Madeleine Robinson Movies

Some film historians regard Yves Allegret's Une si Jolie Petite Plage (aka Such a Pretty Little Beach and Riptide) as the French director's finest work. Yet, it was twice ignored by American filmgoers when it was released in the U.S. in February and July of 1949. Perhaps those filmgoers weren't prepared for Allegret's merciless, almost sadistic assault on audience sensibilities. Gerard Phillipe plays Pierre, who escapes to a coastal village in Northern France after accidentally killing a famous singer. Pierre had grown up in the village and had hoped to find inner peace by returning to his roots. Instead, the grotesque pettiness of the local townsfolk, the duplicity of friends and "loved ones," and the relentlessly rotten weather conjoin to drive Pierre to desperation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bellman was based on the novel Horseman of Riouclare by Claude Boncompain. Lucien Coedel stars in this steadily-paced melodrama as an alpine bell-ringer. His job is to toll the village bells in order to prevent strangers from getting lost in the snowy peaks. Somewhere along the line, Coedel snaps, and begins abusing his position in order to murder tourists and passersby. The Bellman was originally released in France as Sortileges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Les Chouans is set during the dark days of the French Revolution. The title translates as "The Royalists," and indeed the protagonists are a group of French refugees loyal to the toppled royal family. Operating in Brittany, the royalists make a courageous if futile stand against the Republican army and the pro-revolution police. Based on a novel by Honore de Balzac, the film's screenplay was surreptitiously updated to include a few pro-left sentiments. Heading the cast is Madeline LeBeau -- the then-wife of Marcel Dalio -- whose best-remembered Hollywood role was as the patriotic trollop Yvonne in Casablanca. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The French upper class is chastised in this socially conscious drama that centers on a naive young woman who travels to a mountain resort to be with her fiancé. She is expecting a romantic weekend, but she is terribly disappointed to discover that the wealthy patrons are naught but soulless vessels living only to suck the life out those less fortunate. She is really shocked to discover that her own lover has become one of these useless dilettantes who unfeelingly destroys their relationship when he finds it boring. The young woman then meets a man who works on a local dam. It is he that instills real values in her and saves her from a greedy fellow who wants her. In the end, the girl and the worker run away together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though its title translates as Storm over Asia, this French melodrama bears no relation to the Pudovkin film of the same name. Conrad Veidt stars as a soldier of fortune who spearheads an expedition in Mongolia in hopes of finding hitherto untapped oil reserves. Veidt heads deep into uncharted territory, with his mistress Madeline Robinson by his side and 200 hired hands at his beck and call. As the only woman on the expedition, Robinson has quite a time fending off the lecherous advances of the other oil prospectors. When Veidt manages to offend tribal chieftan Sessue Hayakawa, a native uprising is the inevitable result. Nearly everyone gets killed except the plucky Robinson and the expedition's doctor, Roger Duchesne, who has loved her all along. Tempete sur L'Asie bears a striking resemblance to the 1965 Ursula Andress vehicle Once Before I Die. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide