Paul Bonifas Movies

Not quite in the same league as the runaway hit The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, this 1974 sequel is still amiable and enjoyable on its own terms. Once more, innocent violinist Pierre Richard (the tall blonde man of the title) is up to his neck in espionage. Enemy spy boss Jean Rochefort, sore at how Richard inadvertently bollixed up his last caper, demands that the hapless musician be killed. In true "Good Soldier Schweik" fashion, Richard manages to avoid annihilation, never dreaming that anyone means him harm. Mireille Darc is back as Richard's "play horsie with me!" girl friend. The Return of the Big Blond has some of the ambience of the 1965 spy spoof That Man from Rio, especially in its colorful Brazilian backdrops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Georges Simenon novel was the basis for the French Le Chat. Not much happens in the way of plot, nor are many words of dialogue spoken; the character relationships (or lack of same) are the focal point here. Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret, long married, plainly despise one another. Rather than call it quits, Gabin and Signoret spend their days in a crumbling mansion, figuring out ways to make each other's lives a hell on earth. The only thing Gabin truly cares about is his pet cat--and you can bet Signoret will do something about that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wendy (Jacqueline Bisset) is the British guest of a French couple and the daughter of the man who saved the host's life during World War II. Living with the couple is their 20-year-old son and a 12-year-old nephew whose parents were killed in an automobile accident. The father and son both try to seduce the attractive guest. The young boy retreats into his own world and dreams of being taken back to Britain by Wendy in this romantic drama. The mother spends her time bleaching her hair and is seemingly uninterested in anything that goes on with her family at the beachfront villa. Meanwhile, Wendy and the younger boy develop a fondness for each other, while his aunt and uncle fail to understand his needs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This first-time directorial effort by Nico Papatakis is a disturbing satire with political overtones relative to a French-Algerian conflict that make the tale even more controversial. Two orphaned sisters, Michele and Marie (Francine Berge and Colette Regis) have been working as servants in a family for some time now. As the drama begins, the two sisters are tearing apart the house in the absence of the family. They rant and rave or just talk, slowly revealing that they have not been paid in a long time, and they are alternately either afraid or wildly elated. Then the family comes home -- and arguments take over with the sisters either fawning over the family, or antagonistic to them. The insane situation eventually reaches a crescendo when the two servants learn that the family plans on selling the house and perhaps leaving them in the lurch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Love and the Frenchwoman (La Francaise et L'Amour) concentrates on the nature of love by illustrating seven separate aspects of the emotion. In "Childhood," 9-year old Pierre-Jean Vaillard suffers a traumatic experience when he takes his parents' "cabbage patch" theory of conception too literally. In "Adolescence," a little girl (Annie Sinigalla) constructs an elaborate fantasy world on the occasion of her first kiss. "Virginity" is a study in frustration, as betrothed couple Valerie Lagrange and Pierre Michel agonizingly await their wedding-night consummation of their ardor. "Marriage" finds a union ending almost before it begins as a pair of newlyweds (Marie-Jose Nat and Claude Rich) bicker all the way to their honeymoon rendezvous. "Adultery" allows husband Paul Meurisse the opportunity to calmly provide an object lesson to his wife's lover Jean-Paul Belmondo. In "Divorce", a couple (Annie Girardot and Francois Pierer) find that it's impossible to have a "civilized" breakup. And in "A Woman Alone," bigamist Robert Lamoreaux meets his Waterloo in the forms of Martine Carol and Sylvia Montfort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gary Cooper more or less repeats his international-roue characterization from 1938's Bluebeard's Eighth Wife for the 1957 romantic comedy Love in the Afternoon (both films were co-scripted by Billy Wilder, who also directed the latter picture). Audrey Hepburn co-stars as the daughter of Parisian private eye Maurice Chevalier. Investigating the amorous activities of Cooper, Chevalier relates what he's discovered to cuckolded husband John McGiver, who declares that he's going after Cooper with a pistol. Overhearing this conversation, Hepburn rushes off to rescue Cooper. She keeps him far away from McGiver by adopting a "woman of the world" pose. Cooper quickly sees through this charade; still, she is fascinated by Hepburn and attempts to relocate her after she disappears. Meeting Chevalier one day, Cooper relates the story of the Mystery Woman, never dreaming that he is describing Chevalier's daughter. Equally in the dark, Chevalier offers to locate the elusive Hepburn. Once he's tumbled to the fact that his quarry is his own flesh and blood, Chevalier advises Hepburn against contemplating a relationship with the much-older Cooper. She, of course, fails to heed this warning, setting the stage for an ultraromantic finale. Love in the Afternoon is highlighted by a superb running gag involving a quartet of gypsy violinists, who insist upon dogging Cooper's trail wherever he goes-including a steam bath. Love in the Afternoon was adapted by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond from the novel Ariane by Claude Anet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When German sympathizer Count Paul Rona (George MacReady) pilfers a valuable jeweled glove from a French church during World War II, it is up to American Michael Blake (Glenn Ford) to outwit his enemies and recover the artifact. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, dishonest stable boys from Britain and France join forces in a smuggling operation. Using a horse blanket, the crooks stuff a horse blanket full of counterfeit money. Unfortunately the horse they've chosen to wear the blanket is hurt and taken out of the race and the bad boys must choose a replacement. He is the worst horse in the stable, Dunderhead. When the nag's jockey overhears the stablehand's scheming he stops them and manages to prove that there is more to his horse, indeed a champion, by winning the Big Race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Released in Britain in 1944, Man from Morocco made it to American shores the following year. Anton Walbrook plays the title character, the head of an intrepid band of WW2 freedom fighters. The film's heavy is a Nazi-sympathizing French officer of unbounded cruelty. Margaretta Scott portrays Manuela, a patriotic Frenchwoman who poses as a Red Cross nurse to insinuate herself into the villain's lair. In true "Judith of Bethulia" fashion, Manuela romances the fiend, thereby affording her the opportunity to murder him and thus save the lives of 2000 French hostages. It's a good thing that Man From Morocco was a British film; otherwise, the Hollywood production code would have obliged Manuela to be punished for her murder, justified or no. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johnny Frenchman uses humor to drive home the point that, despite all previous rivalries and hostilties, the French and English should pull together during WW2. Aldwych farceur Tom Walls plays Nat Pomeroy, harbourmaster of a Cornwall fishing village, who is continually outsmarted by clever French fish poacher Lannec Florrie (Francoise Rosay). Pomeroy is further aggravated by the fact that Florrie's son Yan (played by French-Canadian radio favorite Paul Dupuis) is busily romancing Pomeroy's daughter Sue (Patricia Roc). But when the Nazis rear their ugly heads, the Cornish fisherman and the French miscreants band together to thwart the German menace. Many of the cast members of Johnny Frenchman are actual Cornish villagers and members of the Free French resistance movement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fact, fiction and espionage are combined in this drama that follows the exploits of Eisenhower's top aide, Mark Clark, and other important Allies as they journey to an important meeting held on Algeria's coast. The precise location of this vital secret gathering is upon a piece of film which must not fall into enemy hands, lest the Allied honchos get captured. The film is hidden in a German colony in Algiers. It is up to one of Britains top spies to bring it to safety. He is hindered by a Nazi spy who follows him. He is assisted by an American woman and a French woman. They are successful and gun-play ensues as they try to flee the country. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock's particular contribution to the War effort consisted of two French-language short subjects, slated to be distributed in France after the Liberation. The first film was Bon Voyage; the second was Aventure Malgache. In the latter film, Paris' Moliere Players enact a thrilling tale of the French Resistance. The fact-based story concerns Claurousse, who boldly operated on behalf of the Underground in Nazi-occupied Madagascar. Sent to prison by the Vichy government, Claurousse is rescued by the British, and is thus able to continue tweaking Hitler's nose. As in his previous Murder and his later Stage Fright, Hitchcock seems delighted with the opportunity to combine the specialized world of the theater with the more treacherous terrain of intrigue. Long available only for archival showings, Aventure Malgache was released to videotape in the mid-1980s, often in tandem with Bon Voyage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide