Sacha Guitry Movies
The son of Parisian stage star Lucien Guitry, Sacha Guitry was born and raised in pre-Czarist Russia. A restless youth, Guitry attended some dozen schools before finally completing his education at 17. That same year, Guitry wrote the first of his 120 plays, most of them vehicles for his own considerable performing skills. In 1915, Guitry wrote, directed and photographed an obscure silent-movie short subject, Ceux de chez Nous; three years later, he acted before the cameras for the first time. Throughout the 1920s, Guitry resisted films, feeling that they could not do full justice to his gift for dialogue and characterization. Though he would act in and write a brace of early talkies, he did not direct his first feature, Bonne chance, until 1935. Guitry was so much the renaissance man that one is tempted to label him the French Orson Welles; in truth, he was more the French Preston Sturges, exhibiting a firmer grasp of dialogue than a flair for visuals. Remaining in Paris during the occupation, Guitry was forbidden by the Nazis to act on stage; ironically, once the Germans were booted from Paris, Guitry spent two months in prison on a collaboration charge. Guitry devoted his last decade to turning out some rather ponderous historical spectacles, few of which exhibited the wit or sophistication of his best plays. Sacha Guitry was married four times; each of his wives was an actress, but only wife #2, Yvonne Printemps, became a star in her own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Although this drama was based on the Sacha Guitry play Deburau (which starred Lionel Atwill on Broadway), Warner Bros. changed it around and threw in a bit of Camille for spice. Jean Gaspard Deburau (Monte Blue) is a clown for a Parisian pantomime theater. He falls in love with Marie Duplessis (Marie Prevost) and neglects his wife (Rose Dione). Eventually, Madame Deburau leaves him for his friend, Robillard (Willard Louis). But instead of finding solace with Marie, Deburau discovers that he was only a passing fancy to her. After she leaves him for Armand, he quits the stage. The only light in his life is his son, Charles (Pat Moore). Years pass and Marie finally comes back to him. Her health is gone and Armand has left her. She begs Deburau to return to the stage and, deliriously ill, marries him believing he is Armand. Deburau breaks down during his performance and Marie dies. But he dresses his son, now grown (and played by Pierre Gendron), in his clown outfit, and he successfully carries on in his father's footsteps. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monte Blue, Marie Prevost, (more)
- 1930
In this British comedy, an early talkie, a philandering wife plays around with her lover while her equally philandering husband plays with his. When she and her lover decide to get physically involved, he takes her to his flat. Unfortunately, he accidentally gives her sleeping powder and she is forced to spend the night. Suddenly her husband appears to get some advice from the fellow. He has no idea that his wife is there. Romantic mayhem ensues until the married couple has a blissful reconciliation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seymour Hicks, Edna Best, (more)
- 1931
Sacha Guitry wrote the play on which Le Blanc et le Noir was based, but it was Hollywood-trained Robert Florey who officially handled the directorial reins. While vacationing in the mountains, child-hating Raimu leaves his wife Suzanne Dantes alone in their hotel room while he dallies with the local maidens. Feeling neglected, Dantes accepts the invitation of her neighbor, a celebrated tenor, for a nocturnal rendezvous. She enters the tenor's darkened room, whereupon she enjoys an evening of purple passion with a man whom she assumes is her host. Nine months later, however, Dantes gives birth to a black child -- her lover of the evening had been the tenor's capricious servant! The flustered Raimu scurries about trying to set things right, and in so doing finds out that he genuinely loves children -- whereupon he declares he'd like to become a daddy himself (one can only imagine that Dantes by this time has developed quite a headache). Though racy and risque, Le Blanc et le Noir remains firmly within the bounds of good taste. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1935
"Renaissance man" filmmaker Sacha Guitry had only two films under his belt when he directed the capricious Bonne Chance (Good Luck). Guitry stars as Claude, an artist who splits a national lottery ticket with the gorgeous Marie (Jacqueline Delubac). Miracle of miracles, the couple wins a million francs, which they decide to lavish on a vacation. Since Marie is engaged to be married, Claude suggests that they pose as brother and sister for propriety's sake. Meanwhile, the girl's fiancé undergoes all sorts of hardships in the army, so he's hardly in a receptive mood when he discovers that Marie and Claude have been enjoying themselves -- and that they've fallen in love with each other. Setting a precedent for all Guitry films to follow, Bonne Chance was heavily censored in the U.S., robbing the film of much of its charm and satiric bite. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Delubac, Pauline Carton, (more)
- 1936
The first of actor- writer-director Sacha Guitry's four 1936 productions was Nouveau Testament (New Testament), in which he wrote himself the meaty role of Jean Marcelin. Based on Guitry's own stage play, the story concerns a sanctimonious fellow who eventually is victimized by his own hypocrisy. Little effort is made to "cinematize" the property, which is filmed just as it appeared on stage. Audiences didn't seem to mind, and in fact some of them were known to applaud each of Guitry's bon mots as if they were attending a live performance. Nouveau Testament was entertaining enough, but would be eclipsed within a few months by Guitry's best 1936 effort, Story of a Cheat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Jacqueline Delubac, (more)
- 1936
The Story of a Cheat (Le Roman d'un Tricheur) is widely regarded as one of French writer/director Sacha Guitry's best and most personal films. Guitry himself stars as a charismatic cardsharp who survives solely through the auspices of Lady Luck. The story is told almost completely in pantomime; the only voice heard is the narrator's (Guitry, but of course). Among the film's many highlights is the opening sequence, in which the young Guitry misbehaves and is banned from a family picnic--where his parents and siblings all die from eating toadstools. This segues into a side-splitting "black" gag in which an exhausted priest huffs and puffs as he tries to keep pace with the long line of coffins! It has sometimes been suggested that Sacha Guitry was telling his own life story in Story of a Cheat, equating the ins and outs of the film industry with the chicanery of the cardsharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Pierre Assy, (more)
- 1936
Pasteur was the first of filmmaker Sacha Guitry's "historicals," each of which offered highly personal glimpses of highly public figures. Writer-director Guitry heads the cast as famed bacteriologist Louis Pasteur, who must endure the ridicule and condemnation of his colleagues before his ultimate triumph over the scourge of hydrophobia. Most of the story is told in lengthy monologues, which must have been fascinating to French filmgoers but tend to drag when translated into English. Curiously-especially for a Guitry film -- there is no leading lady, nor are there any other women in the picture. By an amazing coincidence, Pasteur was released in the U.S. just before the premiere of Warner Bros.' The Story of Louis Pasteur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Jean Perrier, (more)
- 1937
Originally titled Les Perles de Couronne, this Sacha Guitry historical extravaganza stars both Guitry and his wife Jacqueline Delubac. The plotline hinges on four valuable pearls, which pass from hand to hand over a period of several centuries, from the time of Britain's Henry VIII to the present. All of this is offered in flashback form, as a group of modern-day treasure hunters try to locate three of the missing pearls by tracing them back to their previous owners. Guitry shows up as King Francis I, Barras and Napoleon III, in addition to his contemporary persona of Jean Martin; Debulac is seen as Mary Queen of Scots and Empress Josephine. There isn't a scintilla of historical accuracy in the film, nor did Guitry have the slightest intention of including any; his sole purpose was to entertain the audience and serve up a superbly ironic denoument. The supporting cast is a polyglot of French, English and Italian actors, each speaking in his or her own language. The screenplay for Pearls of the Crown was cowritten by Guitry and another immensely talented filmmaker, Christian-Jaque. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Jacqueline Delubac, (more)
- 1938
The great Ernst Lubitsch directed this farce (written by Charles M. Brackett and Billy Wilder) about a free-wheeling millionaire, Michael Brandon (Gary Cooper), who enjoys getting married but has a hard time staying married: he's had seven wives and is looking for number eight. He thinks he may have found her in the person of Nicole de Loiselle (Claudette Colbert), whom he meets in a shop on the French Riviera. Unfortunately for Michael, Nicole doesn't like him very much and keeps rebuffing his advances, even though most women would be only too happy to marry him for his money. For just that reason, Nicole's father (Edward Everett Horton), a financially embarrassed French nobleman, strongly suggests that matrimony with Michael would be a good idea, especially since Michael doesn't want to take no for an answer. Nicole eventually relents and weds Michael, but when she tries to get him to change a few of his habits during the honeymoon, he makes plans to divorce her. But Nicole has finally decided that she loves Michael after all, and, as he tries to flee from her, she gives chase, determined to win his heart once and for all. The same story was previously filmed as a silent picture in 1923. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, (more)
- 1938
Sacha Guitry not only wrote and directed Remontons les Champs-Elysses (Remounting the Champs Elysses), but also plays five roles, including Louis XV and Napoleon III. The film proposes to detail the history of the famous Parisian thoroughfare of the title, beginning with its inception under the aegis of Marie de Medicis. Other famous historical personages depicted herein are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who allegedly came up with the idea for the first open-air restaurant, and composer Richard Wagner, here seen as a frustrated café musician. At the time of its release, Remontons les Champs-Elysses was compared unfavorably to Guitry's earlier historical pageant Pearls of the Crown. Today it can be appreciated as one of his most entertaining pre-war efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Delubac, Jane Marken [Jeanne], (more)
- 1939
Filmmaker Sacha Guitry's only cinematic contribution for 1939 was Ils Etaient Neuf Celibataires, released stateside as There Were Nine Bachelors. Set sometime in the past, the story gets under way when a new law calls for the expulsion of certain foreigners from Paris. Among those slated for deportation is Polish stage star Elvire Popesco. Guitry plays an opportunist who offers to help Popesco remain in France in exchange for her help in a highly suspicious "lonely hearts" scam. Our so-called hero intends to marry off nine elderly bachelors with an equal number of female foreign aliens, so that the latter will be able to declare themselves as French citizens. Naturally, most of the financial proceeds of this venture are to remain in Guitry's possession -- not to mention any female "fringe benefits" picked up along the way. With so complicated and convoluted a plotline, it is little wonder that Sacha Guitry's films seldom imported well, especially when decked out with inadequate English-language subtitles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Elvire Popesco, (more)
- 1940
Lewis Milestone directs the lightweight romantic comedy Lucky Partners, based on a story by Sacha Guitry. David Grant (Ronald Colman) is an artist in New York's Greenwich Village. After he wishes good luck to passing ingenue Jean Newton (Ginger Rogers), she is immediately offered a beautiful dress. Thinking that David is lucky, she agrees to go in with him on a ticket for the Irish Sweepstakes. Their horse wins the race, and he asks her to accompany her to Niagara Falls to celebrate their winnings. Jean's fiancé, Freddie Harper (Jack Carson), is not pleased about the arrangement, so he follows them. Eventually Jean and David fall for each other and they end up in the courthouse, where the judge ($Harry Davenport) sorts everything out in favor of the new couple. Lucky Partners was released in 1940, the same year Rogers gave her Oscar-winning performance in Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1941
Released in 1942 as Les Destin Fabuleux de Desiree Clary, this Sacha Guitry production made it to America six years later as Mlle. Desiree. Based on the romance between Napoleon Bonaparte and merchant's daughter Desiree, the film is divided into two parts. In part one, the younger Napoleon (Jean-Louis Barrault) pledges eternal fidelity to Desiree (Genevieve Guitry), but destiny dictates that he marry the much-older Josephine. Part Two takes place several years later, as Napoleon, now Emperor of France and now played by Sacha Guitry himself, renews his romance with the older-but-wiser Desiree (now portrayed by Gaby Morlay). Mlle. Desiree was later remade, sort of, as Desiree, with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gaby Morlay, Sacha Guitry, (more)
- 1943
Sacha Guitry starred in, and pseudonymously directed, the French romantic melodrama My Last Mistress. Guitry plays sculptor Francoise Bressoles, who falls madly in love with his model Catherine (portrayed by Guitry's real-life wive Genevieve). When his eyesight fails him, Bressoles begins to feel unworthy of Catherine, so he tells her to get out of his life. Love conquers all, but it takes ten reels to do so. Filmed in 1943 as Donne-moi Tes Yeux, My Last Mistress was not released in the U.S. until long after WWII had ended. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Aimé Clariond, (more)
- 1947
The Private Life of an Actor was the English-language title bestowed upon Sacha Guitry's first postwar feature, Le Comédien. The film recounts the life and loves of Guitry's actor/father Lucien, with Guitry playing both himself and his dad. Most of the story takes place either on-stage or in the dressing room, satirically emphasizing the wide schism between an actor's public and private life. Adding to the Pirandellian ambience of the project is Guitry's wife, Catherine (Lana Marconi), cast as one of Lucien's various mistresses. To fully appreciate the wit and wisdom of Private Life of an Actor, one must be conversant in French. The English-language subtitles don't even try to match the excellence of Guitry's original screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Lana Marconi, (more)
- 1949
As always, French filmmaker Sacha Guitry wore several hats during the making of Toa. Guitry directed the film, wrote the script (from his own stage play), and cast himself in the leading role of playwright Michel Desnoyers. When his jealous mistress leaves him, Desnoyers finds an emotional outlet for his disappointment by writing a play about the situation. On opening night, Desnoyer's ex-lover sits in the audience and disrupts the proceedings. She then pulls a "life imitates art" by repeating the behavior of the play's fictional heroine. All turns out well when it is realized that the whole megillah was based on a silly misunderstanding. As for the title Toa, well, that too is explained towards the end. The film was the third 1949 release for the indefatigable Monsieur Guitry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sacha Guitry, Lana Marconi, (more)
