Maurice Biraud Movies

This sometimes confusing yet predictable thriller is about two policemen who bust a heroin deal and, after dumping the white powder, take off with the money, but they cannot escape the mob boss hot on their trail -- he wants his money back. After a detective friend is murdered, one of the two policemen (Franck, played by Victor Lannoux) returns the money but the other (Rupert, played by Jean Rochefort) insists on keeping the loot and makes a run for it. In the meantime, Rupert abandons his wife for a new lover, giving an opportunity for Franck to go after the wife -- someone he has always loved. With his marriage in tatters and the police chasing him, Rupert is faced with challenges he is ill-equipped to handle. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The plotline of Le Gitan concerns a devil-may-care "good badman" with gypsy blood flowing through his veins. Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, our hero confounds the authorities in contemporary France. The film makes implications that the attitudes of French society towards the gypsies are to blame for his transformation into a criminal, though the director's sympathies clearly lie with the main character. Alain Delon plays the title role, while Annie Girardot plays a woman who helps him to escape the authorities. Officially a 1975 release, Gypsy may well have been completed several years earlier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the beginning of World War II, while the Germans entered France from the north, many people had reason to believe that the Germans would not treat them kindly, and they fled by train to the south. This French film tells the story of a few of them. Because they were fleeing the best-organized bureaucrats in the world, many of them chose to flee in freight cars, unseen and unnoted. When Meyereu (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is separated from his wife during the escape, he allows a Jewish girl (Romy Schneider) to pose as his wife. As the deception continues, they come to care for each other, but she discreetly disappears when his real wife turns up. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this French family film, the worst-laid plans of an unpleasant, grasping family come to naught in the face of the goodness of Alfred and his crew of zanies. The evil family hopes to take over the house Alfred and his clan live in and would stop at nothing, including witchcraft and murder, to accomplish their aims. Instead, the family members die off one by one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, filmed in Paris and Lebanon, a petty thief visits Beirut and gets involved with an old pal's plan to rob a high-stakes gambler. He also encounters a beautiful woman. He and she head for the mountains after he discovers that his enemy is out to get him. He later phones his pal and learns that his enemy is not going to kill him, instead he wants to assist with the robbery. The thief goes back to Beirut, but then decides not to do the caper. He then goes to the casino, observes the gambler, returns to his friends with the news that their mark has won it big, and leaves them. He and the woman leave to live a crime-free life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Catherine (Marie Darc) is left unmarried and pregnant when her mobster sweetheart is killed in this gangster comedy. With the help of another unmarried mother-to-be, Catherine goes looking for the stash of cash buried by her lover before his death. Soon other thugs and her suspicious neighbors are following their every move in an attempt to recover the lost loot. Contains brief scenes of female nudity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A jealous ex-convict is released from prison and tries to kill the man who had been seeing his girlfriend in this offbeat burlesque comedy. When the plan backfires, the body of the dead ex-con is placed in a bass case. Louise De Funes stars as the man who is mistaken for the killer who is making time with Rockie (Mireille Darc). Michel Serrault and Maurice Biraud co-star with Francis Blanche and Malka Ribowska in this feature directed by Georges Lautner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Jean Gabin plays Charles, an aging gangster, newly released from prison. In fine Bogart tradition, the unrepentant Charles immediately sets to work planning a major casino heist in Cannes. His go-between for this endeavor is a chorus girl, whom Charles's associate Francis (Alain Delon) beds in order to win her confidence. This rapidly-paced suspenser was based on a novel by John Trinian. When first distributed in the US, the film travelled under the title Any Number Can Win. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Julien Duvivier returns to the multistoried format of his earlier omnibus films Tales of Manhattan and Flesh and Fantasy with the 1962 French production The Devil and the Ten Commandments. Actually, there are only seven separate episodes in the film, covering such commandments as "Thou Shalt Not Have Any Gods Before Me", "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother." Each of the vignettes seems to owe more to O. Henry or DeMaupassant than the Book of Exodus, with twist endings carrying the day. The all-star cast includes Michel Simon (Episode One), Dany Saval (Episode Two), Charles Aznavour and Lino Ventura (Episode Three), Micheline Presle, Mel Ferrer and Claude Dauphin (Episode Four); Fernandel (Episode Five); Alain Delon and Danielle Darrieux (Episode Six) and Jean-Claude Brialy (Episode Seven). Best of the batch is the fifth episode, wherein horse-faced Fernandel declares that he is God. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide