Anne Vernon Movies

A wealthy, arrogant young man becomes psychotic and kills a beautiful actress at the Cannes Film Festival. Francois Gabriel plays the killer, a profoundly disturbed son of an American film producer. After strangling the first victim, he seeks out others to kill. When his stepmother discovers the crime, he intimidates her into keeping her silence. He resorts to blackmail and continues to stalk his next victim. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this French comedy, a toy inventor travels to the factory of his childhood friend, now an industrial magnate, and tries to persuade him to lend financial backing to his newest invention. Unfortunately their reunion is marred by the reopening of old emotional wounds, but fortunately, the inventor's wife smooths things over. Later she discovers love letters written to her adolescent daughter. Trouble ensues when the toymaker begins suspecting his old pal, the industrialist, of writing the letters. He then blackmails his pal with the letters. When his daughter finds a new boyfriend, the inventor abandons his extortion scheme. The two old pals then reconcile and go into business together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

With a deft guiding hand, director Roberto Rossellini brings out the depths in this study of a man's transformation during the German occupation of Milan. Based on a novel by Indro Montanelli, the story is true. Colonel Mueller (Hannes Messemer) and his cohorts have decided to plant a spy in the Milan prison. They choose a petty thief from the streets who earns his living plying the black-market trade and assign him to the task. He is thrown in jail under the false identity of General della Rovere (Vittorio De Sica) in order to bring the Italian resistance fighters among the prisoners, out into the open. As the fake general slowly makes friends with these men, he becomes a leader of sorts, and this transformation gets him thinking in a different way about himself. This well-wrought drama was given the "Best Foreign Film" award in 1960 by the New York Film Critics, and it won the Golden Lion at the 1959 Venice Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Ce Soir les Jupons Volent (Tonight the Skirts Fly) was designed primarily to show off a new wide-screen process called Dyaliscope. The story concerns a trio of clothing models, all of whom participate in a high-profile fashion show. In flashback, the lives of the three girls are detailed, with emphasis on romantic entanglements. Director Dmitri Kirsanoff knows what his audience wants: a goodly portion of the film is given over to backstage glimpses of barely dressed damsels, not to mention the climactic runway display of revealing Gallic gowns. Whether or not the three leading ladies in Ce Soir les Jupons Volent could act was hardly taken into consideration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously adapted for the screen in 1947 by writer-director Albert Lewin, the famous Guy de Maupassant fable Bel Ami was filmed a second time ten years later. This "story of a rogue" stars Jean Danet as Duroy, a journalist who coasts through life on his charms and the "kindnesses" of beautiful women. In this version, Duroy is shown to be the corrupt product of an even more corrupt society, rather than the self-made louse portrayed by George Sanders in the 1947 film. In his efforts to get ahead, Duroy denies himself true happiness in the arms of the only woman he has ever really loved. Bel Ami was heavily censored before its initial French release-not because of its sexual content, but because of its pointed references to the then-current Algerian situation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

David Niven returns to his native England to star in the frothy comedy The Love Lottery. Niven plays a Hollywood movie star who is the "prize" in a lottery dreamed up by his press agent. The lucky lady who "wins" Niven will be able to spend a week in his company. Sensing the silliness of the whole enterprise, Niven promises publicly to marry the winner--and that's where starry-eyed fan Peggy Cummins enters the proceedings. Herbert Lom is the film's fly in the ointment, dogging Niven's trail to Italy to make certain that he keeps his promise. There's an amusing celebrity cameo in The Love Lottery, but to reveal the identity of the film's "special guest star" might spoil the viewer's fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released in the U.S. as Terror on a Train, the British MGM production Time Bomb is brief, to the point, and so suspenseful it hurts. Glenn Ford stars as Peter Lyncourt, who during WW II had been in charge of a bomb demolition unit. As luck would have it, Lyncourt and his French wife Janine (Anne Vernon) are in the vicinity when a freight train carrying explosives to a dockyard chugs into view. Someone has placed a time bomb on the train, forcing an evacuation of the neighborhood and the summoning of the "UXB" corps. When all is said and done, however, it is up to Lyncourt to defuse the bomb, if he can locate the well-hidden fuse, that is! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Massacre en Dentelles (Massacre in Lace) concerns a devil-may-care reporter named George (Raymond Rouleau). Sent to Venice to get the goods on a gang of counterfeiters, George would much rather enjoy the city's many creature comforts. He finally gets down to work when he discovers a corpse, the first of many to dot the Venetian landscape in this airy little thriller. Theresa (Anne Vernon) is but one of the many ladies who melt like butter when Our Hero saunters into view--but is she to be trusted? At 105 minutes, Massacre en Dentelles is a smidgen too long for its own good. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide