Marcel Achard Movies

A murder has been committed at the palatial Parisian residence of Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders). All the evidence points to sexy, wide-eyed housemaid Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer). Police inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) is prepared to make an arrest -- and then the gloriously, monumentally inept Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) arrives on the scene. Clouseau may have difficulty getting through the day without falling into ponds, knocking people cold with opened doors, and pocketing flaming cigarette lighters, but his instincts are right on target when he decides that Mme. Gambrelli is being framed by someone else in the Ballon household. Even as the murder victims pile up, Clouseau is determined to prove Mme. Gambrelli's innocence. As he cuts a bumbling, destructive swath through Paris, Clouseau drives Dreyfuss literally insane. This fact leads to the literally explosive climax, and to the ultimate vindication of Mme. Gambrelli. While we first met Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther, Shot in the Dark is the film that truly established the Clouseau mythos: the festive clumsiness, the convoluted dialogue ("You shot him in a rit of fealous jage!"), the Fractured French ("A beump on zee head!"), the twitching lunacy of poor Inspector Dreyfuss, the unexpected "judo lessons" of Clouseau's houseboy Kato (Burt Kwouk), and of course the hilariously macabre jokes involving dead or seriously injured bystanders. You'd never know it, but A Shot in the Dark was inspired by a standard three-act stage comedy by Harry Kurnitz, which in turn was adapted from the French play L'Idiote by Marcel Achard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Max Ophüls' masterpiece stars Danielle Darrieux as the titular Madame Louise de..., who in the film's opening scenes is forced to discreetly sell a pair of earrings, a gift from her military officer husband Andre (Charles Boyer), in order to make good on her debts. After she claims the earrings to be lost, the story of their possible theft hits the newspapers, prompting the jeweler who bought them (Jean Debucourt) to secretly sell them back to Andre, who then gives him to his mistress Lola (Lia Di Leo) as she prepares to leave for a holiday in Constantinople. There, the earrings again change hands as Lola pawns them to cover her gambling losses. They are then purchased by Donati, an Italian diplomat (Vittorio de Sica) on his way to France to meet with Andre. Of course, the earrings soon find their way back to Louise. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Petrus is a tailor-made vehicle for lantern-jawed French farceur Fernandel. The star plays a naïve photographer who falls in love with nightclub dancer Simone Simon. Though she travels in a more sophisticated crowd, Fernandel never gives up his dream that someday the girl will be his. And sure enough, thanks to a series of plot convolutions that would be ridiculous anywhere else but on the Silver Screen, Simon is finally won over by the stumbling shutterbug. Petrus was co-adapted by director Marc Allegret from the play by Marcel Achard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Heart of a Nation was filmed in 1940, just after the Nazi occupation of Paris. The film traces the fortunes of the Froment family of Montmartre, from the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 to World War II. Comedy and tragedy are deftly blended throughout; Raimu's visit to the Moulin Rouge is as hilarious as Michele Morgan's loss of an arm during World War I is heartbreaking. When the Nazis became privy to the existence of Heart of a Nation, they ordered its director (Julien Duvivier) arrested and the negative destroyed. Both director and negative managed to escape to the U.S., where a dubbed version of Heart of a Nation was finally made available in 1943. Intriguingly enough, the man responsible for the salvation of the film was a German officer who happened to be a fan of Duvivier's work. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The oft-filmed story of the WW I espionage agent known as "Fraulein Doktor" was given another go-round in the British Under Secret Orders. Dita Parlo plays Anne-Marie Lesser, a German secret agent who undermines the Allied cause at the expense of her own happiness. Top billing is bestowed upon Erich von Stroheim, as Anne-Marie's superior Colonel Mathiesus, a self-styled master of disguise (though his various makeups don't fool anyone in the audience). Released in the U.S. in 1943, Under Secret Orders was originally distributed in England in 1937 under the title Street of Shadows. A simultaneously-filmed French version, Mademoiselle Docteur, likewise starred Parlo and Von Stroheim. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Noix de Coco (Cocoanut) was adapted by Marcel Archard from his own stage play. The incomparable Raimu plays a prosperous horticulturist, happily married to his young second wife Marie Bell. Raimu's blissful existence is threatened when he discovers that Bell was previously a sexy nightclub chanteuse in a notorious Saigon watering hole called the Noix de Coco. He further discovers that his beloved wife may well have shared more than her singing talents with her fans. Now Raimu is obliged to keep his wife's past a deep dark secret from his snooty, super-judgmental daughter-in-law Suzet Mais. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This French-language version of the 1935 Hollywood musical Folies Bergere, filmed cuncurrently using the same sets and production crew, retains the original star (Maurice Chevalier) and big-scale production numbers. It also follows substantially the same plot: A nightclub entertainer (Chevalier), is hired to pose as his look-alike (also Chevalier), a prominent aviation tycoon. The masquerade causes consternation for the entertainer's girlfriend, who of course has no idea what's going on, and for the tycoon's wife, who can't understand why her cold-fish husband has suddenly become so warm and demonstrative. Beyond the obvious language change, the major differences between the two Folies Bergeres are found in their supporting casts: for example, Natalie Paley plays the tycoon's spouse role played by Merle Oberon, while Sim Viva, as the girlfriend, fills the dancing shoes of the English-language version's Ann Sothern. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flower-shop owner Clo-Clo (Michel Simon) is known to his friends as "Jean de la Lune" ("Moondreaming John") because he fantasizes about remaking the world to his own specifications. Falling in love with Marceline (Madeline Renaud), a girl who's "been around," Clo-Clo idealizes his sweetheart, blinding himself to her many faults. At first, Marceline laughs at Clo-Clo behind his back but eventually is so touched by his wistful sincerity that she falls genuinely in love with him. Based on a play by Marcel Achard, Jean de la Lune is treated in a frank, realistic manner. This serves to make the happy ending, in which Clo-Clo's "moondreaming" comes true, all the more powerful. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A novel by British author Eliot Crashaw-Williams was the source for the French melodrama La Nuit a L'Hotel. Jean Perier stars as naïve Colonel who spends an evening in the titular hotel. Though he is loved by a middle-aged lady violinist (Magdelaine Berubet), the Colonel has eyes only for young and reckless Marion Barnes (Marcelle Romee). Convincing himself that Marion is a girl of high principle and virtue, the Colonel is so aghast when he discovers her true libertine nature that he promptly kills himself! La Nuit a L'Hotel was also filmed in a German language version. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi