Suzy Prim Movies
French actress Suzy Prim's long film career began in 1907 when she was still a child and lasted to the early '60s, by which time she had become a femme fatale. She was born Suzanne Arduini in Paris and made her stage debut as a baby. During the latter part of the '60s, Prim became a producer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
Andre Cayatte's Shop Girls of Paris was originally released in 1943 as Au Bonheur des Dames. Adapted from a novel by Emile Zola, the story is a surprisingly contemporary one. When the first major department store is established in Paris, everyone is delighted -- everyone except the Mom-and-Pop store owners, who predict (quite rightly, as it turns out) that they'll soon be put out of business. The film concentrates on the plight of one elderly shopkeeper (Michel Simon) and his orphaned niece (Blanchette Brunoy), who, lacking a steady source of income, goes to work for the larger store. Some critics have likened Shop Girls of Paris to Orson Welles' similarly elegiac The Magnificent Ambersons, though Cayatte's film has a more blatantly tragic denouement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanchette Brunoy, Suzy Prim, (more)
- 1949
The fabled international clown Grock plays himself in this uneven biopic. On the occasion of his retirement, Grock relates the story of his life in flashback. A bit of melodrama is thrown in with a highly suspect WW II adventure. The film concludes with Grock performing his classic piano routine, which was later emulated by Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton in Limelight. Ted Remy portrays the title character in the film's earlier passages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzy Prim, Helena Manson, (more)
- 1949
French filmmaker Julien Duvivier had trouble regaining his popularity after the war; thus, he tried all sorts of subject matter, hoping to land the one plotline that would reap box-office success. In Au Royaume des Cieux, Duvivier aims his sights at a girl's reformatory. Falsely imprisoned after resisting the advances of a wealthy man, Maria (Suzanne Cloutier) is subjected to the spiteful behavior of unbalanced reform-school headmistress Mlle. Chamblas (Suzy Prim). When Maria's true love Pierre (Serge Reggiani) arrives with an escape plan at the ready, the other inmates try to help the couple elude the authorities. A tense, fog-laden climax caps this well-crafted melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Serge Reggiani, Suzanne Cloutier, (more)
- 1937
Although the title of this French melodrama translates as White Cargo, it has nothing to do with the steamy stage play of the same name. Instead, its source was Chemin di Rio, a novel by Jean Masson. A very young Jean-Pierre Aumont plays a crusading reporter who investigates a white-slavery ring. When Aumont disappears, his sweetheart Kate von Nagy vows to continue his work. Inevitably, Nagy falls into the clutches of demonic pimp Jules Berry and jaded madam Suzy Prim. Dismissed by its director Robert Siodmak in later years as "a dirty movie," Cargaison Blanche seems rather sedate when seen today, save for a brief and tasteful nude bathing scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jules Berry, Kaethe von Nagy, (more)
- 1938
Crossroads is the English title for Carrefour, directed in France by German-born Kurt (later Curtis) Bernhardt. Suzy Prin and Jules Berry star in this master blend of amnesia, romance and deceit. A respected French diplomat is blackmailed by criminals, who insist that the diplomat, who'd once suffered a loss of memory, had been a crook in his previous "life". When Kurt Bernhardt emigrated to the US, he was signed by Warner Bros., thus had no opportunity to work on MGM's remake of Carrefour (again titled Crossroads) starring William Powell, Hedy Lamarr and Basil Rathbone. The story would be adapted a third time for the 1950 British melodrama Dead Man's Shoes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jules Berry, Charles Vanel, (more)
