Charles Vanel Movies
An actor from the age of 16, when he appeared in a Parisian production of Hamlet, Charles Vanel made his screen bow in the 1912 film Jim Crow. He would eventually enjoy the longest movie career of any French actor, toting up well over 200 starring appearances. He was frequently seen in the films of screenwriter Jacques de Baroncelli; he also turned director on two occasions, helming 1929's Dans la Nuit and 1935's Le Coup de Minuit. His popularity diminished during the war years, but he was able to stage a comeback as a member of director Henri-Georges Clouzot's stock company. He made only one appearance in a Hollywood production, playing a key role in Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. The recipient of a lifetime achievement award at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, Charles Vanel retired in 1982, only to make another wholly unexpected comeback at the age of 85. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1938
Legions D'Honneur begins during the final stages of a military court-martial. The tribunal demands that lieutenant Albert Jacquin explain how he received the gunshot wound which prevented him from returning to his regiment. When he refuses to do so, it is determined that Jacquin shot himself to avoid service, and he is stripped of his rank. Re-enlisting as a private, Jacquin at last decides to tell his story in its entirety to his attorney Pierre Renoir. The hero's reminiscences are filled to overflowing with amorous intrigue involving Marie Bell, the wife of his superior officer Charles Vanel. With a final, characteristically self-sacrificial gesture, Jacquin is able to secure Bell's future happiness at the expense of his own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Marie Bell, (more)
- 1938
Though its title and director are Russian, The Volga Boatmen was lensed in its entirety in France. Set in pre-revolutionary days, the story concentrates on the miserable lives of the boatmen who pull their merchant vessels up and down the Volga. When army officer Vadime Borzine (Pierre Blanchar)is caught in a compromising position with the wife of his commander, Borzine is punished by being forced to join the ranks of the Volga boatmen. Fate intervenes when a yacht carrying his sweetheart catches fire, enabling Vadime to perform conspicuous acts of bravery, thereby clearing his name. Though not a remake of the 1927 Cecil B. DeMille film of the same name, both versions of The Volga Boatmen have a great deal in common. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Korene, Pierre Blanchar, (more)
- 1938
SOS Sahara is set in a forlorn desert outpost, manned by French officers. Like the rest of his men, commander Charles Vanel has come to this godforsaken spot to forget and to be forgotten. Complicating matters is the arrival of Vanel's faithless wife Marta Labarr, who rapidly becomes the object of lust for the other men. Labarr's affair with young officer Jean-Pierre Aumont at first arouses the ire of the taciturn Vanel, but when the chips are down he puts duty above personal feelings and saves Aumont's life. SOS Sahara was partially remade in 1964 as Station Six Sahara, with Carroll Baker in the Marta Labarr role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Marta Labarr, (more)
- 1938
Crossroads is the English title for Carrefour, directed in France by German-born Kurt (later Curtis) Bernhardt. Suzy Prin and Jules Berry star in this master blend of amnesia, romance and deceit. A respected French diplomat is blackmailed by criminals, who insist that the diplomat, who'd once suffered a loss of memory, had been a crook in his previous "life". When Kurt Bernhardt emigrated to the US, he was signed by Warner Bros., thus had no opportunity to work on MGM's remake of Carrefour (again titled Crossroads) starring William Powell, Hedy Lamarr and Basil Rathbone. The story would be adapted a third time for the 1950 British melodrama Dead Man's Shoes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jules Berry, Charles Vanel, (more)
- 1938
Bar du Sud finds Charles Vanel in his usual role as a stern French colonial officer. Vanel's nemesis this time is gun-runner Jean Galland, who uses his own wife Tania Fedor to keep Vanel off his trail. Unaware of her husband's nefariousness, Fedor is also unlearned in the ways of sexual intrigue. This enables Vanel to foil the duplicitous Galland, while the disillusioned Fedor heads back to Paris for a divorce. It's hardly surprising who winds up in a romantic clinch at fadeout time. A typically complex espionage melodrama, Bar du Sud didn't fare too well when it was translated into English (which hardly cleared up the film's more obtuse plot points). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Tania Fedor, (more)
- 1938
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
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Charles Vanel, (more)
- 1937
