Jacques Brunius Movies

Ingrid Thulin plays a Polish inmate of the Dachau concentration camp who is liberated at the end of the war. Presumed dead, Ingrid returns to visit her husband (Maximillian Schell) She finds that his grief was fleeting at best; his new mistress is his "deceased" wife's daughter (Samantha Eggar) from a previous marriage. Since Ingrid's identity is masked by plastic surgery, she subtly re-enters their life without undue stress for either husband or daughter. But when the husband figures out the ruse, he murders his young paramour in the bathtub (a moment lavishly exploited in the print ads for this film) and plots to kill Ingrid for her money. A textbook case of implausibility, Return from the Ashes was adapted from an equally unbelievable novel by Hubert Monteilhet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young Susannah York had her first lead role in this drama about a teenage girl on the cusp of womanhood. When her mother falls ill during a vacation in the French wine country, 16-year-old Joss Grey (York) is left to her own devices as she and her three younger siblings are left in the reluctant care of Madame Zisi (Danielle Darrieux), the proprietor of the hotel where they were staying. Eliot (Kenneth More), Zisi's strapping boyfriend, offers to show the youngsters some of the sights in the countryside, and Joss finds herself developing a strong infatuation with the older man. However, when she realizes that Eliot and Zisi are lovers, she becomes despondent and ends up getting drunk on wine with Paul (David Saire), a boy who works in the kitchen at Zisi's hotel. When Joss learns that Eliot is actually a jewel thief wanted by the law, she informs the police of his whereabouts. However, that same night, Paul's efforts to seduce Joss degenerate into a violent attempt at rape, but when Eliot hears her screams for help, he comes to Joss' rescue. Having spared her virtue and perhaps her life, Joss confesses to Eliot that she has turned him in to the police, and urges him to flee for his own safety. One of Joss' sisters is played by Jane Asher, a distinguished actress who was most famous in the United States not for her abilities as a performer, but for spending several years as Paul McCartney's girlfriend. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

What if the Dauphin of France managed to escape the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution? That's the premise of the opulent British swashbuckler Dangerous Exile. Louis Jourdan stars as the Duc de Beauvais, who manages, at great personal sacrifice, to smuggle the son (Richard O'Sullivan) of King Louis XVI into England. The boy takes up residence in Wales, where he is protected by local lass Virginia Traill (Belinda Lee) and her wealthy Aunt Fell (Martita Hunt). When time comes for the boy to return to France, he refuses--but local newspaper editor Patient (Finlay Currie), a spy for the French revolutionaries, has other ideas. Keith Michell, future star of TV's Six Wives of Henry VIII, is well cast as a French Republican with whom the Duc de Beauvais must inevitably cross swords. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful crime drama, a decent British sailor stationed in France is forced to smuggle gold when one of the gang members mistakes him for their contact who was killed. Real trouble ensues when the seaman is arrested and interrogated by a group of international police. He finally proves his innocence to them and at their request becomes their spy. He returns to the gang and soon finds that they and the police think he is double-crossing them all. The poor sailor ends up badly beaten by cops and crooks alike until at last he helps the cops get the smugglers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this lively British romantic comedy, a baronet decides that his son needs to experience life outside of his blue-blooded world and so takes him to Paris to sample its earthy pleasures. Meanwhile, the son has his own plans; he wants to find his father a good woman because he believes his father has spent too much time cooped up on his lonely estate in Scotland. Many merry mix-ups ensue as the two well-meaning fellows try to find the right woman for the other. Fortunately, by the story's end, romance prevails and everybody involved is happy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Comparatively little known today, Republic's Laughing Anne was a Late Late Show perennial in the early 1960s. One of several Republic features lensed in England in collaboration with producer Herbert Wilcox, the film stars Margaret Lockwood in the title role. A well-known Parisian cabaret singer, Laughing Anne travels to the South Seas with her ex-prizefighter boyfriend Jem Farrell (Forrest Tucker). Here she falls in love with schooner captain Davidson (Wendell Corey), but she eventually breaks off the relationship, fearing reprisals from the brutish Jem. Years later, fate brings Davidson, Anne and Jem back together, and the results are disastrous for at least two of the three. Laughing Anne was loosely based on a story by Joseph Conrad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Always a Bride stars Terence Morgan as an officer of the British Treasury who tells himself he's a honest man. Then he falls in love with Peggy Cummins, the daughter of a jovial swindler (Ronald Squire). Using privileged information, Morgan conspires with the father to separate several people from their earnings, then abscond with the swag. Things get sticky when tougher criminals who play for keeps become involved in the scheme. Always a Bride is consistently fun to watch, even when the plot threatens to overwhelm the comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Victor Hugo's Toilers of the Sea was none too faithfully adapted for the screen as Sea Devils. The hero is Guernsey-Island smuggler Gilliat (Rock Hudson); the heroine is glamorous British spy Drouette (Yvonne de Carlo). Set during the Napoleonic wars, the plot finds Gilliat and Drouette trying to outsmart one another for the first few reels. Gilliat even kidnaps Drouette at one point, believing her to be in league with the hated French. Eventually, of course, Gilliat must rescue Drouette from the French, thereby preventing Napoleon's planned invasion of England. Shot on location, Sea Devils was directed with verve by Raoul Walsh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charles Crichton directed this Ealing caper comedy, with a witty script by T.E.B. Clarke that won an Academy Award. Alec Guinness is Henry Holland, an unassuming transporter of gold bullion who, after working for twenty years with no rewards in sight for his faithful service to his company, decides to reward himself by stealing one million pounds worth of gold. Calling on his old friend Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a manufacturer of paperweights and an amateur sculptor, and a couple of Cockney crooks, Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass), they conspire to lift a gold shipment. After absconding with the gold, Henry melts the gold into a collection of souvenir Eiffel Towers, which he then ships off to Paris. But chaos reigns when a group of English schoolgirls purchase the gold towers, and the gang now become embroiled in a wild goose chase to recover their stolen gold. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Both controversial and compelling, this is the story of a naive peasant girl who becomes pregnant after being seduced by a shepherd and believes that she is carrying a specially blessed child. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Le Schpountz (Heartbeat) stars Fernandel as a feckless country boy named Saturnin. Convinced that he's a great lover (if only he could find someone to love), Saturnin is derisively labelled a "schpountz" by his friends and neighbors. He eventually proves that he's got a lot more compassion than anyone around him when his stepsister Angele (Orane Demaxis) returns home in disgrace with an illegitimate child in tow. "Le Schpountz" also surprises one and all when he makes good in the French movie industry! Director Marcel Pagnol uses the plot of this bucolic comedy drama to mercilessly drub his producers and their often questionable methods of raising production money. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean Renoir was the director of The Crime of Monsieur Lange, but this French film might just as well have been made in Hollywood by Frank Capra. The titular Lange (Rene Lefevre) is an author of wild west novels. When the owner of the company that publishes Lange's works absconds with the company funds, Lange rallies the employees together to create their own publishing house. The publisher returns, disguised as a priest, and demands a share of the profits. Lange responds by killing the bounder. The grateful employees help Lange to escape prosecution, allowing him to leave the country with his lovely fiancee (Florelle). Jacques Prevert adapted the screenplay of The Crime of Monsieur Lange from a story by Renoir and Jean Castanier. Stage actor Jules Berry makes his film debut in the role of the shady publisher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

L'Âge d'Or begins as a documentary about the habits of scorpions, utilizing library footage and silent-style intertitles. Amid the rocks of an inlet, archbishops are seen chanting by a beggar-soldier (Max Ernst), who then makes a long journey back to his hideout. He informs his fellow beggar-soldiers that the "Mallorcans" have arrived and it is time to bear arms and fight. But this small group of soldiers is weak and exhausted through starvation, and only one of them survives the trip back. The Mallorcans, a caravan of wealthy dignitaries and their servants, arrive to lay a cornerstone commemorating the now skeletal archbishops. The ceremony is interrupted by the screams of lovemaking, and the couple is separated by gendarmes and led away. The man (Gaston Modot), whom we later learn is a government official of some standing, establishes his nasty and anti-social character through the kicking a dog. The ceremony continues; a title card identifies this as the foundation of Imperial Rome. The next sequence intercuts scenes of the girl (Lya Lys), who is the daughter of a wealthy marquis, lost in a world of erotic fantasy, with scenes of the man being led down the street by the gendarmes. The man finally produces diplomatic papers, and is released.

The marquis (Ibanez) and marquise (Germaine Noizet) throw a large party at their villa, where a number of strange events occur without the slightest notice from the guests. A momentary distraction is caused when the gamekeeper shoots his son over a minor incident. The government official arrives at the party and is soon in pursuit of the girl, although the social nature of the event, at first, keeps them apart. The marquise accidentally spills a little wine over the government official's hand, and he slaps her, exciting the girl. (Alfred Hitchcock would later echo this very scene in Strangers on a Train.) The girl and the government official are finally allowed to consummate their fetishistic desires to the strains of Wagner in an extended love scene in the garden. This is interrupted when the conductor (Duchange) of the concert nearby has a headache and walks off the podium, directly into the arms of the girl. The government official gets a phone call, where he is told that his actions have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of the "women, children, and old people" he is sworn to protect. He curses the caller, and enraged, he goes to his apartment to rip apart pillows and to hurl several objects, including an archbishop, out the window. The final sequence begins with a series of lengthy, and increasingly agitated, intertitles announcing that the Duc de Blangis (Lionel Salem) and his henchmen are due to emerge from 120 days of debauchery inside a secluded castle. When the party does emerge, the duke is seen to be missing his beard. ~ David Lewis, All Movie Guide