is played for all it's worth, the story segues into a comedy of errors, culminating in an episode in a faraway house of ill repute. The upshot of all this is that Isidore loses the crown of virtue almost as quickly as he won it. Jacqueline Pagnol, the wife of Marcel Pagnol, has an amusing role as a coquettish farm lass. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil
- 1951
Longtime French film favorite Arletty is decidedly the star of L'Amour, Madame. Cast as "herself," the actress is required early in the proceedings to share her railroad sleeping car with star-struck young Francois (Francois Perier). It's all very innocent, of course, and the two part as good friends when they reach their destination. But the boy's publicity-hungry mother (Mirielle Perrey) blows the incident all out of proportion, and before long the couple is being linked romantically in the newspapers. This misguided publicity stunt blows up in the mother's face, but the young man emerges from the experience a better and more successful fellow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arletty, François Perier, (more)
- 1951
Jules Romain's satirical theatre piece Dr. Knock was brought to the screen by director Guy Lefranc in 1950. Louis Jouvet plays the title character, a medical charlatan who banks upon the hypochondria of others. He convinces every resident in a small French village that they're suffering from some malady or other, and soon he's doing a land-office business. Dramatic irony is achieved when Dr. Knock ultimately becomes a victim of his own success. Though Dr. Knock would probably work better on stage than on film, the end result is for the most part quite satisfying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Pierre Renoir, (more)
- 1951
Though Yvonne de Carlo is top billed in Hotel Sahara, the film is stolen hands-down by second-billed Peter Ustinov. The scene is a desert hotel, smack dab in the middle of neutral territory during WW II. Hotel owner Emad (Ustinov) cheerfully changes the decor--and his loyalties--depending upon which army is enjoying his hospitality. Likewise, Emad's sexy fiancee Yasmin (Yvonne DeCarlo) is equally effusive to both the Allies and the Axis. Complications ensue when the British, German and French armies converge upon the hotel all at once. The film's punchline is a beauty. Hotel Sahara is an early directorial effort by Ken Annakin, who later helmed such serious war flicks as The Longest Day and Battle of the Bulge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Peter Ustinov, (more)
- 1950
Miquette et sa Mere was the second of Henri-Georges Clouzot's directorial efforts of 1949. Co-scripted by Clouzot, this lighthearted film is easier to digest than the director's more celebrated mysteries and melodramas. Daniele Delorme plays Miquette, a winsome lass who aspires to be an actress. She runs off with a lascivious nobleman (Saturnin Fabre) who promises to make her a star. When Miquette's mother (Mirelle Perrey) searches for her wandering daughter, she finds the girl working with a ragtag touring company. The mother takes a job with the troupe, if for no other reason than to keep the lecherous nobleman away from Miquette. The film works best when re-creating the milieu of 19th-century provincial theatre; standing out in the proceedings is Louis Jouvet as Monchablon, the sort of actor for whom the word "ham" was invented. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jouvet, Bourvil, (more)
- 1949
As always, French filmmaker Sacha Guitry wore several hats during the making of Toa. Guitry directed the film, wrote the script (from his own stage play), and cast himself in the leading role of playwright Michel Desnoyers. When his jealous mistress leaves him, Desnoyers finds an emotional outlet for his disappointment by writing a play about the situation. On opening night, Desnoyer's ex-lover sits in the audience and disrupts the proceedings. She then pulls a "life imitates art" by repeating the behavior of the play's fictional heroine. All turns out well when it is realized that the whole megillah was based on a silly misunderstanding. As for the title Toa, well, that too is explained towards the end. The film was the third 1949 release for the indefatigable Monsieur Guitry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Lana Marconi, (more)
- 1949
Like his earlier Monsieur Vincent, Maurice Cloche's Docteur Laennec is a lovingly rendered biography of a famed humanitarian. In this instance, the subject is the inventor of the stethoscope, who was forced to battle the hidebound medical hierarchy of his time to prove the far-reaching importance of his creation. Cloche wastes little time on Dr. Laennec's private life, adopting instead an episode retelling of his medical accomplishments. The film wasn't altogether adaptable to American screens, since the abundance of dialogue made subtitling (the preferred translation method of the time) difficult. In the title role, Pierre Blanchar once again offers a first-rate characterization. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Blanchar, Pierre Dux, (more)
- 1946
Sixteenth-century Flanders provides the colorful backdrop for this filmization of Sardou's play Patric. Pierre Blanchar plays the title character, a fearless swashbuckler who leads a revolt against the Spanish conquerors of Holland. Blanchar's chief aide, played by Jean Desailly, is utterly indispensable to "the cause." It therefore follows that Blanchar pretends to be blind to his wife's torrid romance with the handsome Desailly. Patric is at its best in the action sequences; the love story is handled in a curiously old-fashioned, stodgy manner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Mauban, Mireille Perrey, (more)
