Charles Vanel Movies

The residents of a remote Swiss mountain village come to believe an ancient oracle in this drama taken from the novel by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. With news of the Spanish Civil War on the radio, the people begin to believe the sun will not return and the world will be forever darkened. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

While leaving her husband, whom she now detests, Alice (Sylvia Kristel) drives into the countryside but must stop at an old house when her windshield cracks mysteriously. She is received at the house as if expected, and spends the night there while her car is being fixed. The next day, she cannot find the highway she turned off of, and returns again to the old house where a young man tells her she must "accept things." Once more she leaves, only to encounter a peasant wedding which is frighteningly boisterous and bawdy, whereupon her windshield breaks again. She returns to the mansion for the last time, where the truth is finally made apparent to her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

After his family tries to kill him and he has been pronounced dead, Michel (Klaus Kinski) returns to vex them. He presents each one with a voodoo doll, warning of their fate. Wandering over the streets of Paris, Michel is the haunted and hunted, as he himself hunts his villainous kin. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A youngish sales employee of a computer firm is blackmailed into helping a group of mysterious Bulgarian industrialists who have come to his office. A government contract is being sought for a businessman who is in danger of bankruptcy. This is the first movie feature by French television director Michel Mitrani. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

An artist grows hateful of commercial demands on his questionable talents when his friend and artist commits suicide. He puts the blame for his friend's death on an art critic and a shady art dealer. He is able to take out his frustrations on the pretentious critic at a party. When an elderly man moves into the boarding house, he brings a machine he invented that can make people realize their subconscious dreams. Hoodlums break in and steal the machine, telling the old man that the young artist is also involved in the crime. This leads to the older man's death and puts more pressure on the artist's already fragile mental state. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A young female film editor specializes in discovering why other women degrade themselves in pornography and prostitution. She has a relationship with a boring artist, and her life is uneventful until she encounters an older, more worldly art dealer. The man shows her his photographs and she is mesmerized by a picture of a naked woman in chains. The man tries to hide the photo, but she is insistent on seeing it. The man admits this is how he gets aroused, by taking pictures of the bound beauties. The woman asks to come to a photo session where she is repulsed and intrigued at the same time. She leaves, but later returns to the man at his office and becomes hooked on his sadomasochistic voyeurism and begs to become the next model for his camera in the upcoming photo session. He brings in another woman and the session degenerates into a lesbian love fest that the man eagerly captures on film. Shamed, debased and degraded, she pulls her car onto a train track and contemplates her demise. Injured but not dead, she is straddled in her hospital bed when the man comes to visit. She goes into a psychedelic hallucination dream sequence in which her sexual escapades flash before her eyes as the man and her artist boyfriend engage in fisticuffs. Yikes! ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this WW II drama, twelve captured French soldiers await their impending executions in a German prison camp. Fortunately, a wily resistance fighter and his men come to rescue the ill-fated dozen. The rescue attempt succeeds, but the rebels become worried when they discover a thirteenth prisoner who has come with the others. This fellow carries no ID, and now the fighters must decide whether he should die on the spot or continue on with the others. One of the group members votes for immediate execution. Later the stranger accompanies the group on a raid and ends up nearly sacrificing his life to save a child from being shot. The rebel leader is not impressed and orders that one of the men kill the stranger down by the river. The dutiful soldier listens to the stranger who tells him the truth: he is a deserter and a fervent pacifist. The soldier allows the deserter to escape. That night the stranger returns and tries to warn the rebels of a Nazi ambush. The group leader heads off to warn the others, but he is too late and they are all recaptured. Later all but the pacifist are hanged. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this espionage drama, international spies stalk a German scientist in possession of important information about a rocket re-entry project. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When young girls continue to disappear from a small, snowbound village, the police sent an officer out to investigate. The officer is approached by a retired government worker who contends the killer is probably someone like themselves. The old man theorizes the murderer kills out of extreme boredom just to liven things up. The policeman follows the clues that lead to the old man. After he kills the old man, the officer is overtaken by the same urge to kill that plagued his adversary. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide