Jacques Bergerac Movies
During his little more than a decade-long career, French actor Jacques Bergerac was typically cast as the suave, sophisticated European lover in a number of "B" movies. A former lawyer, Bergerac rose to fame by indirection when he married American film-favorite Ginger Rogers in 1953. He co-starred with his new wife in 1954's Twist of Fate, then went on to a brief Hollywood career, playing second leads in such big-budgeters as Les Girls (1957) and Gigi (1958). After his divorce from Rogers, his career descended into such clinkers as 1960's The Hypnotic Eye (which, ironically, may be his most famous film). Jacques Bergerac was also briefly married to actress Dorothy Malone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1967
Jacques Bergerac guests in this episode as international movie idol Jacques Dupres, who shows up at the bank in hopes of financing his latest Hollywood movie. On orders from Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon), Lucy arrives at Jacques' apartment to draft a formal letter of agreement. Unfortunately, our heroine is quickly swept off her feet by DuPres' continental charm--not to mention a few too many sips of champagne! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Bergerac, Roy Roberts, (more)
- 1967
Jacques Bergerac guest stars as King Alexander, the exiled monarch of Sabalia, one of those tiny kingdoms that exists only in the minds of sitcom writers. Hoping to increase the Clampetts' bank account, Mr. Drysdale promotes a romance between Alexander and Elly May. There's only one problem: the king is flat broke. Edward Ashley appears as a yachtsman, while Victoria Carroll is seen as Doreen. "His Royal Highness" made its original CBS appearance on March 8, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Newlywed life is anything but bliss for a woman (Anne Helm), when her husband (Tom Kirk) is plagued by fainting spells every time he contemplates consummating his marriage. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1965
In this African adventure, a big game hunter's 8-year-old son finds fun and danger with his friends: a chimp and an elephant. The trouble begins when the three adventurers venture too far into the jungle and get lost. Later the boy's governess and others launch an exhaustive search for the lad. Though deathly afraid of lions, the brave nanny overcomes her fear just in time to save the boy from becoming a tasty snack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this caper comedy designed for international distribution, Jane (Joan Collins) and Don Giuliano (Vittorio Gassman) are part of a group of currency smugglers who are trying to get their gang's money over the border into Swiss banks. They are following a plan designed by their crafty mastermind Sandro (Jacques Bergerac), but one thing after another goes wrong. When it does, count on the conceited Don Giuliano to make it worse by trying to maintain his inflated sense of himself while he attempts to woo Jane. As is often the case in (Collins) vehicles, she looks glamorous, but viewers are advised that this feature contains an "overacting alert." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Joan Collins, (more)
- 1964
A pre-Man From UNCLE, pre-NCIs David McCallum is cast as Phillipe Bertain, an incredibly naïve young Frenchman who gives a "belle femme" named Ninette (Roxane Berard) a great deal of money so that she can afford to divorce her husband Armand (Jacques Bergerac). Instead, the duplicitous Ninette hands the cash to Armand, who immediately purchases a ski resort. The outraged Phillipe heads to the slopes to confront Armand, but before this can happen the scoundrel is killed in a plane crash. When the police determine that Armand was killed before the crash, Phillipe is arrested for the crime. Sacre bleu! Ou est Monsier Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), s'il vous plait? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Buddy (Morey Amsterdam) and Sally (Rose Marie) can't understand why Rob (Dick Van Dyke) is so hesitant to meet with "The Alan Brady Show"'s singing guest star Jacques Savon (Jacques Bergerac). It turns out that Rob had previously encountered Savon in Paris -- and now feels responsible for breaking up Jacques' marriage. Nor can Rob turn to Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) for advice in this matter: Laura is convinced that it was she who broke up the Savons! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
A light frolic at the beach with sun and sex both foremost on the scene, this standard comedy by director Giulio Petroni is that much better for the comic work of Ugo Tognazzi and Raimondo Vianello as Benito and Adolfo, two undertakers who enjoy a bit of fun at the beach before they have to go in and punch the clock. Also along for the ride are Jean-Pierre Aumont as Valerio and some very attractive women, involved in a series of episodic vignettes about classic situations -- such as mistaken identity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Maria Ferrero, Eddie Bracken, (more)
- 1962
Fury of Achilles (L'Ira di Achille) stars Steve Reeves lookalike Gordon Mitchell in the title role. It's the traditional Greeks vs. Trojans story, with Achilles avoiding extermination due to his seeming invulnerability. After a number of triumphs (many of them drawn from other Greek legends), Achilles is vanquished, due to his fabled heel. Jacques Bergerac also stars in this extravagant sword 'n' sandal piece. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
