Edmond T. Greville Movies
A journalist in the '20s, Gréville made Vu, a short advertising film about his magazine, in 1927 and went on to helm several advertising films as well as experimental shorts. He also worked as assistant director to Ewald A. Dupont and Abel Gance. He acted in René Clair's Sous Les Toits De Paris and in 1931 began making features including Le Train Des Suicidis, which he also scripted and edited. He followed with Plaisirs De Paris (for which he was uncredited) and over the next three decades made many respected films, ranging from the Josephine Baker musical Princesse Tam-Tam and the Dutch documentary Veertig Jaren (aka Forty Years) to the horror tale Les Mains D'Orlac. He also helmed numerous films in England in the '30s and '40s, including Brief Ecstasy, What a Man!, and The Romantic Age. ~ All Movie Guide
Christopher Lee plays the horribly scarred chauffeur Erich in this Italian horror feature first released in 1963. He is the keeper of a German castle where visitors are tortured at will by a mysterious madman. Rossana Podesta and Georges Riviere also appear in this routine feature alternately titled Back To The Killer, Terror Castle, and the literal English translation of the original title, The Virgin Of Nurembeg. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, Georges Riviere, (more)
- 1962
A Red Cross ship is sunk while sailing back from war torn Korean. The four survivors, a war journalist and three ladies, end up stranded on a lonely island. One of the women is criminally insane and was en route to the U.S. with her guard to stand trial for murder. She proves to be a major troublemaker. Meanwhile, another woman vainly tries to repair the lifeboat so she can sail off to find help. Three of the women fight for the journalist's affections. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
L'Accident is another variation on the Diabolique theme. Georges Riviere is in love with Magali Noel. Only one obstacle stands in the way of Riviere's happiness: his wife. Maybe things would be better if she had an accident...which he is willing to arrange. But this is only the launching pad for an unstettling series of plot detours and unexpected twists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magali Noël, Georges Riviere, (more)
- 1961
In this mystery, a nouveau-riche Frenchman returns to his Parisian home after finding a fortune in Africa. He is looking for a wife and begins advertising in the newspaper. Instead he finds himself victimized by con-artists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dawn Addams, Jean Servais, (more)
A rebellious teenager runs away from home and joins the SoHo beatniks when her widowed father remarries a much younger woman. But beatnik life isn't all it seems and she ends up hanging out as a stripper in a sleazy club, hoping to learn about her mom. There the creepy club owner attempts to seduce her, and his lover gets jealous and stabs him. Now the two must do something fast. The film is also known as Wild for Kicks, and features music from rocker Adam Faith, the John Barry Seven, and other beatnik acts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Farrar, Noëlle Adam, (more)
- 1960
The oft-filmed Maurice Renard novel Hands of Orlac was given another cinematic go-round in this Franco-British production. Famed concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Mel Ferrer) survives a plane crash, but his hands are permanently destroyed. Helpful surgeon Volcheff (Donald Wolfit) grafts a pair of new hands on the hapless Orlac. Unfortunately, they're the hands of an executed murderer--useless for a pianist, but quite handy (no pun intended) for less delicate work. Before long, Orlac is convinced that he himself has become a killer thanks to his new extremeties. Two-bit magician Nero (Christopher Lee) decides to exploit Orlac's fears for his own financial gain, with horrifying results. Originally filmed in 1959, Hands of Orlac was finally released in the US in 1964 . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Ferrer, Dany Carrel, (more)
- 1958
A so-so drama with uneven acting, this is a tale of three women and one man trapped on a deserted island in World War II after a shipwreck. Christian Marquand is Patrick, the lone man who cannot but develop a relationship with all three women. Their fates are not what might be expected, as the women slowly reveal their true natures. One tries to get to another island to find help, and one turns out to be pathologically homicidal. She kills the only other woman, leaving two choices for her murderous inclination -- herself or Patrick or both. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rossana Podestà, Dawn Addams, (more)
- 1956
In this thriller a French woman is arrested for the death of her cruel lover. She certainly had motive as the man was a real snake. She hides him from the Nazis during WW II; he gets her pregnant, betrays her, and has her sent to a concentration camp. Even though it seems obvious that she was the killer, the woman pleads innocent. Two reporters believe her and begin investigating the stabbing. They soon find themselves entangled in a ring of international counterfeiters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Jean Gabin stars in the offbeat mood piece Le Port de Desir (Port of Desire). Gabin plays an elderly deep-sea diver, who, while going about his underwater business, discovers the corpse of a young woman. It turns out that the body has been entombed by the unhinged leader of a criminal gang. Gabin hopes to bring the criminal to justice and to save heroine Andree Debar from a similar fate. If Gabin had harbored any romantic hopes for Andree, however, these are scuttled by the presence of handsome Henri Vidal. Not too compelling when on dry land, Le Port de Desir picks up tremendously during the underwater scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Andree Debar, (more)
- 1954
Erich von Stroheim dominates the proceedings in the French L'Envers du Paradis (Other Side of Paradise) Set in a tiny village near the Riviera, the story concerns a diverse group of has-beens and losers. Von Stroheim plays O'Hara (sic!), a sea captain who's never been to sea. The Countess (played by Denise Vernac,Von Stroheim's secretary and constant companion in real life) entertains her jaded guests by screening dirty movies. Failed writer Blaise (Jacques Sernas) is saddled with an alcoholic wife (Dora Doll). And idealistic young Violaine (Etchika Choureau) is slowly dying of tuberculosis. The lives of all these people become intertwined through a sudden -- but not unexpected -- act of violence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erich Von Stroheim, Etchika Choureau, (more)
- 1952
Jean Pierre (Roland Alexandre), an aspiring composer, falls in love with seemingly impoverished flower girl Denise (Geraldine Page). In truth, Denise is a popular actress en route from a costume party. Fortuitously, she is also the star of a musical revue, and, as such, secretly tries to use her clout to give Jean Pierre his Big Break. Upon learning that Denise is not a flower girl, and that she is engaged to her director, Jean Pierre angrily walks out of her life. Anyone who's seen a 1930s Warner Bros. musical will know how this one turns out. Pepping up the proceedings in Plaisirs de Paris is a sensuous striptease number, which was usually excised from American prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roland Alexandre, Lucien Baroux, (more)
- 1949
This British drama was originally titled Naughy Arlette. The title character, played by future director Mai Zetterling, is a French exchange student at a British art school. Teacher Hugh Williams is unable to resist Arlette's seductive charms, a fact that brings about his downfall. The girl's randiness also adversely affects Williams' daughter Petula Clark. Based on Serge Weber's novel Lycee des jeaunes filles, The Romantic Age lacks the stylishness demanded by its subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mai Zetterling, Hugh Williams, (more)
- 1948
In postwar London, Chicago-raised fashion reporter Linda Medbury, working for a British newspaper, runs across a crime story that's too good to pass up -- all about Sugiani (Joseph Calleia), a racketeer who has quietly amassed a fortune, and near-total control of vice in London, through counterfeiting, black marketeering, and smuggling, all backed by strongarm men who've got everyone he does business with scared. Linda insists on running the story, even though one woman and two writers who previously gotten in Sugiani's way have either disappeared, been killed, or blinded. Her fiance, sportswriter Jumbo Hyde (Derek Farr), an ex-commando captain just back from the service, wants to protect her and enlists the aid of the boxers at a gymnasium where he's well known. But Linda is moving too fast for his efforts, and Sugiani is already tying up loose ends, including eliminating one talkative witness (Ruth Nixon). And when Sugiani and his right-hand man Bar Gorman (igel Patrick) discover that they can't buy or charm Linda off her crusade, they prepare to take more drastic action -- Sugiani sends out his personal enforcer, "the barber" (Hay Petrie). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Landis, Joseph Calleia, (more)
