Claude Autant-Lara Movies
French director Claude Autant-Lara was uprooted from his homeland by his actress-mother Louise Lara during World War I, when her strong pacifist stance forced her to flee to England. Returning to his native country in 1919, Autant-Lara studied art, then worked as a set and costumer designer for the major French filmakers of the 1920s. He broke into directing himself with the surrealistic short Fait Divers (1923), worked in collaboration with Rene Clair afterwards, and returned to solo filmaking in 1926. Most of his early shorts experiment with such nuances as distorted angles and wide screens, but Autant-Lara was capable of such comformist work as the French-language version of Buster Keaton's Free and Easy (1930). In 1933, he directed his first feature, Ciboulette; in his now typical take-your-time fashion, his next feature, the British My Partner Mr. Davis, didn't come out until 1936. Autant-Lara didn't truly flourish until the years of the Occupation (1940-44), during which time he specialized in romantic, nostalgic productions. His first international success was 1946 Le Diable au Corps (aka The Devil in the Flesh), an elegant, mildly erotic and ultimately fatalistic World War I love story, based on a novel by the tragic "child prodigy" Raymond Radiguet. In the mid-1950s Autant-Lara's work became less prominent and he was one of the directors attacked by the New Wave critics for being a paragon of the "French quality" tradition. Autant-Lara remained a filmmaker until 1977, when he directed his last film, Gloria. Thereafter, Claude Autant-Lara was briefly a member of the European Parliament, from which he was forced to resign in 1989 due to a speech wherein he suggested that the Holocaust had never happened, and that France was controlled by Jewish "internationalists." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 2008
This French remake of Claude Autant-Lara's black comedy classic details the adventures of a group of travelers who stop for a rest at Auberge du Croûteux, an inn in the Pyrenees. Little do these wayfarers realize that the establishment is run by a group of psychopaths with a penchant for systematically murdering and robbing guests; when a clergyman opts to hear the confession of the innkeeper's wife, and learns about the impending fate of the travelers, he makes a series of comical attempts to get everyone to leave without violating his confidentiality rule. Gérard Krawczyk directs; the cast features Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier and Gerard Jugnot. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Josiane Balasko, (more)
- 1969
In this story of obsession and tragedy, set in wartime France, Pierre Perret plays Clovis, a farmer so driven by hunger that he dares to plant potatoes on a plot of land which, though unoccupied, is forbidden to him by the Germans. Despite the film's tragic tone, occasional flashes of satire and pure bawdiness enhance its watchability considerably. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Perret, Henri Virlojeux, (more)
- 1968
Albert (Hardy Kruger) is a Franciscan monk and a medical orderly at a monastery in France. Although he is German, the kindly monk helps hide French resistance members and gives medical treatment to anyone who needs it. Albert helps two Frenchmen who escape from a Nazi prison, and he tries to maintain the delicate balance between the warring factions by helping out the afflicted and not getting involved in political ideology. This film, based on a true story from the novel by Marc Toledano, was released nearly 23 years after the end of World War II. Some students of history allege that the French resistance was a much more insignificant affair than is shown in post-war films and express great bitterness about all Franco-German collaboration during the war. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hardy Kruger
- 1967
In this anthology, six French filmmakers each contributed a vignette, offering their take on the history of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michele Mercier, Elsa Martinelli, (more)
- 1966
This sequel to Diary Of A Woman In White finds a concerned nurse accompanying an alcoholic who seeks treatment for his disease. She befriends a pregnant woman who seeks an abortion and finds herself falling in love with her alcoholic patient. The nurse wrestles with her conscience before agreeing to help in the operation. The potentially controversial subject matter is not the main focus of this uninspired melodrama. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danielle Volle
- 1965
This moral melodrama follows a female gynecologist (Marie-Jose Nat) who aggressively promotes birth control methods (at a time when birth control was still taboo in France) in order to avoid unnecessary abortions. In a twist of irony, the unmarried lady doctor becomes pregnant herself, but decides to have the baby in spite of the difficulties it will bring to her professional career. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marie-José Nat, Jean Valmont, (more)
- 1963
An Italian/French/Yugoslavian/Liechtensteinian coproduction (whew!), Thou Shalt Not Kill features Laurent Terzieff as a French conscientious objector. Interwoven with his story is the saga of a German priest (Horst Frank) who faces stiff punishment for killing a Frenchman during the Second World War. Director Claude Autant-Lara characteristically uses these twin plotlines as a platform to espouse his Leftist political beliefs and to heartily condemn the Catholic church. As a result, the fact-based Thou Shalt Not Kill (originally Tu Nes Tuera Point) caused quite a stir upon its first release. Many of its sentiments became more palatable in the late 1960s, though even at that time critics carped at Autant-Lara's cut-and-dried directorial techniques. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurent Terzieff, Suzanne Flon, (more)
- 1963
In this drama, two total strangers suspect each other of murdering their own wives. The trouble begins when an unhappily married architect becomes obsessed with a murder trial in which a husband allegedly murdered his wife. The architect begins collecting newspaper clippings. Although the charges against the accused are dropped, the architect is convinced that the man is guilty. He even visits the husband. After talking to him, the architect is more sure than he was before. The architect gets into trouble after his own wife's body is discovered in a ravine. The other husband, believing the architect did it, begins blackmailing him. Later the cops find the architect's collection of clippings. The husband, now convinced that the architect is out to destroy him, murders the architect. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Hossein, Marina Vlady, (more)
- 1963
Josefa (Anna Magnani) is an Italian immigrant operating a small grocery store in France. The people of the town are indifferent to her until the rumor she will receive a monetary fortune from an American gangster relation. The mayor tries to butter her up, and a stranger poses as her long-lost son. Everyone in town treats her with respect over her impending financial windfall. Eventually, the townsfolk are incited to riot and burn down her store before she escapes with the young stranger, who is really the partner of her estranged offspring, and she vents her frustrations on the hypocritical people who again turn their back on her when she doesn't produce the money. French comedian Bourvil adds his patented touches of humor. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Anna Magnani, (more)
- 1961
This is a ribald though talkative look at the life and loves, mainly loves, of Henri IV, France's lecherous, 17th-century king. Henri (Francis Claude) has the misfortune of being married to a sharp-tongued woman but the good fortune of being king. That position nets him plenty of mistresses and an increasing number of illegitimate children. When the older king takes an interest in Charlotte (Daniele Gaubert) a teen forty years his junior, he opts to marry her off to a disinterested son (Jean Sorel) in order to have her nearby. These exploits occupy most of the two-hour running time of this standard costume drama, seasoned here and there with a dash of humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Daniele Gaubert, Jean Sorel, (more)
- 1961
Claude Autant-Lara's 1961 Count of Monte Cristo is one of the most faithful screen versions of the evergreen Alexandre Dumas story -- and one of the most compelling, thanks to the director's ability to squeeze the last drop of romanticism out of the original. While Louis Jourdan seems ill at ease as the younger Edmond Dantes, he is ideally suited for the film's later scenes, when the older, sadder, and wiser Dantes begins exacting revenge upon those who had him condemned to prison. Honoring the spirit of the original, Autant-Lara avoids inserting the leftist proselytizing which weighed down many of his later films. To perk up the pace and ensure double-bill bookings, the American distributor of Count of Monte Cristo removed 90 minutes from the film's 3-hour length. This was the seventh movie adaptation of the Dumas classic, which was first filmed by Hobart Bosworth in 1912. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Yvonne Furneaux, (more)
- 1960
That fair city on the West Coast of America has almost nothing to do with this one-dimensional, undistinguished tale of a sexually evocative fifteen-year-old girl (Daniele Gaubert) and the man she wants to seduce. The man is a young lothario in her neighborhood, and she is shown doing her best to attract and keep his attention. She also spends illicit time peeking at a man in a shower and generally misbehaving for a teen her age. The father of the womanizing lothario once took off to race in the regattas in San Francisco and never returned, providing only a title but no added substance to the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Folco Lulli, Daniele Gaubert, (more)
- 1960
Murky and rather uninspired, this wartime drama by director Claude Autant-Lara is set in France during World War II. At the crux of the story is a German woman, Herta (Erika Remberg) who longs to be with her husband for awhile. He is in the German occupying forces in France and in order to even get to that country, Herta forges a border pass. She manages to succeed in reaching a remote lodging in France, but when she tries to make contact with her husband the realities of war take over. He and the military are busy looking for a resistance fighter smuggled into the country by the British -- a task which does not augur well for a few stolen, romantic moments. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurent Terzieff, Erika Remberg, (more)
- 1959
In this French drama a horse dealer is quite surprised when one of his mares foals a green colt. The verdant critter brings his family fame and fortune. When the mare dies, her picture is hung in a prominent place in the house. It is not long after her death, that the dealer dies, leaving his land to his two sons. Things are well until a jealous neighbor turns them in to the Prussians. When the boy's mother gives herself to a Prussian officer to save her son, she does not realize that her son and his friends are under the bed. The lad swears to have revenge on the traitorous neighbor, and indeed he does. Fifteen years later, the boy seduces his neighbor's daughter. Unfortunately his brother, not knowing of his mother's disgrace, nominates the wicked neighbor for mayor. The vengeful brother is even more enraged when he discovers that the neighbor's family has known about the betrayal all along. To add insult to injury, his daughter has fallen in love with the neighbor's son! Unable to bear it any longer, the brother forces the neighbor's son under his bed and makes him listen to the love-making between the brother and the boy's mother (who willingly sacrifices her honor for him.) ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Francis Blanche, (more)
- 1958
Le Joueur is French director Claude Autant-Lara's spin on the oft-filmed Dostoyevsky novel The Gambler. Set in 19th century Baden-Baden, the film details the trials and tribulations of several chronic gamblers, foremost among them young Alevei (Gerard Philipe). In love with Pauline (Liselotte Pulver), the daughter of nearly-impoverished general Zagoriensky (Bernard Blier), Alevei tries to save Pauline from penury by instructing her in the ways of the gaming tables. Unfortunately, Alevei is too late to prevent Pauline from destroying herself, both figuratively and literally. The best-known cinemadaptation of the Dostoyevsky original was 1949's The Great Sinner, starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1958
En Cas de Malheur, literally "in case of accident," is better known by its American title, Love is My Profession. By any name, this Brigitte Bardot vehicle ran into stiff opposition from the Catholic Legion of Decency, severely limiting its U.S. distribution. Bardot plays a nubile small-time thief named Yvette, who becomes the mistress of influential defense attorney Andre (Jean Gabin). Though Andre is able to shower Yvette with jewels and furs, he cannot "buy" her heart, and thus it is that it belongs to handsome young student Mazzetti (Franco Interlenghi). Alas, Yvette is no judge of human nature: attractive though Mazzetti can be, he has a dangerous-and deadly-side. En Cas de Malheur contains a nude scene that has since been reprinted in freeze-frame form innumerable times by both film-history books and girlie magazines. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Brigitte Bardot, (more)
- 1956
The French/Italian Four Bags Full stars Jean Gabin as an aging artist, ever on the prowl for excitement. The time is World War II, and the place is occupied France. Timorous cab driver Gabin finagles Bourvil into transporting four suitcases full of precious pork through Paris, under the noses of the Nazi officials. While the film is not technically a comedy, there are several nervously amusing moments as the mismatched Gabin and Bourvil wend their way across the City of Light. Adapted from a novel by Marcel Ayme, Four Bags Full was originally released as La Traversee de Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Jean Gabin, (more)
- 1956
Marguerite de la Nuit is filmmaker Claude Autant-Lara's spin on the "Faust" legend. Though updated to 1925, the story of the ageing pedant who sells his soul to Satan in exchange for youth and knowledge is fairly faithful to the Goethe original. The one major alteration is Satan's decision to "go easy" on the long-suffering Marguerite (played by Michele Morgan). His Satanic Majesty is portrayed with a surfeit of wry Gallic charm by Yves Montand. As Autant-Lara's follow-up to his classic Le Rouge et le Noir, Marguerite de la Nuit cannot help but disappoint; on its own, however, it's not bad. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Yves Montand, (more)
- 1954
La Bie en Herbe (The Flowering Herb) was the second of Autant-Lara's two directorial efforts for 1953. Philippe (Pierre-Michele Beck) is 16; Vinea (Nicole Berger) is 15. Friends since infancy, Philippe and Vinea have always regarded themselves as brother and sister. But as adolescence segues into puberty, the two youngsters fall in love. Though their parents are oblivious to their growing ardor, an older woman (Edwidge Feuillere) sums up the situation. She takes Philippe under her wing and initiates him sexually, so that Vinea's virtue will remain intact -- at least for the time being. When released in America in 1954, La Bie en Herbe was rechristened The Game of Love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Nicole Berger, (more)
- 1954
Stendhal's brilliant but difficult novel Le Rouge et le Noir all but defies transfer to film, but adaptor/director Claude Autant-Lara comes within shouting distance of full success. Stripped to essentials, the plot concerns Julien Sorel (Gerard Philipe), a carpenter's son who becomes a tutor. While his duties do not include the seduction of his employer's wife (Danielle Darrieux), Sorel offers this service free of charge. After this episode, Sorel becomes a priest...and the story isn't over yet. Though the director is too doggedly literal in his adaptation at times, and despite the fact that Gerard Philipe was about ten years too old for the part of Jean Sorel, Le Rouge et le Noir manages to hold the audience in its thrall for 2 hours and 50 minutes (most American prints, retitled The Red and the Black, run only 140 minutes). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1953
Le Bon Dieu Sans Confession is one of the lesser-known works of prolific French filmmaker Autant-Lara. Stuck in a loveless marriage, bourgeois industrialist Francois (Henri Vilbert) falls in love with Janine (Danielle Darrieux), another man's wife. Francois sets up Janine as his mistress, and she, mercenary soul that she is, likes the set-up so much that she continues the relationship even when her own husband returns from WW II. In the long run, however, Janine is the loser in the situation. Based on a novel by Paul Vialar, Le Bon Dieu Sans Confession is one of a handful of films in which nobody is sympathetic enough to elicit audience identification. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Henri Vilbert, (more)
- 1952
The Seven Deadly Sins is a portmanteau film (a la Quartet and O. Henry's Full House) assembled by some of the biggest talents in the Italian and French film industry. The film's six sections (one containing two sins) are designed by separate titles, which should be self-explanatory. "Avarice and Anger" stars its director, Eduardo DeFilippo, as a miser who comes to grief. "Lust," directed by Yves Allegret, contrasts minor flirtation with major sexual passion. "Pride," directed by Claude Autant-Lara, details the fall from grace of a snooty mother and daughter. The other episodes include "Sloth," directed by Jean Dreville; "Envy," directed by Roberto Rosselini; and "Gluttony," directed by Carlo Rim. An eighth sin, directed by Georges Lacombe and starring Gerard Philipe, is thrown in as a comic bonus. Seven Deadly Sins is a lot of fun, though each of the individual episodes could use a little work in the continuity department. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Viviane Romance, (more)
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