Yves Brainville Movies

In one of his last film appearances, Laurence Olivier portrays an elderly painter who has locked himself away from the world in a crumbling French chateau. Olivier is not quite a hermit; he enjoys the attentions of two nubile admirers, played by Greta Scacchi and Toyah Willcox. This situation is disturbed by the arrival of young transient Roger Rees. Ebony Tower was based on a novel by John Fowles, who has made a career of creating enigmatic characters trapped in prisons of their own making. The film was originally produced for British television. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An ambitious Parisian fashion designer finds romance and great career success in this story about the life and loves of the legendary couturier, Coco (Gabrielle) Chanel. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

This film by French director Alain Resnais (Last Year in Marienbad) is loosely based on a true story from the 1930s about financier, con-man and swindler Stavisky who was arrested in 1934 for selling phony stock but was never brought to trial. While in jail, he continued to engage in doubtful monetary transactions. As the rumors that he was being protected by high-ranking members of the government of the French Third Republic were undoubtedly true, the scandal had a profoundly unsettling effect on the French nation, already suffering from poor government handling of the Depression, and this incident nearly brought down both the government and the Republic. Stavisky's death in prison (an apparent suicide) triggered widespread unrest and rioting. In the movie, when Stavisky (Jean-Paul Belmondo) goes to jail as a young con-man, his embarrassed father commits suicide. Ruining countless lives in his stellar career as a big-money swindler, including that of his nobleman friend Raoul (Charles Boyer), Stavisky is shown to be a pawn in a still bigger swindle, one which will destroy the Left and open the way to fascism. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Military Intelligence officer Major Grau (Omar Sharif) investigates the brutal murder of a Warsaw prostitute in this mystery set during World War II. Grau's only clue is that the murderer was wearing the uniform of a Nazi general. The three suspects include Gabler (Charles Gray), who fears his harridan wife more than anything, the icy General Tanz (Peter O'Toole), and the scheming, resourceful General Kahlenberge (Donald Pleasence). Grau is suspicious when he is taken off the case, but he does his own investigating when the suspects are gathered in Paris two years later. He enlists the help of Inspector Morand (Philippe Noiret), a resistance sympathizer with whom Grau forms an alliance. A side plot involving an affair with the general's daughter is thrown in for distaff interest. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this Cold War thriller, both the US and the Soviet Union almost launch WW III when a radioactive satellite suddenly appears over their countries. Once they realize that neither of them are behind it, they team up to stop it. But then the enigmatic satellite suddenly disappears. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gentle Art of Murder is comprised of a trio of short crime tales: "The Spider's Web," "The Fenyrou Case" and "The Mask." An international all-star cast appears in these filmed playlets, wherein each perfect murder turns out to be less than perfect. The stories are linked by "bookend" scenes in which an aspiring wife murderer goes to a movie house and watches the three cautionary tales unreel. Nearly three hours long, Gentle Art of Murder holds both the audience--and the would-be killer--in thrall. The film's original title was Crime Does Not Pay, though it bears no relation to the MGM short-subjects series of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this French melodrama, a kind-hearted social worker helps a hapless waif by taking her into her home. She gets the girl a job working for her fiance, a doctor. The two fall in love. The patient social worker eventually confronts the two. Her anger is awesome. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Two of filmdom's finest farceurs--Hollywood's Bob Hope and France's Fernandel--are teamed in the location-filmed Paris Holiday. Since Hope coauthored the script, however, guess which actor has the largest part. Cast more or less as himself, Hope plays an American comedian who comes to Paris to purchase a script. Little does his suspect that the script contains secret messages pertaining to a vicious gang of counterfeiters. With the help of villainess-turned-heroine Anita Ekberg, Hope is committed to an insane asylum to protect him from the bad guys; he then must rely upon Fernandel to spring him from the looney bin. Throughout Paris Holiday, Bob Hope looks too old and too rich to be indulging in such nonsense. Film buffs will enjoy the brief, unbilled appearance by famed producer-director-writer Preston Sturges. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The debate still rages as to whether Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much is superior to his own original 1934 version. This two-hour remake (45 minutes longer than the first film) features more stars, a lusher budget, and the plaintive music of Bernard Herrmann (who appears on-camera, typecast as a symphony conductor). Though the locale of the opening scenes shifts from Switzerland to French Morocco in the newer version, the basic plot remains the same. American tourists James Stewart and Doris Day are witness to the street killing of a Frenchman (Daniel Gelin) they've recently befriended. Before breathing his last, the murder victim whispers a secret to Stewart (the Cinemascope lens turns this standard closeup into a truly grotesque vignette). Stewart knows that a political assassination will occur during a concert at London's Albert Hall, but is unable to tell the police: his son (a daughter in the original) has been kidnapped by foreign agents to insure Stewart's silence. The original script for Man Who Knew too Much was expanded and updated by John Michael Hayes and Angus McPhail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi