Francis Blanche Movies
French actor Francis Blanche played comic leads and supporting roles on stage, screen, and television. He is the son of stage and screen actor Louis Blanche, and began his film career in the late 1940s. In film he has primarily played character roles. When not appearing in films, Blanche frequently performed live in music halls and cabarets. He also occasionally wrote theatrical farces, revues, songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1968
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
- 1968
This slapstick comedy concerns a college professor who stages a one-man vendetta against television. A hare-brained inventor has produced an aerosol spray that when applied effectively renders television antennae useless. Armand (Bourvil) enlists the help of a gymnast who scales heights to apply the spray to the receivers of his students to keep them from being polluted by the senseless medium. Soon the stuffy network executives launch an all-out search for the perpetrator as television revenues plummet. The police are soon called in to solve the mystery as the professor and his crew slowly move towards their ultimate goal of spraying the Eiffel tower. Armand demands an audience with the President and uses his threat to cut off all television to insure the meeting will take place. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Francis Blanche, (more)
- 1967
Matou is an innocuous, gentle-looking man. He is married to a formidable, even a frightening woman, who is as dissatisfied with him as he is with her. He knows everything there is to know about restoring and authenticating manuscripts, particularly ancient ones, through his job at the museum. One day, it occurs to him that his skills could be put to use in a more personal way, and he embarks on a private career of re-arranging the documents of people who have had the misfortune to be married to the wrong people. When a policeman client of his seeks to unmask Matou's activities, he discovers that the power of the meek-looking man's unassailable documentation is greater than he had imagined. Even when the police are truly on his trail, there is little they can do. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rich, Michel Serrault, (more)
- 1967
In this anthology, six French filmmakers each contributed a vignette, offering their take on the history of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Mercier, Elsa Martinelli, (more)
- 1967
Salene (Mireille Darc) is a free-spirited female who tries to reform the petty thief Carl (Hardy Kruger) when she falls in love in this light romantic drama. She spends the majority of the film bedding down with men she chooses or are chosen for her by close personal friends. Salene and Carl run away together and leave his two cohorts to botch the planned robbery of a millionaire gambler. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mireille Darc, Hardy Kruger, (more)
Belle de Jour dramatizes the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favorite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve stars as a wealthy but bored newlywed, eager to taste life to the fullest. She seemingly gets her wish early in the film when she is kidnapped, tied to a tree, and gang-raped. It turns out that this is only a daydream, but her subsequent visits to a neighboring brothel, where she offers her services, certainly seem to be real. This illusion/reality dichotomy extends to the final scenes, in which we are offered two possible endings. Thanks to a question of copyright and ownership, Belle de Jour disappeared from view shortly after its 1967 release, not even resurfacing on videotape. When it was reissued theatrically in 1994, many critics placed the perplexing but mesmerizing film on their lists of that year's best films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, (more)
- 1966
A doctor joins a group opposed to Napoleon in this drama. The physician believes the Emperor is a tyrant and must be eliminated. When he learns that the terrorists would sacrifice innocent victims in order to carry out the bloody mission, the doctor balks at helping the cause. A twist of fate has the Emperor scheduled to stop at the doctor's house on his march to Russia, but the doctor has second thoughts about his involvement in the assassination attempt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noël-Noël, Michel Galabru, (more)
- 1965
In this French farce, a lazy member of a family of down-and-out aristocrats refuses to help the destitute family survive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Jean Poiret, (more)
- 1964
Alain Delon stars as twin brothers in Christian-Jaque's film based on a novel from Alexandre Dumas. Set in 18th century France during rumblings of revolution, Guillaume De Saint-Preux is the legendary Black Tulip, battling for the people against the monarchy. In reality, he is not much more than a self-serving thief who steals from the rich in the name of the people, but keeps it for himself rather than giving to those in need. After his face is scarred to mark him as a bandit, he enlists the aid of his identical twin, Julien, to carry on his work. Unfortunately for him, Julien is a revolutionary at heart and the ensuing events are nowhere close to Guillaume's expectations. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, Dawn Addams, (more)
- 1964
A diverse group of friends gather to celebrate a witless woman's birthday in this comedy drama set in France during World War II. The guests include an uncle who is a Nazi collaborator, a blind war veteran, a simpering physician, an arrogant educator, a patriotic girl, and the husband of the guest of honor. When some German soldiers are killed outside the house, the group is told by the Gestapo that they must choose among themselves two who will be shot if the killer is not caught. If two victims are not chosen, all seven at the party will be captured. Things sound pretty grim, but the black comedy begins when all seven try to save themselves by any means possible. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- France Anglade, Francis Blanche, (more)
- 1964
The attempts of four secret agents to get a scientist's widow to share her husbands secrets form the basis of this comedy. The rival spies come from France, Russia, Switzerland, and Germany. The woman presents a real challenge as she is a retired stripper (her husband died in a brothel). All of the spies attempt to seduce her. More merriment ensues when the CIA and the Chinese Communists get involved. Finally the suave Frenchman succeeds. Afterwards he gets in trouble with his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1964
Triquet (Bourvil) is a policeman who is forced to retire early when he nabs too many crooks while he is not on the clock in this satirical crime comedy. He captures a criminal who is headed for the guillotine, but the condemned man escapes when the instrument of death malfunctions. Triquet is called on to find the crook and convince him that, according to the law of the land, since the execution attempt failed, he is free from his death sentence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Jean-Louis Barrault, (more)
- 1964
This anthology helmed by four talented filmmakers, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Hiromichi Horikawa, and Roman Polanski, allows viewers to meet and observe four international con artists. Each story is set within a different city. "Amsterdam" follows the attempts of a seductive Dutch woman to entice an elderly man into buying her an expensive necklace in exchange for sex. He does, and she immediately runs away and uses the bauble, not realizing that it is worth a fortune, to purchase a parrot. In "Paris," a con man sells a tourist rube the Eiffel Tower. The entrepreneurial dolt ends up arrested after trying to charge an admission fee to visitors. "Naples" centers on a band of hookers who listen to their pimp and seek out old men in retirement villages. They convince the old fellows to marry them so they will not be forced to leave the city. Unfortunately for the pimp, the delighted geezers will not allow their brides to work. In the grim finale "Tokyo," a greedy Japanese barmaid serves her aged escort too many noodles. He promptly chokes to death and after he falls, she yanks out his teeth and runs them to a pawn shop. She is hoping they are platinum. They aren't and she is arrested for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Cassel, Francis Blanche, (more)
