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, Rovi- 1934
Jacques Feyder's sole directorial contribution in 1934 (and his first film since 1931) was the superior Foreign Legion melodrama Le Grand Jeu (The Full Deck). Scripted by frequent Feyder collaborator Charles Spaak, the film focuses on Pierre Martel (Pierre Richard-Willm), whose efforts to support his beloved Florence (Marie Bell) in the style to which she's accustomed cause him to run afoul of the Law. Escaping a charge of embezzlement, Pierre signs up with the Foreign Legion, intending to "forget." After a particularly violent skirmish with the natives, Pierre briefly loses his memory, whereupon he begins keeping time with Irma, a sexy camp-follower whom he imagines to be Florence. When his tour of duty is over, Pierre prepares to return home to Paris to collect an unexpected inheritance. Reunited with the real Florence, he finds he cannot get over Irma, the little trollop who gave him a new lease on life back in the desert. Unwilling to go back to France without Irma, Pierre returns to the Foreign Legion -- where, inevitably, he meets his doom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Marie Bell, (more)
- 1934
Les Miserables is perhaps the most frequently filmed novel in screen history. This 1933 French version of the Victor Hugo classic is the most epic in proportion, though the human elements of the story are kept in sharp focus by director Raymond Bernard and star Harry Baur. Baur plays Jean Valjean, an essentially decent man imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread and transformed into a dehumanized outlaw. His faith in humanity restored by the kindliness of a bishop (Henry Krauss), Valjean goes to a small village to start life anew, but is pursued throughout his life for breaking parole by relentless police officer Javert (Charles Vanel). The various stages of Valjean's life--from convict to businessman to elderly martyr--were bounded by the film's original three-part structure. Part one, Tempete sous un Crane, ran two hours; part two, Les Thenardiers, was 90 minutes; and part three, Liberte, Liberté Cherie clocked in at 95. The American version of Les Miserables was spliced down to 165 minutes, with all three parts combined into one, then was withdrawn to avoid competition with 20th Century Pictures' 1935 Les Miserables. Years later, director Bernard himself pared down his film to two parts: Jean Valjean (109 minutes), and Cosette (100 minutes, with Josseline Gael in the title role). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harry Baur, Charles Vanel, (more)
- 1932
Les Croix de Bois (Wooden Crosses) may well be the most powerful anti-war film ever made; certainly it is the grimmest and most uncompromising. Starting with an impressionistic shot of a gloomy hillside studded with white grave markings, the film delineates the hopelessness and horror of war in such explicit terms that at times it's nearly impossible to watch. Set during WWI, the story concentrates on a handful of French draftees, including an idealistic student named Demachy (Pierre Blanchard). Marching off to war with joyful patriotic fervor, the men are quickly disillusioned by the appalling realities of total warfare. When they aren't enduring ten nonstop days of enemy bombardment, the soldiers must sweat out the horrible realization that their trenches are being mined from underground. Nor are they given any relief during those rare lulls in fighting. At one point, the men are yanked away from a much-needed furlough to march in a victory parade for the entertainment of their callous, fat-cat superior officers. One by one, the men are killed off, until only Demachy remains -- but, tragically, not for long. Such was the impact of Les Croix de Bois, that, when it was shown on French television in the 1970s, a WWI survivor who watched the film for the first time was so overwhelmed by despair that he committed suicide. Generous portions of the film's battle sequences were later incorporated in the 1934 John Ford film The World Moves On and the 1936 Howard Hawks production The Road to Glory. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Blanchar, Gabriel Gabrio, (more)
- 1932
Indefatigable French director Maurice Tourneur launched his three-picture schedule for 1932 with Au Nom de la Toi (In the Name of the Law). Marcelle Chantal plays the lovely but lethal head of an opium-smuggling ring. When Chantal orders the murder of a detective, another sleuth, played by Charles Vanel, is ordered to infiltrate her gang. The "heroine" falls in love with Vanel, thereby sealing her own doom. Among the many highlights is the near-surrealistic climax, in which the gang's hideout is bombarded guerilla-style with tear gas. Au Nom de la Loi was based on a novel by Paul Bringuier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marcelle Chantal, Gabriel Gabrio, (more)
- 1931
Faubourg Montmartre is based on a novel by Henri Duvernois. The title refers to the "street women" of Paris's Montmartre district. The virtuous heroine is the sister of a dope-addicted whore who is attempting to force her sibling into a life of crime. Despite the threats and entreaties of the various Montmartre pimps and hustlers, the girl manages to escape her sordid surroundings and find happiness with a decent country squire. Gaby Morlay plays the ingenue, while Line Noro has the meatier role of the druggie sister. Many of the scenes in Faubourg Montmartre were filmed silent, with background music establishing the mood and atmosphere. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Gaby Morlay, (more)
- 1930
The first of Maurice Tourneur's two 1931 films, Maison de Dance is the story of dime-a-dance girl Gaby Morlay. Plying her trade in a Spanish port town, Morlay is lustfully pursued by her boss, as well as by two brothers, both local fishermen. Eloping with one of the siblings, Morlay touches off a violent confrontation between her new husband and his married brother. Her boss joins in the fray, threatening to kill both husband and wife. Suddenly the husband's brother knifes the boss, allowing Morlay and her chosen mate to escape to a new life together. It's a sordid story, elevated to artistry by the inimitable Tourneur touch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Gaby Morlay, (more)
- 1930
Veteran filmmaker Maurice Tourneur made his talking-picture bow with 1930's Accusee - Levez Vous (Accused - Stand Up) The story opens during rehearsals of a Parisian musical revue. The star, a fading actress hoping for a comeback, inaugurates a romance with the male half of a knife-throwing act. The man's female partner, overhearing the cooing couple, vows revenge on the actress. Sure enough, the star is killed onstage in the midst of a comedy sketch, with a knife sticking in her back. But is the "obviously" guilty party really the killer? And why was a gunshot heard at the moment the star fell dead? Perhaps the accused woman's defense attorney has the answer when he calls upon the theater's janitor to testify... Reviewers in 1930 cited the resemblances between Accusee-Levez Vous and the early Norma Shearer talker The Trial of Mary Dugan, though the French film was based on a novel by Jean Jose Frappa. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Gaby Morlay, (more)
- 1929
Fourchambault was adapted from a 19th-century stage play by Emile Augier. Abandoned by her sweetheart, the heroine, Mme Bernard, raises her son by herself. The boy grows up to become a powerful ship-builder, totally unaware of the identity of her father. Eventually, Mme. Bernard reveals that her son is the offspring of the wealthy M. Fourchambault. Thus does the son discover that his own half-brother is his rival for the affections of a pretty young girl. And thus does the plot thicken when Fourchambault sets his own cap for the selfsame girl. Despite its soap-opera storyline, Fourchambault was written, and performed, as a comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel
- 1929
Silent films that were produced at the end of the silent era tend to be overlooked when praise for outstanding filmmaking is handed out. This premiere production by Charles Vanel is no exception. It was shot in 1929, when "talkies" were already the mainstay of all new productions. Even when it was made, this remarkable film was overlooked, and the director (Vanel) had to make his mark as an actor, instead. He had the longest film career of any French actor: his first film appearance was in 1912, his last in 1988, and he was in over 200 films. His remarkable career was honored in 1970 by the Cannes Film Festival with a lifetime achievement award. Dans la nuit, revived in 1989, (the year Vanel died) was belatedly recognized as a classic of silent filmmaking. The story concerns a newlywed quarry worker, and the strategems he devises to avoid repulsing his wife after an accident which results in his having a horribly mutilated face. Among other things, he wears a veil to hide his deformity. Eventually, his beloved wife takes a new lover (also a quarry worker) and in order to avoid detection he sometimes wears a veil, simply to hide his face. The worker discovers the deception, and a primal struggle between the two men begins. Even now, the outcome of that struggle has the power to surprise. The studio Vanel worked for insisted that he tack on a happy-ending sequence ("it was just a dream"), and reviewers suggest that viewers leave the theatre or stop the video to avoid having that saccharine contrivance spoil the dark moodiness of the original film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sandra Milovanoff, Charles Vanel, (more)
- 1928
This first film version of Joseph Kessel's wartime novel L'Equipage was adapted for the screen by its director, Maurice Tourneur. The story focuses on the exploits of a French flying squadron, commandeered by lieutenant Jean Dax. A hothead and a nonconformist, Dax is roundly disliked by everyone except fellow officer George Charlia, with whom he becomes close friends. This relationship is doomed when Charlia falls in love with Dax's wife Camilla Bert. Under normal circumstances, Dax would "demand satisfaction" from Charlia, but war is war, and the two men are obliged to fly off together on a suicide mission. Only one of the two men returns, leaving Bert to grieve over the memory of the other. L'Equipage was remade by Anatole Litvak in 1935, and two years later was refilmed in Hollywood, again by Litvak, as The Woman I Love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Claire de Lorez, Georges Charlia, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.