Bernard Blier Movies

Marcel Carne and Jacques Prevert's classic of French poetic realism stars Jean Gabin in one of his most famous roles as Francois, a rough, barrel-chested loner who hides out in his apartment awaiting for the police to arrive. Francois has killed a man in a crime of passion, the slimy lothario Valentin (Jules Berry). As he listens in the darkness of his Normandy apartment to the police sirens closing in and getting louder, he recalls the two women that he loved -- Francoise (Jacqueline Laurent) and Clara (Arletty) -- and the evil Valentin, who stole both their hearts and forced Francois into this melancholy plight. The film was later re-made in Hollywood as The Long Night. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Originally titled La Nuit Fantastique, this French romantic farce was filmed in 1942, during the Nazi occupation. Little did the Germans suspect that star Fernand Gravey was spending his "leisure" time serving with the French Secret Army on behalf of the Resistance. In the film, Gravey plays a medical student, while the luscious Michelene Presle is the girl of his dreams. In fact, it is during one of his dreams that he rescues the girl from a Byzantine plot to rob her of her fortune. It's hardly surprising that French audiences would respond to escapist fare like this while the Germans patrolled their streets outside the theater. Fantastic Night finally received U.S. bookings in 1949, by which time Michelene Presle was preparing to make her first Hollywood film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Messieurs Ludovic serves as a showcase for the considerable thespic talents of Odette Joyeaux. Escaping from her grimy coal-mining hometown, Joyeaux intends to seek her fortune in the big city. Within what seems like minutes, she is romantically entangled with trouble-making Jean Chevrier, idealistic engineer Bernard Blier, and rough-hewn but likeable millionaire Marcel Herrand. The film's most inventive sequence, an homage to the silent dramas of old, occurs at the very beginning. Messieurs Ludovic is based on Ludo, the French stage hit by Pierre Scize. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No "story by" credit is bestowed in the 1942 French filmization of Carmen, though its debt to novelist Prosper Merimee and composer George Bizet is more than implicit. Filmed in Spain by a largely French cast and crew, Carmen stars Gallic heartthrob Vivien Romance in the title role, and the equally attractive Jean Marais as Don Jose. Director Christian-Jaque was quite outspoken in his admiration of the western films of John Ford, so it's no surprise that Carmen is staged like a western, with plenty of deep-focus landscape shots of smugglers and soldiers galloping across the horizon. Even the basic story, of Don Jose's dissolution at the hands of the seductive Carmen, lends itself to the western approach, if one thinks of the hero as a federal marshal gone bad through the influence of a clever saloon gal. Carmen received very little play when released in America in 1946, due in part to the 1947 Columbia Technicolor adaptation The Loves of Carmen, which starred Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following a three-year suspension from filmmaking after his Le Corbeau (1943) was judged too critical of his native France, director Henri-Georges Clouzot returned with this thriller that's equal parts crime drama and character study. Suzy Delair stars as Jenny Lamour, an ambitious music hall singer who wants to be a star and is willing to befriend the lecherous old men who ogle her act, inspiring the jealousy of Jenny's husband Maurice Martineau (Bernard Blier). One particular fan of Jenny's is a wealthy financial backer who extends repeated invitations to the entertainer to join him at fine restaurants and his expansive mansion. Armed with a gun, Maurice goes to the estate to confront his rival one night but discovers that the master of the house is already dead, his wife having smashed a bottle of champagne over his head to stave off a sexual advance. Soon, a gruff but dedicated detective, Inspector Antoine (Louis Jouvet) is on the case, with Maurice taking the heat for Jenny. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

L'Ecole Buissoniere could be described as a small-scale Gallic version of Goodbye Mr. Chips. Bernard Blier stars as Pascal, a head-in-the-clouds teacher forced to come down to earth when he is assigned a woebegone rural school. Hoping to stimulate his students, Pascal digresses from the established curriculum, only to run afoul of the hidebound adults in the vicinity. Eventually, however, he is successful with his students--all but one. The climax finds Pascal desperately trying to turn his lone "problem student" around before his license is revoked. The film works best in the one-on-one scenes between Bernard Blier and recalcitrant schoolboy D. Caron. The 115-minute running time was trimmed considerably when L'Ecole Buissoniere made it to American television in the mid-1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Christian-Jaque production was originally released in France as D'Homme a Hommes. Told in flashback, this is the story of 19th-century humanitarian Henri Dunant, who, appalled by the slaughter in the Battle of Solferino, organizes the International Red Cross. Opposed at every turn by the military powers-that-be, Dunant finally triumphs over chauvinism, stupidity and ignorance. Jean Louis Barrault stars as Dunant, while Bernard Blier fulfills the usual "best friend/severest critic" obligations. The Man to Men is at its best in the battle scenes, some of the most disturbingly realistic of their kind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The heroine of La Bonne Tisane (Good Medicine) is a young nurse (Estella Blain) on her first tour of duty. No sooner has she begun making her rounds than she is accosted by a wounded gangster (Bernard Blier), who'd been caught in the crossfire of a territorial takeover. The gangster tries to use the girl as a hostage in an escape bid, but he softens his adversarial attitude towards her as the night wears on. Offering contrast to the sensitive dedicated nurse is the gangster's blowsy, hardbitten gun moll (Madeline Robinson). Standing on the sidelines throughout most of the proceedings is Raymond Pellegrin as the nurse's would-be boyfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Loving husband Charles (Bernard Blier) brings his handsome young friend Maurice (Michel Auclair) home to meet his wife, Fernande (Madeleine Robinson). Charles' equally loving missus is delighted to have Maurice as a guest. A little too delighted, as it turns out. In the course of a single evening, Fernande and Maurice become lovers, then conspire to murder poor Charles. There are too many plot twists to detail here--and besides, it isn't fair to give away surprise endings. Suffice to say that, despite the farcical nature of the plot, L'Invite du Mardi is anything but amusing...especially to the character played by Bernard Blier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide