Jacqueline Pierreux Movies
This anthology features three chilling horror stories. "Il Telefono" is credited to Guy de Maupassant, although he never wrote such a story, and concerns a woman (Michele Mercier) receiving telephone calls from beyond the grave. "Wurdulak", by Alexei Tolstoi, stars Boris Karloff as an aging vampire who can only feed on those he loves. Co-starring Mark Damon and Susy Andersen, it is clearly the best story of the three. The final tale, "La Goccia d'Acqua," is falsely credited to Anton Chekhov. It features Jacqueline Pierreux stealing a ring from a corpse she is preparing for burial, only to be murdered by the old woman's ghost. The American version differs in four major areas: the print is shorter, the stories appear in a different order, there is a linking device with Karloff speaking directly to the audience from a foggy void, and Roberto Nicolosi's musical score is replaced with one by lounge-icon Les Baxter. The American release of the film is also missing a comic coda featuring Karloff riding on horseback (or is he?); this appears in most Eurpoean prints of the film, including Mario Bava's original cut. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Michele Mercier, (more)
- 1962
Hampered by over-orchestrated music, smeary color photography and (in the English version at least) poor dubbing, this 1963 French/German adaptation of the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht piece The Three Penny Opera nonetheless has its attractions. Not least of these is the central performance of Curt Jurgens as robber captain MacHeath, whose romance with Polly Peachum (June Ritchie), daughter of beggar king J. J. Peachum (Gert Frobe), puts his life in jeopardy. Hildegarde Neff has an effective cameo as whore-ish Pirate Jenny. For the film's American release, distributor Joseph E. Levine hired Sammy Davis Jr. to play the Ballad Singer, who narrates the story, introduces the scenes, and sings the opera's most famous song "Moritat (The Ballad of Mack the Knife)." Unlike the music in the rest of the film, Davis' rendition of "Mack the Knife" is rearranged in Bobby Darin "pop" fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sammy Davis, Jr., Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1956
Madeline Robinson stars in the opulent seriocomedy Mannequins de Paris. The plot is one of the oldest known to man: a busy businesswoman nearly loses her neglected husband. Robinson plays the female executive, while Ivan Desny is her spouse, a well-known clothing designer. Inasmuch as Desny is surrounded by gorgeous, undraped women, Robinson is going to have to work overtime to win him back. The film spotlights several of Paris' top fashion models, who are decidedly not on the slender side. Mannequins de Paris was filmed in a short-lived widescreen process called Anamorphoscope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Robinson, Ivan Desny, (more)
- 1953
A remake of the 1937 British comedy Where There's a Will, Top of the Form top-bills perennial comic relief Ronald Shiner as a Bilko-like bookmaker. Circumstances dictate that Shiner find himself in charge of a boys' school, where all the students show a natural affinity for gambling. Taking the boys on a tour of the European gaming tables, Shiner gets entangled in a plot to steal a Mona Lisa (not so far-fetched; such a theft actually took place in 1913). With the help of his young charges, Shiner rescues the Da Vinci classic from artnappers. Among Shiner's students are such future luminaries as Anthony Newley and Ronnie Corbett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Eddie Constantine makes his second appearance as Peter Cheyney's hard-boiled FBI agent Lemmy Caution in Cet Homme est Dangereux. Curiously, when first we meet Lemmy, he is a crook on the lam. Actually, our hero is working undercover to entrap a French bank robber. Along the way, he becomes a reluctant kidnapper, snatching dizzy American heiress Constance (Collette Doreal). As things turn out, it is Constance who holds Lemmy prisoner at fade-out time--not that he's complaining about it. Based on Peter Cheyney's novel The Gun Moll Poison Ivy, Cet Homme est Dangereux was simultenously filmed in an English-language version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Constantine, Colette Dereal, (more)
- 1952
Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, (more)
- 1951
Donne e Briganti (Women and Bandits) was the second of two Mario Soldati-directed films released in Europe during the last week of June, 1951 (the first was Je Suis de la Revue). Set in the early 19th century, the film recounts the Robin Hood-like adventures of bandit Michele Pezza (Amedeo Nazzari), better known as Fra Diavolo. This same character was depicted along more villainous lines in the famous 1830 opera by Auber, which was filmed in 1933 as The Devil's Brother, with Dennis King in the title role and Laurel and Hardy as comic relief. In Donne e Briganti, Fra Diavolo is his own comic relief, his tongue firmly in cheek as he robs from the rich, gives to the poor, and takes time out to romance his wife Marietta (Maira Mauban) and mistress Flora (Jacqueline Pierreux). According to this film, Fra Diavolo was also something of a patriot, opposing the invading forces of France. Sumptuously produced, Donne e Briganti falters only in the indecisive camera work by Mario Montuori. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amedeo Nazzari, Maria Mauban, (more)
- 1951
Set in a fancy resort hotel, Le Dindon is based on a stage farce by the inimitable Georges Feydeau. The title, which translates to "The Turkey," refers to the sort of fellow who spends his time romancing the wives of others. All the usual stock characters are in attendance, including the amorous fashion plate, the wry playboy, the ripe-for-cuckolding husband, his impressionable wife, and a pompous, easily deflatable authority figure, in this case a cavalry officer. It was de rigeur for Feydeau to include at least one character with a "funny" physical or vocal impairment. This time, it is the stone-deaf wife of a lecherous bellhop. There's a plot, to be sure, but that plot is soon forgotten amidst a maelstrom of assignations, misunderstandings, misrepresentations and ever-slamming doors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadine Alari, Jacqueline Pierreux, (more)
- 1946
The title of this French domestic comedy translates as Noah's Ark, but there's nothing remotely Biblical about the film. Much of the action takes place aboard a ramshackle houseboat, owned by a very large family. The fun begins when an "outsider" falls in love with one of the family members. Based on a novel by Albert Paraz, L'Arche de Noe bears a slight resemblance to the 1944 Hollywood film Sunday Dinner for a Soldier. Many of its comic situations would resurface in the 1958 Cary GrantSophia Loren vehicle Houseboat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Jacqueline Pierreux, (more)
- 1942
Les Demons de L'Aube was French director Yves Allegret's first film since 1943. Also known as Dawn Devils, the film was designed as a showcase for up-and-coming Gallic leading man Georges Marchal. He plays a patriotic French commando, doing battle against the Nazis in the darkest days of the Occupation. An unabashed flagwaver, Les Demons de L'Aube lacks the personal touch of Allegret's best films. This is in a way understandable; the war was finally over, and the French film industry was anxious to stress the value of teamwork in the recent decimation of the Axis powers (teamwork that wasn't always present during the war itself!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Signoret, Jacqueline Pierreux, (more)