A real-life Parisian police detective is credited for the screenplay of Police Mondaine. The story focuses on a manhunt for Salviati, a notorious trafficker in narcotics played by Charles Vanel. The head crook already has plenty of problems on his mind, not least of which are the efforts by two-bit thug Scoppa (Jean-Louis Barrault) to encroach upon Salviati's operation. Calmly biding his time, police inspector Picard (Pierre Larquey) simply gathers clues and waits until the crooks fall out before moving in for the kill. The film's two directors had obviously seen quite a few American crime melodramas; one half-expects James Cagney to pop up and shout "Sacre bleu!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Field, Pierre Larquey, (more)
- 1937
Courier Sud (Southern Carrier) dramatizes the exploits of a French commercial airline, making the treacherous run from Paris to Africa and back. Much of the drama takes place on solid ground, as pilot Jacques (Pierre Richard-Willm) tries to rekindle a romance with old flame Genevieve (Jany Holt), now married to a prominent foreign ambassador (Charles Vanel). Planning a illicit tryst with Genevieve, Jacques persuades his pal Hubert (Alexandre Rignault) to substitute for him during the weekly flight to Africa. Sure enough, Hubert crash-lands in the desert, forcing a guilt-stricken Jacques to vainly attempt a rescue. To make a long story short, those left alive do not live happily ever after. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Jany Holt, (more)
- 1936
La Belle Equipe (The Good Crew) was the fourth of six smash hits in a row for director Julien Duvivier. The fortunes of five unemployed laborers take a radical turn for the better when they jointly win a 100,000-franc lottery prize. Jean Gabin, the self-appointed leader of the bunch, suggests that they not throw their money away but instead invest it in a road-house on the river Marne. Their dreams of instant success are dashed when Vivian Romance, the common-law wife of Gabin's friend Charles Vanel, shows up demanding her portion of the winnings -- then plots the destruction of Gabin because he refuses to make love to her. In the end, "The Good Crew" collapses under the weight of treachery, jealousy and murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viviane Romance, Charles Vanel, (more)
- 1936
Though the Czechoslovakian film industry had been "nationalized" by the Nazis after the 1938 invasion, a few pre-war productions managed to sneak into the U.S. without German interference. One of these was Port Arthur, originally released in 1936. Set in the Russian city of Port Arthur, the story takes place in 1904, at the height of the Russo-Japanese war. Heroine Youki (Danielle Darrieux) is half-Russian and half-Japanese, putting her in quite a bind in terms of loyalty. Also affected by Youki's contrary fidelities is her Russian-officer husband Boris (Anton Walbrook) and her enemy-spy brother Ivamoura (Jean-Max). In the end, Youki betrays the Russians on behalf of the Japanese, but it turns out that her motives were pure; Ivamoura had threatened to kill Boris unless Youki agreed to stab her homeland in the back. Port Arthur was released in America in two different versions; one of these, dubbed into English, made the rounds in 1939 as I Give My Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux
- 1936
Marcel Carne's first film as director -- one of seven collaborations with screenwriter Jacques Prevert -- was this average crime story. Francoise Rosay stars as Jenny, who manages a sleazy nightclub owned by the nasty Benoit (Charles Vanel). Jenny runs afoul of Benoit, as well as her own daughter (Lisette Lanvin), when she becomes romantically involved with gangster Lucien (Albert Prejean). Miffed, Benoit and his thuggish hunchbacked assistant (Jean-Louis Barrault) try to break up the lovers while Jenny's daughter competes for Lucien's affections. Carne had previously been an assistant to director Jacques Feyder, so it should come as no surprise that his first solo assignment starred Rosay, Feyder's real-life wife. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Françoise Rosay, (more)
- 1935
Filmmaker Anatole Litvak was still one year away from his "breakthrough" picture Mayerling when he co-wrote and directed L'Equipage (The Crew). Charles Vanel and Annabella star respectively as a daring WW I aviator and his loving but neglected wife. Ostracized by the other pilots because of his recklessness and standoffishness, Vanel nonetheless befriends a young flyboy (Jean-Pierre Aumont). It is therefore a great source of consternation for Aumont when he discovers that the woman with whom he's fallen in love is none other than Vanel's wife Annabella. This untenable situation is resolved during an airborne skirmish with the enemy, resulting in the death of one of the two male protagonists -- and a finale that belongs in the Self-Sacrificial Hall of Fame. Based on a story by Josef Kessel, L'Equipage was remade by Litvak in Hollywood as The Woman I Love (1937), with Paul Muni (complete with Charles Vanel's beard!), Miriam Hopkins and Louis Hayward as the romantic triangle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Annabella, (more)