A young woman on a business trip travels by train from L.A. to San Francisco and finds herself implicated in a murder in this crime drama. The trouble begins as she retires to her sleeping compartment and is knocked unconscious. The next day she wakes up beside the dead body of the woman she had been sharing it with. A police detective arrests her and escorts her off the train. She escapes and is picked up by a passing motorist. He takes her to her home where she discovers another corpse, a friend of hers who was an alcoholic writer. She was letting him stay at her apartment while she was gone. The distraught woman tells the motorist all she knows. She then admits that she is a former mental patient. The motorist becomes suspicious and takes the woman back to her boss, who denies that he sent her on the business trip. Trouble ensues until they learn that the boss was behind it all. The first corpse was his wife. He put the body beside the girl so that so she would be suspected of being a homicidal maniac. The boss kidnaps his hapless employee and takes her to the mountains where he plans to kill her and make it look like a suicide. Fortunately, the motorist trails them and saves the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
A curious "gimmick" movie in the William Castle tradition (though not itself a Castle project), screenings of this film featured a hokey but creative "Hypno-Magic" process allegedly designed to hypnotize the theater audience. The otherwise mundane psycho-thriller plot features Jacques Bergerac as stage mesmerist "The Great Desmond," whose act includes hypnotizing entire audiences into performing rather dull Simon-says maneuvers and such. The real trick, it turns out, involves Desmond's Svengali-like seduction of his more comely female patrons -- most of which end up horribly disfigured the next morning, the victims of apparent self-mutilation. Thanks to several scenes hinting at the obvious hatred Desmond's wife and assistant, Justine (Allison Hayes), harbors toward her husband's pretty subjects, there's not much of a mystery here. Nevertheless, the police are baffled, leading one victim's best friend to set herself up as bait and trap the guilty party -- whose secret is revealed in the "shocking" climax. The Hypno-Magic gimmick, though certainly ineffective, provides some of the film's more hilarious diversions, and thoroughly disarms any potential for suspense. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Bergerac, Merry Anders, (more)
- 1959
A somewhat wooden rendition of an improbable western, this tale of Basques crossing the U.S. in 1847 with a load of grapevines has stock characters in slightly different guises. Susan Hayward is Gabrielle, a member of the Basque party who inexplicably speaks with a French accent (Basques speak their own unique language, and secondarily either Spanish or French.) She and her husband Andres (Carl Esmond), along with the others, are hoping to start a wine-growing industry on the West coast. Jeff Chandler is Lon Bennett, the lascivious-minded guide of the wagon train who openly chases after Gabrielle. Even after Gabrielle's husband is accidentally killed and she is married off, by custom, to his younger brother, Bennett does not relinquish his ardor. Their problematical relationship continues as several adventures befall the group, including the requisite battle with Native Americans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Hayward, Jeff Chandler, (more)
- 1958
Wounded in the French-Algerian war, Sgt. Andre Doniere (Jacques Bergerac) heads back to France in the company of his friend Marcel (Marcel Dalio), who lost a leg saving Andre's life. Although Doniere's return is eagerly awaited by his adoring fiancée, Sybil (Lilyan Chauvin), he is consumed by guilt over the fact that, during his hospital stay, he has fallen in love with another woman named Therese (Susan Kohner). It falls to Marcel to "rescue" his comrade for a second time. This is one of the few Hitchcock episodes without a humorous epilogue -- and for good reason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Les Girls is the Rashomon of MGM musicals. The film is told in flashback, as Mitzi Gaynor and Taina Elg, two-thirds of a popular cabaret trio, attempt to legally block the third, Kay Kendall, from writing her memoirs. Each of "Les Girls" has her own interpretation of the group's previous professional and amorous escapades. To make sense of these wildly diverse recollections, the court must rely upon a fourth party to straighten things out. Enter Gene Kelly, the dancing star who organized "Les Girls" in the first place. But can Kelly be believed? The "truth" of the many reminiscences in Les Girls is secondary to the dazzling beauty of its female stars, and to the delightful musical numbers, the best of which is an extended Marlon Brando parody titled "Why Am I So Gone About That Gal?" This was Gene Kelly's last musical effort for MGM, the studio he joined way back in 1943; the film was the inspiration for the short-lived 1963 TV series Harry's Girls, which starred Larry Blyden, Susan Silo, Dawn Nickerson and Diahn Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, (more)
- 1956
In one of his last appearances in a Hollywood production, Edmund Purdom plays Korean war veteran Paul Quentin. Keeping his promise to his dead war buddy Adrian (Donald Murphy), Quentin arrives at the doorstep of his Adrian's widow Alice (Ida Lupino). Alice and her children welcome Quentin with open arms, little suspecting that his mission includes killing the children as retribution for Alice's alleged infidelities. Ultimately, Quentin grows too fond of the kids to carry out his bloody task, but there's still slimy blackmailer Howard (Jacques Bergerac) to contend with. Strange Intruder is based on a novel by Helen Fowler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Purdom, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1956
Suffering stoically from the realization that her husband is unfaithful, wealthy Irene Cole (Leora Dana) is ardently courted by two different men during her vacation. One of the suitors is a gentleman named Randall Burnside (Ralph Clanton); the other is a royal prince named Burhan (Jacques Bergerac). The latter claims to be so smitten by Irene that he threatens to kill himself if she doesn't leave her husband for his sake. Shortly thereafter, the prince turns up dead -- and the story goes off on a wholly unexpected new tangent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Adapted by Hagar Wilde from his own 1946 Broadway play, this TV version of Made in Heaven offered the once-in-a-lifetime pairing of Imogene Coca and Robert Preston. After several years of marriage, Elsa and Zachary Meredith (Coca, Preston) have a tendency to take each other for granted. All this changes when the couple angrily, and briefly, come to a parting of the ways following a row at a cocktail party. The next morning, Elsa is amazed to discover that she has attracted the attentions of another party guest, suave European Laszlo Vertes (Jacques Bergerac), while Zachary is equally astonished by the attentions lavished upon him by a flashy blonde (Sheila Bond. Peter Lawford serves a host of this frothy Playhouse 90 presentation, which originally aired live from CBS Television Center in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
American reporter Mary Prescott (Claire Trevor) has been given a safe conduct pass by the Iron Curtain dictator whom she has interviewed. En route to West Germany, Mary is approached by East German soccer player Jan Gubak (Jacques Bergerac), who tells her a sob story about a sick sister and an expensive operation. The upshot of all this finds Mary agreeing to smuggle a watch across the border on behalf of Gubak -- with surprising consequences. Hogan's Heroes fans will enjoy the brief appearances of the future Colonel Klink Werner Klemperer and Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) in key supporting roles, while comedy aficionados will recognize perennial Laurel & Hardy foil Charlie Hall as a pool player in Alfred Hitchcock's prologue sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Ginger Rogers and her then-husband Jacques Bergerac costar in this British melodrama, released in the U.K. as The Beautiful Stranger. Impoverished showgirl "Johnny" Victor (Ginger Rogers) moves into the villa owned by her British millionaire sweetheart Louis Galt (Stanley Baker), who has promised to marry her once he secures a divorce from his present wife (yeah, sure). By and by, Johnny falls in love with equally impoverished French artist Pierre Clement (Jacques Bergerac). When Galt is killed, Johnny and Pierre find themselves the chief suspects, especially since all evidence points to them and them alone. Taking it on the lam, the two lovers are carefully monitored by the actual murderer, who was involved in a myriad of illegal activities with the late Mr. Galt. The film's title song, "Love From a Beautiful Stranger," was written by José Ferrer and Ketti Frings, respectively the star and screenwriter of the 1955 film The Shrike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Stanley Baker, (more)
- 1963
- NR
In this comedy, the head of a United Nations department suddenly becomes a father when he stumbles across an abandoned baby in one of the halls. He tries to find a home for the darling and suddenly finds himself surrounded by assorted exotic beauties all trying to win the baby for their country. In the end, though, the bachelor takes the babe for his own. Songs include: "So Wide the World," "Fais Do Do," and "A Global Affair." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
Leslie Caron plays Gigi, a young girl raised by two veteran Parisian courtesans (Hermione Gingold and Isabel Jeans) to be the mistress of wealthy young Gaston (Louis Jourdan). When Gaston falls in love with Gigi and asks her to be his wife, Jeans is appalled: never has anyone in their family ever stooped to anything so bourgeois as marriage! Weaving in and out of the story is Maurice Chevalier as an aging boulevardier who, years earlier, had been in love with Gingold's character. Chevalier gets most of the best Lerner & Loewe tunes, including Thank Heaven for Little Girls, I'm Glad I'm Not Young Any More, and his matchless duet with Gingold, I Remember it Well. Caron's best number (dubbed by Betty Wand) is The Night They Invented Champagne while Jourdan gets the honor of introducing the title song. Filmed on location in Paris, Gigi won several Oscars, including Best Picture; it also represented the successful American movie comeback of Chevalier, who thanks to this film was "forgiven" for his reputed collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, (more)
