Jacques Becker Movies
An assistant to Jean Renoir in the 1930s, Becker co-directed the short Le Commissaire Est Bon Enfant with Pierre Prevert in 1934. The following year he helmed the five-reel Tete De Turc, which he later disowned, and in 1939 began L'Or De Cristobal, which was completed and signed by Jean Stelli. Thus, Becker's career officially begins in 1942 with Dernier Atout. Over the next two decades he directed and co-scripted a dozen more films, most notably the classic Casque D'Or, as well as the romantic dramas Antoine Et Antoinette and Edouard Et Caroline, the crime film Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (aka Grisbi), and the prisonbreak tale Le Trou (The Hole). ~ All Movie Guide
Marc Michel plays an imprisoned man awaiting trial for the attempted murder of his wife. He is transferred to another cell, where his fellow prisoners are planning a jailbreak. He decides to go along with the elaborate plan, and the cellmates attempt to tunnel their way to freedom. Le Trou represents the last film of director Jacques Becker, who died shortly after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, (more)
- 1958
Montparnasse 19 is better known as Modigliani, which is also the name of its protagonist. In broad, melodramatic strokes, screenwriter Max Ophuls and director Jacques Becker offer their spin on the tragic, troubled life of Italian abstract painter Amedeo Modigliani. As played by Gerard Philipe, Modigliani is first seen as the derelict he became during his days as a resident of rundown Montparnasse in 1919. His one chance for redemption through the love of the beautiful Jeanne (Anouk Aimee) is thwarted by his hateful family. Another contributing factor to Modigliani's downfall is debauched English novelist Beatrice Hastings (Lili Palmer). The Modigliani depicted in Montparnasse 19 makes Vincent Van Gogh look like Pat Boone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Anouk Aimée, (more)
- 1957
The French/Italian Adventures of Arsene Lupin is loosely based on stories by Maurice Leblanc. A sprightly opening-credits musical theme clues us in that none of what we're about to see should be taken too seriously. The titular Lupin, played by Robert Lamoreaux is a jewel robber in pre-World War 1 Germany. Moving in the highest social circles, Lamoreaux has as much fondness for the ladies as he does for his ill-gotten gains. One of his conquests is played by Liselotte Pulver, who as Lilo Pulver costarred with James Cagney and Horst Buchholz in Billy Wilder's One Two Three (she's the girl in the polka-dot dress). Lupin proves to be a patriot when he robs the coffers of France's enemy-to-be Kaiser Wilhelm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lamoureux, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1954
Fernandel is the somewhat over-aged Ali Baba in this astonishingly expensive Arabian Nights escapade. In this filmization of the old "Arabian Knights" tale, Ali Baba is a slave who is sent to fetch his master's latest wife (Samia Gamal). The horse-faced family retainer falls in love with the girl himself, and spends the rest of the film trying to be worthy of her. The last shot shows Ali Baba and a "few intimate friends" converging on the cave of the 40 thieves. In an incredible long shot, we discover that Ali's friends number in the tens of thousands! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernandel, Dieter Borsche, (more)
This strangely-christened French film noir was released in the U.S. as Grisbi. Jean Gabin stars as a racketeer known by the Runyonesque nickname of Max the Liar. Seeking out the finer things in life, Max intends to pull one last job and retire. After stealing a fortune in gold, our "hero" is faced with a crisis of conscience when his best friend (René Dary) is kidnapped and held for a huge ransom. Somehow Max manages to turn the tables on the abductors, but his dreams of a life of ease explode in his face. Up-and-coming leading lady Jeanne Moreau plays a pivotal role as the femme fatale who leads Dary into the hands of his kidnappers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, René Dary, (more)
- 1953
Rue de L'Estrapade was filmmaker Jacques Becker's immediate follow-up to his 1952 classic Casque D'Or. That the film does not quite measure up to its predecessor shouldn't be held against it. Anne Vernon and Louis Jourdan play Francoise and Henri, a happily married Parisian couple. Despite his marital bliss, Henri decides to embark on a brief romantic fling. In answer to his infidelity, Francoise moves to the Bohemian artists' community, where she nearly succumbs to the charms of a scruffy existentialist (Daniel Gelin). This being a French film, a satisfactory ending is achieved without any harsh punishment being bestowed upon either husband or wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Vernon, Louis Jourdan, (more)
The Paris demimonde of 1900 is the setting for Casque d'Or. Georges Manda (Serge Reggiani), an honest woodworker, falls in love with Marie (Simone Signoret), the "moll" of minor crook Roland (William Sabatier). Gangster boss Felix Leca (Claude Dauphin) orders Georges and Roland to fight a duel to the death over the girl, as prescribed by the "code of the apache." Felix then pins the blame for Roland's death on Georges' boyhood chum, Raymond (Raymond Bussières), knowing that the woodworker will nobly accept the blame; this will leave Marie alone, which is what the lustful Felix has wanted all along. When Georges learns he's been set up as a dupe, he escapes from the police and kills Felix. Casque D'Or was based on the true-life Leca-Manda scandal, wherein an otherwise decent man was guillotined for shooting down a gangster boss in broad daylight. Since the scandal was common knowledge in France, the downbeat ending of this film was hardly unexpected but still extremely moving. Completed in 1951, Casque D'Or was a failure on its first release but then built up an excellent word-of-mouth reputation abroad. The film was released in the U.S. in 1956 as Golden Marie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, (more)
- 1950
French filmmaker Jacques Becker's Edouard et Caroline has been described as a film without a story. This isn't quite true, though the most memorable aspect of the film is the byplay between the two title characters. Edouard (Daniel Gelin) is a young, headstrong musician. Caroline (Anne Vernon) is his flibbertigibbet spouse. The two quarrel over an evening dress, they separate and then reunite. These farcical proceedings are counterpointed by Becker's naturalistic choice of settings, including Eduoard and Caroline's less-than-fashionable apartment and the prison-like confines of Caroline's uncle's mansion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Vernon, Elina Labourdette, (more)
- 1949
Jacques Becker's Rendez-vous de Juillet has been credited as the first postwar European film to accurately depict the Continental "youth culture." Teenaged Lucien (Daniel Gelin) aspires to become a filmmaker, and to that end organizes his friends into a film unit. The young cineastes hope to make a journey into Africa, there to film an uncompromisingly realistic documentary. Amusingly, Lucien and his friends are shown to be rather ill-equipped for "real life," shuttling as they do between theatre classes, jazz bars and coffee houses. Also, Lucien will have to overcome some family problems before he can embrace the responsibilities of adulthood. The winner of a critics' award at the Cannes Film Festival, Rendez-vous de Juillet was released in the U.S. as Appointment with Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Maurice Ronet, (more)
- 1947
Jacques Becker's Antoine et Antoinette bears echoes of the early-talkie Rene Clair classic Le Million. Roger Pigaut plays Antoine, a foreman in a bookbinding factory, while Claire Maffei portrays his salesgirl wife Antoinette. The story gets under way when a valuable lottery ticket is lost, sending hero and heroine into a tizzy. Before a happy ending can be attained, Antoine and Antoinette come in contact with a wide variety of supporting characters, many of whom have a vested interest in that ticket. By filming his story against a backdrop of actual locations and realistically appointed studio sets, co-writer/director Jacques Beckerhas transformed this wafer-thin comedy romance into an encapsulation of the Parisian working class. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Pigaut, Claire Mafféi, (more)
- 1946
Jean Renoir's A Day in the Country is a short and semisweet romantic vignette based on a story by Guy de Maupassant. A group of family members spend a day away from the city in the French countryside. While the men go off to fish, the mother (Jeanne Marken) has a harmless flirtation with a rural "rake," while the daughter (Sylvia Bataille) has a more serious liaison with a handsome young man (George Saint-Saens). Fourteen years later, the same family vacations at the same spot. The handsome stranger returns, hoping to renew his affair with the daughter; unfortunately, the girl is now married to a dull, insensitive jerk. The two former lovers ponder what might have been, then the family heads back to the city. A Day in the Country currently exists only in a 40-minute version; Renoir had planned to film scenes depicting what happened in the years between the two holidays, but he closed down production due to an acute "creative block." For this reason, although the film was shot in 1936, it wasn't released to theaters until ten years later. For its American distribution, Day in the Country was bundled together with two other short European films -- Joifroi and the controversial The Miracle -- as the portmanteau film The Ways of Love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Bataille, Jane Marken [Jeanne], (more)
- 1945
Originally Goupi Mains Rogues, this was the first new French feature film to be shown in the US since the end of WW2-though "new" was a relative term, inasmuch as the film was completed in 1943. The scene is a remote, rustic inn, managed by a scruffy family of peasants known as the Goupis. Practicing their own special brand of larceny, the Goupis fancy themselves as Runyonesque rogues, going so far as to bestow colorful nicknames upon themselves. The official head of the band is "Red Hands", played by Fernand Ledoux, but even he is answerable to the Goupis' patriarch, a 106-year-old named "The Emperor" (Maurice Schulz). Nearly plotless, Goupi Mains Rogues offers an unforgettable cast of characters and an abundance of authentic Gallic atmosphere. Picked up for American distribution by MGM, the film inexplicably disappeared from view within a few months; director Jacques Becker later claimed that MGM destroyed all the prints so that the film wouldn't compete with the studio's American-made productions, though this hardly seems to be the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fernand Ledoux, Georges Rollin, (more)
- 1939
L'Or du Cristobal is based on the novel by A. T. Sersteven. Albert Prejean plays the first mate of the French freighter Cristobal when he's suspected of carrying on with Dita Parlo, the wife of the ship's captain. Once on dry land, Prejean is informed by cabaret dancer Conchita Montenegro that the Cristobal carries a priceless secret cargo of gold. In concert with corrupt police official Charles Vanel, Prejean plots to divest the freighter of its wealth, but the two conspirators eventually fall out thanks to the treacherous Montenegro. Director Jacques Becker also contributed to the screenplay of L'Or du Cristobal without credit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dita Parlo, Conchita Montenegro, (more)
- 1937
Jean Renoir's epic account of the French Revolution juxtaposes the opulent life of King Louis XVI with the poverty of the commoners who rose up to overthrow the monarchy in 1789. The film's title comes from the rallying song which grew out of the peasants' march on the Bastille, the song that ultimately became the French national anthem. Filmed with a cast of thousands, the focus is on two members of a large volunteer battalion who help the revolutionary army in its takeover of the Tulleries, which resulted in the publication of the Brunswick Manifesto and ultimately led to King Louis' downfall. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Renoir, Lise Delamare, (more)
Frequently cited as both one of the greatest films about war and one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion is an often witty, sometimes poignant, frequently moving examination of the futility of war. During World War I, twoFrench airmen are shot down while taking surveillance photographs in German territory: Capt. de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay), a wealthy and aristocratic officer; Lt. Maréchal (Jean Gabin), a burly but intelligent working-class mechanic. The three are brought to a P.O.W. camp, where they encounter and befriend Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio), a prosperous Jewish banker, and the commander, Von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), takes an immediate liking to de Boeldieu.They are members of the same social class and believe that the political and intellectual ideals of the Europe they once knew will soon be a thing of the past with the rise to power of the proletariat. The three Frenchmen discover that their fellow prisoners have been digging an escape tunnel, and all of them agree to help -- Maréchal and Rosenthal with enthusiasm, de Boeldieu out of a sense of duty. As he puts it, when on a golf course, one plays golf, and while in a prison camp, one tries to escape -- it's the accepted thing to do. As Von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu become friends, and the rank-and-file soldiers banter as much with the German guards as with each other, the characters seem involved less in a war than in some vast, petty game, albeit one with deadly consequences; they often talk about women and food, while never mentioning political ideology. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, (more)
- 1936
Director Jean Renoir returns to the "people of the soil" of his previous Toni in People of France! (originally La Vie est a nous, or A Life for Us). Using a cast of nonprofessionals, Renoir pontificates on the dehumanization of the capitalist system. The film opens as a group of schoolchildren come across the fact that France is controlled by 200 wealthy families. As the kids put together a scrapbook detailing the lives of these movers and shakers, Renoir cuts away to the emotional damage wrought both intentionally and unintentionally by the insensitivity of the Elite. Not surprisingly, the film concludes with a rally of the French Communist Party. People of France! was in fact financed by the communists, a fact Renoir attributed to his eagerness during this period to work with anyone who espoused an anti-Nazi viewpoint (he also effectively disowned the picture, insisting that while he physically directed it, he really had nothing to do with it creatively). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Dasté, Julien Bertheau, (more)
- 1936
Voted 1936's best picture by a circle of prestigious French critics, Jean Renoir's The Lower Depths (Les Bas-Fonds) is based on the "gutter" play by Russian author Maxim Gorky. Louis Jouvet plays The Baron, forced by circumstance to give up his life of luxury and to set up residence in the slums of Paris. As Jouvet observes the passing parade, he bears witness to the frustrated romance between Jean Gabin and Junie Astor, the thwarted dreams of actor Robert Le Vigan, and the oppressive cruelties of landlord Vladimir Sokoloff. The Lower Depths surprised Renoir's admirers, who weren't used to seeing the director involve himself in so sordid and depressing a tale. Actually, the project was brought to Renoir by a producer friend of his, who secured the director's services by promising to provide Louis Jouvet and Jean Gabin as the leading actors. Renoir's The Lower Depths would make a fascinating companion piece to Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation of the same Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, (more)
Boudu (played by Michel Simon, who also produced the film) is a shaggy, foul-smelling tramp who is rescued from drowning by bourgeois Frenchman Charles Granval. Deciding to "reform" Boudu, Granval invites the hobo into his home. Boudu returns the favor by turning the household upside down and by conducting an affair with Granval's wife Marcella Hainia. All ends happily--for Boudu at least--when the tramp wins the national lottery and marries maid Severine Lerczynska, who is so delighted that she ends her own affair with the hypocritical Granval. Boudu decides to forego his new-found wealth for his previous carefree existence, leaving the greedy Lerczynska in the lurch. Filmed in 1932, Boudu Saved From Drowning was not released in the US until 1967, at which time it was universally praised by the wine-and-cheese critics. A less subtle but not less hilarious American remake, 1986's Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starred Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler (this film spawned a brief, heavily laundered 1987 TV sitcom). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Charles Granval, (more)
- 1932
La Nuit du Carrefour (A Night at the Crossroads) may well be the least known of Jean Renoir's sound films. Adapted from a novel by Georges Simenon, the story concentrates on a gang of thieves who utilize a cross-road garage as the hideaway. During their last caper, the gang has accidentally murdered a jewel thief, and the heat is on. Winna Winifred, the beautiful ringleader of the gang, makes the fatal mistake of falling in love with Pierre Renoir (the director's brother), the detective who's been assigned to bring her in. The only one of Renoir's productions to thoroughly qualify as a "crime picture," La Nuit du Carrefour was often dismissed by the director, who felt that he was so successful in creating a "mysterious atmosphere" that no one understood what was going on (He did, however, enjoy working with Georges Simenon, who became a lifelong friend). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Renoir, Winna Winifred, (more)
