Charles Boyer Movies
With his passionate, deep-set eyes, classical features, and ultra-suave manner, it is small wonder that French actor Charles Boyer was known as one of the great cinematic lovers. During the 20s, Boyer made a few nondescript silent films but was primarily a theatrical actor. From 1929-31 he made an unsuccessful attempt to make it in Hollywood before returning to Europe until 1934 when his films began to win public favor. He became a true star with Garden of Allah (1936), and went on to play opposite the most alluring actresses of the 30s and 40s, including Dorothy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, and Greta Garbo. During World War II he became active in encouraging French-American relations and established the French Research Foundation, for which he was awarded a special Academy Award in 1942 for "progressive cultural achievement" (he was nominated as an actor four times but never won). Later Boyer became an American citizen and went on to play more mature roles, including the occasional stage appearance (notably in Shaw's Don Juan in Hell). With actors Dick Powell and David Niven, Boyer co-founded Four Star Television in 1951, starring in many of the company's TV productions during the 50s and 60s. His career tapered off after the suicide of his 21-year-old son in 1965, after which he mostly made European films, though he returned to America to appear as the ancient High Lama in the musical remake of Lost Horizon (1973). He won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for his work in Stavisky, his final performance. Two days after his wife of forty-plus years, actress Patricia Peterson, died of cancer in 1978, he took his own life with an overdose of Seconal. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1932
Jack Conway complained about being assigned to direct this comedy, claiming that a woman like the title character had almost ruined his own marriage. In a way he had a point , but only Jean Harlow could have made gold digger Lil Andrews a sympathetic protagonist. And Katherine Brush's racy novel (which first appeared, serial-fashion, in the Saturday Evening Post) could only have been filmed in the pre-Code days of the early 1930s. Helping both star and story is the snappy dialogue written by Anita Loos. Lil is the classic girl "from the wrong side of the tracks" -- she's a secretary with a bootlegger boyfriend and a wisecracking roommate named Sal (Una Merkel, who was a delightful foil to Harlow in several films). But Lil has ambitions -- she's "strictly on the level, like a flight of stairs," as one character says. She plans to snag Bill Legendre (Chester Morris), son of the venerable company head (Lewis Stone) -- no matter that he's happily married to his childhood sweetheart, Irene (Leila Hyams). Lil throws herself at Legendre until he can resist no longer and she snares him. But things don't work out as planned. Instead of making a big splash in society, she bombs -- so she casts her attention ever upwards to Gaersate, a coal king (Henry Stephenson). But a wrench is thrown into her scheme when she goes mad for his French chauffeur (Charles Boyer). "I've fallen in love and I'm going to be married!" she gleefully tells Sal, before explaining that it's the chauffeur she loves and Gaersate whom she will marry. However, Legendre Sr. has put a detective on Lil's trail and he shows Gaersate a handful of compromising photos. It looks like her game is up, but the last we see of the mercenary miss, she's leaving a fashionable Paris racetrack with a bearded old sugar daddy -- and her beloved chauffeur driving them away. In spite of all her blatant manipulations, Harlow gives Lil a childlike appeal, which makes her actions nearly forgivable (it also helps that the men are such dolts). But not everyone was able to accept a movie bad-girl who did not pay for her sins and, in fact, actually benefited from them -- the film was banned in Germany and England. It may not have gotten much play in France either, but certainly not because of Lil's wantonness. Charles Boyer, who was a star in his native country, was embarrassed at his failure to make a splash in America and didn't want his fellow Frenchmen to see him play a tiny bit-part. Depending on the source, he reportedly convinced MGM to either 1) release the film in France with his parts edited out (which would have made it quite confusing) or 2) not release the film there at all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, (more)
- 1932
The "Enoch Arden" theme is trotted out and slicked up for The Man From Yesterday. Nurse Claudette Colbert marries army doctor Charles Boyer, believing that her first husband, Clive Brook, has been killed in World War One. Not quite; Brook has survived (though not by much), ending up in the same hospital with Dr. Boyer and nurse Colbert. She is willing to honor her first marriage, but Brook, aware that he is dying from the aftereffects of poison gas, nobly sends her away. The Man from Yesterday is ideal fare for stiff-upper-lipped Clive Brook, but not all that suitable to the ebullient Claudette Colbert; still, she is excellent, as is the rest of the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Clive Brook, (more)
- 1931
The only thing magnificent about Magnificent Lie is its title. As usual, Ruth Chatterton plays a woman of variable morals, this time a seedy cafe entertainer. Ralph Bellamy costars as a recently blinded man, whose sole reason for living is his adulation of a famous French singing star. To boost the man's morale, Chatterton impersonates the star in his presence. They fall in love...but will it last once the ruse is revealed? Magnificent Lie features Charles Boyer in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Chatterton, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
The first of three film versions of Theophile Gautier's popular adventure novel Le Capitaine Fracasse was co-written and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti in 1929. Pierre Blanchar essays the title character, who when first we see him is impoverished nobleman Baron de Solignac. Living a solitary existence in his crumbling ancestral castle, the Baron's existence is brightened by the visit of a travelling harlequin troupe. Falling in love with Isabella (Lien Dyers), the troupe's leading lady, the Baron joins the strolling players, assuming the stage "persona" of Captain Fracasse. In this guise, our hero performs various and sundry feats of derring-do, culminating with his rescue of Isabella from the clutches of the evil Duke de Vallombreuse. Future Hollywood screen idol Charles Boyer shows up in a choice supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lien Deyers, Marguerite Moreno, (more)
This travelogue takes you through the most famous museum in the world, the Louvre. ~ All Movie Guide