- 1948
A play by Ben Van Eeslyn served as the basis for But Not in Vain. Raymond Lovell plays a Dutch farmer during World War II. A strong opponent of the occupying Nazi regime, Lovell does his patriotic duty by hiding resistance leaders in his barn. His activities are threatened by his own son, an avaricious type who threatens to notify the Nazi authorities if Lovell doesn't fork over the resistance members' valuables. While most of the cast is English, But Not in Vain is convincingly Dutch in atmosphere and point of view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1947
The Woman of Evil in this French melodrama is a lady named Louvaine (Helena Bossis). She's a pianist in a tiny café, where her erstwhile lovers, landowner Laurent (Charles Vanel) and surgeon Diego (Jean Chevrier), make nightly visits. The rising passions within the café are counterpointed by the rising flood waters in the surrounding region. When originally released in France, Woman of Evil ran considerably longer than its current 87-minute running time. It was pared down for American consumption to meet the then-prevailing censorial standards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Vanel, Jean Chevrier, (more)
- 1946
Also known as Pour une Nuit d'Amour, Passionnelle was based on a novel by Emile Zola. On the verge of an arranged marriage with a wealthy rake, convent-bred Theresa (Odette Joyeaux) flirts with postal clerk Julien (Roger Blin), all the while carrying on a more torrid romance with handsome servant Colombel (Raymond Galle). When the latter threatens to tell all to the girl's fiancé (Jacques Catellot), she murders him and persuades Julien to help her dispose of the body. Poor, misguided Julien ends up as the all-around fall guy when Colombel's body is discovered, and not even the 11th-hour confession of Theresa can save him from his inexorable fate. Filmed in 1946, Passionnelle arrived in the U.S. in a discreetly censored version two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Odette Joyeux, Roger Blin, (more)
- 1943
The oft-filmed story of the WW I espionage agent known as "Fraulein Doktor" was given another go-round in the British Under Secret Orders. Dita Parlo plays Anne-Marie Lesser, a German secret agent who undermines the Allied cause at the expense of her own happiness. Top billing is bestowed upon Erich von Stroheim, as Anne-Marie's superior Colonel Mathiesus, a self-styled master of disguise (though his various makeups don't fool anyone in the audience). Released in the U.S. in 1943, Under Secret Orders was originally distributed in England in 1937 under the title Street of Shadows. A simultaneously-filmed French version, Mademoiselle Docteur, likewise starred Parlo and Von Stroheim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Loder, Dita Parlo, (more)
- 1939
Menaces (Threats) was originally filmed in 1938 under the title Cinq Jours d'Angoise. Thanks to a studio fire, the release of the film was held up for nearly two years, by which time its "rumors of war" subtext had taken on a new topicality. John Loder and Mireille Balin star as, respectively, a British newspaperman and his French fiancee. During the Munich crisis, Loder and Balin decide to take refuge in a Parisian hotel until they're certain that war will not break out. The other hotel guests include Austrian professor Erich von Stroheim, whose hopes of becoming a French citizen are dashed by the growing animosity against all things Teutonic. Though Von Stroheim's fate is a tragic one, Loder and Balin manage to weather the crisis and find lasting happiness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mireille Balin, Ginette Leclerc, (more)
- 1938
Although the Dutch Veertig Jaren is a film by committee -- the Special National Committee, to be exact -- director Edmond T. Greville and his actors are able to maintain their individuality throughout. The film's English-language title is Forty Years, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the reign of Queen Wilhelmina. In the manner of Noel Coward's Cavalcade, the story recounts those four decades as experience by two "typical" Dutch families, one headed by an Amsterdam surgeon, the other by a rural factory owner. Historical events touched upon include the Boer War, the General Strike and WWI. Mercifully, Veertig Jaren was completed in 1938, two years before Queen Wilhelmina was forced to surrender the Netherlands to Hitler's Germany. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lily Bouwmeester, Matthieu van Eysden, (more)
