Jacques Sernas Movies

Since Moliere's plays are national classics of France, an air of reverence surrounds them. However, they are for the most part comedies based on older commedia del'arte storylines and acting conventions (which most closely resemble the broad humor of the American vaudeville or the British music halls). Moliere's big innovation was to give the stock characters from these ancient themes an actual script to follow, rather than leaving them to improvise their own lines. His lines were usually much, much wittier. Otherwise, these tales are every bit as farcical (and sometimes slapstick) as anything from The Three Stooges or, for that matter, the classical farces of Plautus. However, when the actors ham it up in their parts too much, eyebrows are raised. This multinational production of Moliere's classic L'Avare, or The Miser is an excellent case in point. The lead role of Arpagone, the miser, is played exhuberantly by Alberto Sordi, who for years has traded (on and off the stage) on his pinched, miserly appearance and his romantic skittishness - somewhat akin to the shtik perfected by Jack Benny in the U.S. These characteristics also fit the role to a "T." In the story, the miserly widower is trying to arrange things for the maximum safety of his funds and to prevent his children from doing something stupid, like marrying poor people. In the meantime, his well-known wealth has made him the target of sinister matrimonial designs by the murderous sister of a powerful cardinal. He decides to find a suitable bride for himself to stave off this unhappy prospect, and at the same time arrange good marriages for his son and daughter (who have other people in mind). A triple wedding will cost little more than a single one, and will save him lots of money. Needless to say, everything goes wrong (and finally goes right) in this romantic farce. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Brigett Fossey stars as a repressed young nurse who hopes that moving from the city to the country will open up new vistas in her life (thereby reversing the usual country-to-city route of most movie heroines!) She meets and falls in love with bachelor Jacques Serre, likewise a free spirit. Though Fossey and Serre are attracted to one another, both value their freedom too much to make a firm commitment. As they draw closer, the twosome compare their own lifestyles with those of the colorful country folk all around them. The original French title of this easy-going romantic drama is Le Pays Bleu. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An Israeli doctor (Helmut Griem) is working with guerrillas at an enclave when the Palestinians attempt to blow up a dance-hall. The doctor is stunned to discover an old friend among the terrorist dead. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

The Balearic Caper is a West German gold-hunt escapade. The film zeroes in on the Balearic Islands, where a sunken treasure has been located. The island is besieged by legitimate archaeologists and crooked fortune hunters, some of whom will go to any lengths to claim the booty. Three people are murdered before anyone actually gets to the treasure itself. When released to American TV, The Balearic Caper was ballyhooed as an espionage drama, due to the presence in the cast of two veterans from the James Bond films: Daniela Bianchi (From Russia With Love) and Harold Sakata (Goldfinger). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

La Guerre Secrete is divided into four separate vignettes, each scene representing a day in the life of international espionage agents. Stories involve a secret agent (Vittorio Gassman) who goes undercover as a kidnapper, an attempt to impede a Russian attack on two submarines, and an undercover agent confronting a traitor in the Berlin offices of the CIA. Linking the stories is Robert Ryan as a US Intelligence chief. Terence Young directed the English-language sequences, while Christian-Jacques and Carlo Lizzani handled the French and Italian sequences, respectively. German director Werner Klinger's name does not appear on the US credits of The Dirty Game, inasmuch as his scenes were cut from all American prints. Dirty Game sank without a trace on its initial release, only to pop up on television, intermittently, throughout the '70s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This unexceptional Duel of the Titans takes place on two different levels at once. The legendary brothers Romulus and Remus go at it to see who will ultimately survive and found the city of Caesars. And the slightly less legendary but still impressive Steve Reeves (Romulus) and Gordon Scott (Remus) are brought into a kind of body-building competition. Romulus and Remus are shown from their earliest beginnings as abandoned babes on the Tiber River, destined to face all sorts of challenges. First come their adventures after they are adopted by a female wolf as her own offspring. Then they later handle catastrophes like an erupting volcano or hand-to-paw combat with an irate bear. Once the two brothers have reached adulthood, they become enemies, as Remus seeks to aggrandize his power and Romulus seeks to cut him down to size. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Centurions was initially released in the US The Centurion (some difference). Jacques Sernas heads the cast as a Roman gladiator sent on a diplomatic mission to Greece. Sernas's task is to convince the Greeks to acquiesce to Roman rule, but he is opposed by a group of freedom advocates (among them John Drew Barrymore). The plot congeals when Sernas falls in love with Gianni Santuccio, daughter of the head of the anti-Rome faction. Originally lensed in Italy as Il Conquistatore di Corinto, Centurions has also been exhibited under the literally translated title Conqueror of Corinth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A beautiful warrior queen battles it out with her rivals in this adventure fantasy set in the 1400s. As a girl, the Hun girl was orphaned when her tribe's enemies attack and raze her village. She then is raised by a friendly tribe and with them learns warrior's ways. Complicating her upcoming battle is the fact that she has fallen in love with the enemy leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set in ancient Rome, this film follows the struggle of Roman triplets as they battle their Alban arch-enemies to prevent Rome from being annexed to Alba. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In one of the most widely seen and acclaimed European movies of the 1960s, Federico Fellini featured Marcello Mastrioanni as gossip columnist Marcello Rubini. Having left his dreary provincial existence behind, Marcello wanders through an ultra-modern, ultra-sophisticated, ultra-decadent Rome. He yearns to write seriously, but his inconsequential newspaper pieces bring in more money, and he's too lazy to argue with this setup. He attaches himself to a bored socialite (Anouk Aimée), whose search for thrills brings them in contact with a bisexual prostitute. The next day, Marcello juggles a personal tragedy (the attempted suicide of his mistress (Yvonne Furneaux)) with the demands of his profession (an interview with none-too-deep film star Anita Ekberg). Throughout his adventures, Marcello's dreams, fantasies, and nightmares are mirrored by the hedonism around him. With a shrug, he concludes that, while his lifestyle is shallow and ultimately pointless, there's nothing he can do to change it and so he might as well enjoy it. Fellini's hallucinatory, circus-like depictions of modern life first earned the adjective "Felliniesque" in this celebrated movie, which also traded on the idea of Rome as a hotbed of sex and decadence. A huge worldwide success, La Dolce Vita won several awards, including a New York Film Critics CIrcle award for Best Foreign Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide