Jean Halain Movies
- 1977
The sledge-hammer approach is evident in this comedy in which popular Danish comedians Dirch Passer, Jørgen Ryg and Preben Kaas play has-been actors plotting a bank heist that includes tunnelling through Copenhagen's main railway station. Being actors, albeit out-of-work ones, the three don a series of more-or-less comical disguises in order to fool the local gendarmerie. Non Danes might have trouble warming up to gap-toothed Passer, the country's foremost comic of his day, and it is frankly hard to believe that this cinematic whale was created by the same director who won an Academy Award ten years later for Babette's Feast (1987). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirch Passer, Joergen Ryg, (more)
- 1974
This French slapstick comedy stars the musician/comedian foursome Les Charlots, as valets to the Four Musketeers. One of the film's highlights is a mutual kicking session between Cardinal Richelieu, the King, and a monk. This comedy foursome was enormously popular in 1970s France, and they made a huge number of films during that period. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Rinaldi, Gerard Filipelli, (more)
- 1971
French comic Louis De Funes stars as Henri, who has a very unfortunate accident while on his way to arrange some sort of shady deal on the Italian border. He has tried desperately not to let his better impulses get control of him; nonetheless, he has already picked up a hitchhiker (Olivier De Funes) and a married woman in distress (Geraldine Chaplin) when his car runs off the road, falls over a cliff, and lands in the crown of a tree. The efforts of this threesome to cope with the situation and get rescued constitute the body of this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Chaplin
- 1970
Evans (Louis De Funes) stars in this situation comedy about a man in charge of a female ballet troupe. The only other man in the house is his nephew Philippe (Olivier De Funes). One of the former residents becomes pregnant, and anonymous note labels the nephew as the father. Evans seeks out the girl only to find she has another child as well. He soon gets roped into becoming a nursemaid to the squalling infant and the year old child. The part of the nephew is played by Louis' son, and the film features several songs and dances. the role of Evans is played with a more restrained manner by the popular French comic. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Noëlle Adam, (more)
- 1969
This comedy finds a family turned upside down by a new addition to the house. Hubert (Louis De Funes) and his wife (Claude-Gensac) are shocked to discover her grandfather has been found frozen in a block of ice at the South Pole. Scientists revive the man, who still appears to be 25 years old. Hubert is reluctant to take in the man until he learns he is extremely wealthy. Doctors keep the news of the man's fortune from him and swear Hubert to secrecy so the man won't suddenly die from the shock. Hubert is full of familial affection for his wife's grandfather, who is mistaken for Hubert's son. The grandfather ends up marrying the fiancee of Hubert's son. Although the premise for this story is amusing, it was used in the American television program "The Second Hundred Years" in 1967 and should hardly be considered original. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Claude Gensac, (more)
- 1968
In this modernized adaptation of the much-filmed Alexandre Dumas story, The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes was sent to prison on a trumped-up charge of betraying the revolution, but he managed to escape to South American and earn a fortune. Now he his back in France and is attempting to bring some sort of justice to those who betrayed him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Barge, Anny Duperey, (more)
- 1967
Bertrand (Louis De Funes) is a victim of blackmail when a man asks for his daughter's hand in marriage in this madcap comedy of errors. The suitor offers money he has embezzled in exchange for permission to wed the young woman. The trouble is that the woman is not really Bertrand's daughter but a woman who had only borrowed her name. Bertrand agrees to let Oscar the chauffeur marry the woman without revealing that she is not really his own daughter. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Claude Rich, (more)
- 1967
This talkative and unevenly paced feature finds Fou (Jean Lefebvre) the inventor of a gas that makes the users fall in love. He is chased by his boss, the police, and spies, who seek to secure the secret recipe for their own selfish purposes. A shadowy American underworld figure tries to intimidate the inventor. A half-hearted attempt at comedy tries to go along with the double dealing and trickery of the thin plot of the film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Blier, Pierre Brasseur, (more)
- 1966
Septime (Louis De Funes) is the owner of a posh French restaurant in Paris who is afraid of his temperamental cooks but who takes his frustrations out on his other employees. When a visiting ambassador is kidnapped from the restaurant, Septime is accused of being an accomplice in the abduction. This sets the scene for some well-staged auto chases over snow-covered mountains. One car flips over but is able to make it down the mountain because skis are attached to the rooftop rack of the vehicle. De Funes adds his own flair of irascible, self-depreciating humor that is the highlight of this comedy spy adventure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1965
O.S.S 117 (Frederick Stafford) is an American CIA operative who is sent to South America to thwart the attempt of a group of underground subversives who want to take over the world. Although classified as a Bond-style spy feature, it lacks the humor and gloss of other films of the genre. Location shots from Brazil are impressive as the sight of routine gun battles. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frederick Stafford, Mylène Demongeot, (more)
- 1965
In the second installment of the parodic Fantomas series, the title arch criminal and master of disguise kidnaps prominent scientist Prof. Marchand in order to develop a new powerful weapon to threaten the world. Fantomas is also planning to kidnap another scientist, Prof. Lefebvre. Journalist Fandor (Jean Marais, who also plays Fantomas and Prof. Lefebvre) decides to set a trap for the elusive villain. He disguises himself as Lefebvre and attends a scientific conference in Rome expecting Fantomas to kidnap him. As always, Fandor's ingenious plan backfires due to the interference of the bumbling police commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès). ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, (more)
- 1964
This movie is the first in a trilogy that parodied the popular silent Fantomas serials of director Louis Feuillade, which followed the adventures of the titular master criminal created by writers Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. After a daring jewelry heist signed "Fantomas," police commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) goes on national television claiming that Fantomas doesn't exist and that there is no reason for public concern. Riding the wave of public interest, journalist Fandor (Jean Marais) publishes a bogus interview with the master criminal. Fantomas (also played by Jean Marais) doesn't appreciate the joke and kidnaps Fandor to teach him a lesson. A master of disguise, he pulls an even more daring robbery wearing the Fandor mask. Comic relief is provided by commissioner Juve's awkward attempts to capture the elusive arch-criminal. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Louis de Funès, (more)
- 1962
One of several versions of a steamy novel by Eugene Sue, Les Mystères de Paris is set at the turn of the 20th century and begins when the carriage of Count Rodolphe (Jean Marais) runs over a man and as he dies, the Count vows to help his poor, orphaned daughter Marie (Jill Haworth). And so the Count penetrates the "thieves' quarter" in Paris looking for Marie, and he is emotionally overcome by the poverty he sees everywhere. After he meets Marie, he is attracted to her -- but then she is kidnapped and eventually, the Count learns the truth about her paternity. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Jill Haworth, (more)
- 1961
Claude Autant-Lara's 1961 Count of Monte Cristo is one of the most faithful screen versions of the evergreen Alexandre Dumas story -- and one of the most compelling, thanks to the director's ability to squeeze the last drop of romanticism out of the original. While Louis Jourdan seems ill at ease as the younger Edmond Dantes, he is ideally suited for the film's later scenes, when the older, sadder, and wiser Dantes begins exacting revenge upon those who had him condemned to prison. Honoring the spirit of the original, Autant-Lara avoids inserting the leftist proselytizing which weighed down many of his later films. To perk up the pace and ensure double-bill bookings, the American distributor of Count of Monte Cristo removed 90 minutes from the film's 3-hour length. This was the seventh movie adaptation of the Dumas classic, which was first filmed by Hobart Bosworth in 1912. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Yvonne Furneaux, (more)
- 1957
This French-Italian musical starts out in the eponymous French gambling establishment. Vittorio de Sica plays Gordy, an ageing playwright who decides to transform a music-hall singer named Catherine (Caterina Valente) into a dramatic actress. Just as his protegee achieves stardom, Gordy dies. But when Catherine visits her late benefactor's villa, she is romanced by Gordy's ghost, who turns out to be a much younger man (Gilbert Becaud). Rather stagebound, Casino de Paris only comes to life during the all-stops-out musical production numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gilbert Becaud, Caterina Valente, (more)
- 1954
The Gallic swashbuckler Cadet-Rousselle stars Francois Perrier in the title role. In love with the mayor's daughter, Rousselle is separated from her by money and by his low-born parentage. He heads off to Paris, there to find fame and fortune and make himself worthy of his sweetheart. En route, however, Cadet-Rousselle gets mixed up with a band of gypsies who plan to help the Royalists topple the New French Republic. Adventure piles upon adventure as Rousselle narrows escapes death at every turn. With him all the way is the new love of his life, fiery gypsy lass Violetta (Dany Robin). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, François Perier, (more)
- 1954
Crainquebille is the third film version of Anatole France's satiric novel. The title character, played by Yves Deniaud, is an elderly pushcart peddler much beloved by one and all. Well, almost all: the gendarme on the beat inexplicably despises Crainquebille, and the first chance he gets, he throws the old man in jail. By rights, the peddler should be back on the street in 24 hours, but thanks to a judicial bottleneck he spends two weeks behind bars. Upon his release, Crainquebille finds he is a "marked man," shunned by those who once pledged undying devotion. On the verge of ending it all, Crainquebille finds a ray of hope in the form of a hero-worshipping little boy (Christian Fourquade, who'd previously co-starred with Bing Crosby in 1953's Little Boy Lost). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Deniaud, Christian Fourcade, (more)
- 1952
A Simple Case of Money (originally released in 1950 as Millionaires d'un Jour) is set in motion when a greenhorn reporter (Bernard Lajarrige) carelessly prints the wrong winning number in the French national lottery. As the reporter and his boss (Leon Bellieres) defend themselves in court, they are confronted with several people whose lives were profoundly affected by the error. Gradually, these "victims" come to realize that they are far better off as losers than they ever would have been as winners. This is especially true of estranged husband and wife Pierre (Jean Brochard) and Helene Berger (Gaby Morlay), whose tattered marriage is patched together by the experience. Simple Case of Money is most effective as a character study, and least effective as a satire of provincial manners and mores. Coming off best in the large cast is Pierre Laquey as a lovably antisocial centenarian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Ginette Leclerc, (more)
