Henri Decoin Movies

In this actioner, supersleuth Nick Carter finds himself mixed up with Oriental spies and secret guided missile. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

An aging musketeer is called out of retirement to help a king in this comic swashbuckler. The king's twin brother is freed after twenty years in an iron mask. He is to be used as a decoy for the monarch while the real king and his court roust some rebels to foil their insurgent uprising. D'Artagnan (Jean Marais) leads the way with his expert fencing to aid in the royal flush. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Love and the Frenchwoman (La Francaise et L'Amour) concentrates on the nature of love by illustrating seven separate aspects of the emotion. In "Childhood," 9-year old Pierre-Jean Vaillard suffers a traumatic experience when he takes his parents' "cabbage patch" theory of conception too literally. In "Adolescence," a little girl (Annie Sinigalla) constructs an elaborate fantasy world on the occasion of her first kiss. "Virginity" is a study in frustration, as betrothed couple Valerie Lagrange and Pierre Michel agonizingly await their wedding-night consummation of their ardor. "Marriage" finds a union ending almost before it begins as a pair of newlyweds (Marie-Jose Nat and Claude Rich) bicker all the way to their honeymoon rendezvous. "Adultery" allows husband Paul Meurisse the opportunity to calmly provide an object lesson to his wife's lover Jean-Paul Belmondo. In "Divorce", a couple (Annie Girardot and Francois Pierer) find that it's impossible to have a "civilized" breakup. And in "A Woman Alone," bigamist Robert Lamoreaux meets his Waterloo in the forms of Martine Carol and Sylvia Montfort. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this suspenseful WW II drama a Parisian widow assists with the Resistance. Unfortunately, she falls in love with a German soldier. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A familiar plot and a lovable, sexual, somewhat ditsy female are at the core of this frothy comedy-crime drama found in various incarnations in movies of this type. This is a lesser sequel to the more successful Nathalie. The Nathalie of the title is a lithesome, big-hearted model played by Martine Carol (wife of French director Christian-Jacque, who ceded her position to Brigitte Bardot as France's top sex-symbol). Nathalie inadvertently gets involved with a group of spies out to steal the secret of an atomic engine. The usual inept Inspector (Felix Marten) is on the case, but in the end Nathalie manages to outwit the Inspector in thwarting the spies, not that difficult a task, apparently. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Swinging like a pendulum between comedy and drama, this tale by director Henri Decoin concerns a lady lawyer with a tendency to hit the bottle. She takes on a difficult case considering her own weakness -- she is to defend a young man who has killed his alcoholic father. Challenged to the limit, in the end it is love that sees her through the hurdles. Well-acted and sophisticated, the story still does not run much below the surface of each protagonist. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The literal translation of Le Feu aux Poudres is The Burning Fuse. The title itself is symbolic, referring to the fact that time is running out for its protagonist, undercover policeman Raymond Pellegrin. Infiltrating a gang of gunrunners, Pellegrin makes a tactical error by falling in love with the gang-leader's moll (Francoise Fabian). As much a musical as an actioner, Le Feu aux Poudres even allows one of the villains (Dario Moreno) to burst into song! Le Feu aux Poudres represented writer-director Henri Decoin's return to films after a two-year absence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Zizi Jeanmaire, the delightful French singer/actress who previously brightened such American films as Hans Christian Andersen and Anything Goes, is the star of Charmants Garcons (Charming Boys). Jeanmaire is appropriately cast as a nightclub entertainer named Lulu, who is surrounded by a throng of "Stage Door Johnnies" of all ages. Lulu is too gracious and generous to say "Non!", and as a result her heart is broken again and again. It isn't until the very end that she finds true love with the most unlikely of fellows. Future Goldfinger star Gert Froebe is terrific as a lecherous zillionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

L'Affair des Poisons is an unusual murder yarn, set during the reign of France's King Louis XIV. Danielle Darrieux stars as Mme. De Montespan, who is, to use the common 17th century euphemism, a "favorite" of the French monarch. When she is cast aside by His Majesty, Mme. De Montespan schemes to discredit her rival for Louis' affections. Conspiring with defrocked priest Guibourg (Paul Meurisse) and fortune teller La Voisin (Vivienne Romance), the "heroine" begins to poison a number of aristocrats close to the king, then plants evidence suggesting that her rival is responsible. The film accommodates any number of lurid (but historically accurate) sequences, including a harrowing torture-chamber episode. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Franciolin) FI An all-star lineup of actors and directors was responsible for the omnibus feature Secrets D'Alcove. The film is made up of four separate playlets; the only "character" common to the four stories is a huge bed. The characters whose behavior is governed by being in close proximity of this bed include a soldier (Richard Todd), a philanderer (Vittorio de Sica), a professional co-respondent (Dawn Addams), a couresan (Martine Carol) and a truckdriver (Mouloudji). Naturally, the screenplay contrives to have the film's female characters appear as underdressed as possible, none more so than the curvaceous Martine Carol. The basic premise of Secrets D'Alcove was later adopted, after a fashion, by the American TV anthology series Love American Style (1979-72). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi