Camille Bert Movies

A real-life Parisian police detective is credited for the screenplay of Police Mondaine. The story focuses on a manhunt for Salviati, a notorious trafficker in narcotics played by Charles Vanel. The head crook already has plenty of problems on his mind, not least of which are the efforts by two-bit thug Scoppa (Jean-Louis Barrault) to encroach upon Salviati's operation. Calmly biding his time, police inspector Picard (Pierre Larquey) simply gathers clues and waits until the crooks fall out before moving in for the kill. The film's two directors had obviously seen quite a few American crime melodramas; one half-expects James Cagney to pop up and shout "Sacre bleu!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Voted 1936's best picture by a circle of prestigious French critics, Jean Renoir's The Lower Depths (Les Bas-Fonds) is based on the "gutter" play by Russian author Maxim Gorky. Louis Jouvet plays The Baron, forced by circumstance to give up his life of luxury and to set up residence in the slums of Paris. As Jouvet observes the passing parade, he bears witness to the frustrated romance between Jean Gabin and Junie Astor, the thwarted dreams of actor Robert Le Vigan, and the oppressive cruelties of landlord Vladimir Sokoloff. The Lower Depths surprised Renoir's admirers, who weren't used to seeing the director involve himself in so sordid and depressing a tale. Actually, the project was brought to Renoir by a producer friend of his, who secured the director's services by promising to provide Louis Jouvet and Jean Gabin as the leading actors. Renoir's The Lower Depths would make a fascinating companion piece to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation of the same Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

Filmed in French Morocco, Itto's dialogue is spoken primarily in the tribal Chleuh language. The jingoistic story concerns a series of clashes between French occupational forces and a rebellious Chleuh chieftain. Itto (Simone Berriau), chief's daughter, becomes embroiled in a romance with a Moroccan tribesman who has gone over to the French side. It is implied in Itto that it's okay to betray one's own people if it will preserve French colonialism in Africa. To modern viewers, the rampant chauvinism in Itto is a difficult pill to swallow. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Maurice Tourneur production is based on the old theatrical warhorse The Two Orphans, previously (and more famously) filmed by D. W. Griffith as Orphans of the Storm. Rosaine Derain and Renne Saint-Cyr star as sister Louise and Henriette, cruelly separated early in the proceedings and kept apart by fate, villainy and deprivation until the very last scene. Kidnapped by gypsies, the blind Louise is forced to beg in the streets, while Henriette searches desperately for her missing sister. In the end, however, it is Louise who rescues Henriette from a horrible fate. Filmed in 1933, Les Deux Orphelins came to the U.S. in a crudely subtitled version the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Julien Duvivier's first talking picture, David Golder was based on a novel by Irene Nemirowsky. Harry Baur plays the title character, a poor but enterprising Polish Jew who re-invents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. Now a millionaire, Golder relocates to Paris, while his profligate wife and daughter spend his money at an exhausting rate in Biarritz. When he tries to curb their spending, his wife spitefully tells him that she has been unfaithful for years and that his beloved daughter is not his child. She further dares him to "do something" about her appalling behavior. Golder gets his revenge by deliberately allowing his business to collapse, forcing his wife to take drastic measures to recoup her wealth. As a final touch, Golder enters into an oil deal that will net him a fortune then signs over all the money to his daughter -- on the proviso that his wife is cut off without a penny. This done, David Golder dies in self-imposed poverty, having learned a bitter lesson about money and happiness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Chess Player (Le Jouer D'Echecs) is based on an old European fable about a despotic king who came to grief via his obsession with a mechanical chess-playing machine. For the purposes of this film, the fable is incorporated in an inspirational story about a young, courageous Polish woman, a patriot in the Joan of Arc mold. The action takes place during the reign of Czarish Catherine II, when Poland was under the thumb of the Russians. The film's dramatic highlight was one of the most astonishing sequences in all of French cinema: On the verge of madness because her beloved Polish army is being mercilessly slaughtered by the Russians, the heroine sits down at her piano and begins playing maniacally -- whereupon she hallucinates that the Poles have won the battle and are marching homeward in triumph Filmed in 1927, The Chess Player was released in the U.S. three years later.


. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi