Valentine Tessier Movies

In this comedy, a loving wife (Bibi Andersson) recovers the attentions of her husband after he takes a mistress. She does this by making friends with the mistress then subtly sabotaging her husband's romantic excursions. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Jean Gabin once again stars as that other famous French detective Inspector Maigret in this murder mystery that is less a mystery than it is a psychological exercise. When the apparently slow but actually clear-headed Maigret returns to the small town where he grew up, he is called upon to help out a Countess (Valentine Tessier) who is threatened by someone unidentified. As Maigret reminisces and goes back over his past, including his romantic interest in the Countess, she ends up murdered and he has a new case on his hands. Rather than go the way of lab tests and photos of the crime scene, Maigret starts to analyze the underlying emotional currents in the townspeople themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Better known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this opulent French production is the second talkie version of Victor Hugo's famous novel. Buried under mounds of latex, Anthony Quinn does his best as the deformed bellringer Quasimodo, though he comes off more as a punchdrunk ex-pug than a literal interpretation of Hugo's tragic protagonist. Somewhat more effective within the film's framework is Gina Lollobrigida as gypsy dancing girl Esmerelda, whose friendship with Quasimodo motivates the story. As in previous adaptations of the Hugo novel, the villain Frolio (Alain Cluny), originally a priest, is given a less-controversial station in life: in this case, he is an alchemist rather than a man of the cloth. Otherwise, Notre Dame de Paris is one of the more faithful renditions of the original novel, even unto retaining Hugo's unhappy ending. When first released in the U.S. by Allied Artists, the film was titled Hunchback of Paris, to avoid a copyright conflict with RKO's 1939 adaptation of Hunchback of Notre Dame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

La Niege Etait Sale (The Snow Was Dirty) is based on a novel and play by the phenomenally prolific Georges Simenon. Upon learning that his mother was a prostitute, Frank (Daniel Gelin) dejectedly vows that he, too, will live a life of debauchery. Part of his self-degradation program is to kill someone, and since the story takes place during the Nazi occupation of France, he chooses a German officer as his victim. His steady descent into psychosis and depravity becomes his ultimate undoing.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blonde French sex symbol Martine Carol is incongruously cast as the title character in Lucrece Borgia. The bloody excesses of the incestuous Borgia family during the Renaissance are given ample screen time, albeit within the bounds of reasonably good taste. Mexico's Pedro Armendariz struts and frets as the cruelly ambitious Cesar Borgia, who forces his sister Lucrece into a marriage of convenience. Depicted with historical accuracy as a relatively innocent victim of circumstance, Lucrece never utilizes poison as a weapon in the course of the film, though she does manage to inflict bodily injury on Cesar when the latter threatens her romance with the handsome Aragon (Massimo Serato). The highlight of Lucrece Borgia was Martine Carol's nude bathing scene, only a portion of which made it to American theatre screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Justice est Faite, French director Andre Cayatte and his favorite screenwriter Charles Spaak tackle the delicate issue of euthanasia. The story is related in flashback, from the vantage point of a murder trial. The central character is Marceline (Valentine Tessier), who kills her incurably ill lover at his request. Emphasis is placed not on the crime itself, but on the thought processes and legal strategies of the prosecution and defense. Justice est Faite won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Its chance for success in English-speaking countries was hampered somewhat by the film's overabundance of dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

French director Henri Decoin was married to actress Danielle Darrieux for nearly seven years during which time he cast her in several uninspiring vehicles such as this one. Darrieux plays Lydia, a struggling law student who poses as the estranged daughter of famous historian Jacques Ferney (Charles Vanel). She abuses Ferney's confidence in order to make him adopt her, thus ending her financial problems. Later, the fledgling lawyer finds herself in court, defending a woman in similar circumstances. Vanel and Darrieux are quite good in their early scenes, but the last part of the film seems wooden and contrived. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Eugene Labiche and Marc Michel's effervescent French farce An Italian Straw Hat was gracefully adapted for the screen by director René Clair. Albert Prejean plays a well-meaning fellow who is on the way to his wedding. While en route, Prejean's horse has the bad manners to eat the expensive hat of a lovely young woman. The girl is beside herself, so Prejean gallantly offers to postpone his wedding until he can locate an identical chapeau, thereby setting in motion an endless series of comic misunderstandings. More than one historian has noted that Albert Prejean is made up to look like American two-reel comedian Charley Chase, most of whose "Imagine my embarrassment!" films were constructed pretty much along the same lines as An Italian Straw Hat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide