Michel Vitold Movies

Monsieur Charme (Michel Bouquet) is an old man, and the love of his life passed away some years ago. Despite being wealthy and in relatively good health, he finds that life without her is no longer supportable. Determined to end it all, he approaches Reine (Gwennola Bothorel), a home-care nurse known for her willingness to bend the rules, and asks her if, in return for receiving his apartment, she will kill him. She readily agrees, and now the fun in this black comedy can begin. It seems that the old man has a nephew (Patrick Catalifo) who is determined to thwart this scheme at all costs. A battle royal is joined between the ingenuity of the nurse and her willing victim, and the determination of his equally ingenious nephew. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The internationally renowned string quartet had been performing together for most of their adult lives when their lead violinist suddenly died, leaving the remaining three confused about their lives and careers. Up till then, all they had known were the rigors of constant practice and traveling. Music was everything, and they never took the time to sample Life's other pleasures. The trio decide to split up, but then a young violinist shows up and convinces them to reform the group and let him take over. He is one of the most talented players they have ever heard and the quartet once again makes sweet music. But as good as he is on stage, the youth is a wild man off stage who freely smokes dope, sleeps with fans, and parties whenever he can. Seeing that his private life has not affected the brilliance of his playing and even suspecting that it may even improve his playing, the three old players are thrown into personal tail spins as they look back at their own austere life choices. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this French satire, a meek little bank (Jean-Louis Trintignant) clerk finds fame and fortune when he begins getting lessons from an impoverished novelist (Jean-Pierre Cassel) . Soon the clerk is wowing the Parisians with his ability to make the women swoon, and for his talent at attracting money. The film is also known as The French Way Is. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A group of French anarchists are moved to violence when their leader Raymond (Jacques Brel) is captured. They take up with the notorious gangster Bonnot (Bruno Cremer) and the gang steals a car to use in a bank robbery. The non-violent anarchists soon turn to killing and murder the guards before escaping to Belgium. They hide out in a whorehouse until a conniving madame blows the whistle on them. The group splits up, but the anarchists soon realize they are helpless without the ringleader Bonnot. The local police chief arrests one of the gang, and the authorities soon close in on the rest of the gang. By now police have enlisted the help of the army to insure that none of the criminals will escape in this mobster movie set in the early days of the 20th century. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Ever since the original Rififi set up the postulate of a spectacular robbery, there have been cinematic "Rififis" in Amsterdam, Paris, Panama, and in this case, Tokyo. A band of thieves get together in Japan's capital to plan a major heist of only one single jewel -- a huge diamond stored in a vault in the Bank of Tokyo. Preparations for the heist are not without problems, and in the end only three of the thieves manage to get into the vault where the diamond is stored. Thanks to modern bank security, the next problem is how to get out of the vault. Directed by Jacques Deray, this melodramatic crime caper shines in the special technical effects department when the electronic gismos that protect bank vaults are highlighted, but the illumination does not extend to human characters in quite the same way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In his Ballade Pour un Voyou, first-time director Jean-Claude Bonnardot has put together an uneven, occasionally suspenseful crime drama that involves a mysterious suitcase -- and an unknown crime. The drama begins when an ex-convict agrees to deliver a suitcase according to the instructions that will be given him, step by step. As he is shunted from pillar to post trying to get the suitcase to its final, as yet unknown, destination, he notices that he is being followed by a gunman. His assignment becomes too much, and he attacks the gunman and runs off with the suitcase, only to find that both sides of the law are hot on his trail. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, 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

It is Maria Felix's turn to play one of Ancient Rome's most notorious femme fatales in Messaline. Sleeping her way to the top, Messaline weds Emperor Augustus (Memo Bessani), all the while entertaining dozens of virile young males. Enjoying unbridled power, the empress holds the entire Roman Empire in her grip. When her husband and courtiers fail to satisfy her, she takes to the streets disguised as a prostitute to sexually exploit a few average citizens. Filmed on an enormous scale, Messaline contains all that is expected of a Roman epic, including a few graphically detailed episodes in the Colosseum. Among those tossed to the lions is dancing girl Cynthia (Delai Scala), who like empress Messaline displays pulchritude aplenty before her inevitable demise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

French filmmaker Jean Dreville was a talented man frequently consigned to project beneath those talents. One of those projects was Le Visiteur, an overheated melodrama with sociological undertones. Pierre Fresnay plays a crooked lawyer who must hide out from the cops when he commits murder. Fresnay chooses to take shelter in an orphanage, where he poses as a government inspector. His enforced stay has a remarkable effect on everyone involved. Le Visiteur was released by Films Sirius, a firm that strove to find properties that would appeal to audiences beyond the borders of France: in this case, the company didn't succeed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally titled La Nuit Fantastique, this French romantic farce was filmed in 1942, during the Nazi occupation. Little did the Germans suspect that star Fernand Gravey was spending his "leisure" time serving with the French Secret Army on behalf of the Resistance. In the film, Gravey plays a medical student, while the luscious Michelene Presle is the girl of his dreams. In fact, it is during one of his dreams that he rescues the girl from a Byzantine plot to rob her of her fortune. It's hardly surprising that French audiences would respond to escapist fare like this while the Germans patrolled their streets outside the theater. Fantastic Night finally received U.S. bookings in 1949, by which time Michelene Presle was preparing to make her first Hollywood film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide