Léonide Moguy Movies

Russian-born director Leonide Moguy who has worked both in the U.S. and in Europe, has almost single-handedly put together this routine anti-nuclear drama about atomic research getting out of hand. The story begins and ends with the same scene -- a man is calling the police -- and is told in flashbacks. The man is a French scientist who has come to the U.S. to do nuclear research. He is completely devoted to his job, even at the expense of his family, and will not leave his work for any of the most compelling personal reasons. His son dies, his wife leaves him, and a colleague quits because his conscience is bothering him. Then one day, the Frenchman discovers the key to making a "death ray" and gets caught in circumstances beyond his control -- his discovery is stolen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Michele Mercier stars as Nicole, a country lass who comes to the big city after winning a "new faces" contest sponsored by a movie studio. Betrayed by a man she thought she could trust, Nicole attempts suicide. She is saved from herself by her home-town fiancé, but the fact remains that she is now considered a failure. A last-minute twist of fate brings about a highly unlikely happy ending. Surprisingly, director Leonide Moguy seems to be taking Georges Tabet's script seriously, instead of treating it as a semi-satirical romantic trifle. The film's title, incidentally, translates to Give Me My Chance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Le Long des Trottoirs was released in English-speaking countries as Along the Sidewalks and Diary of a Bad Girl. The film was one of several French-language efforts by Russian-born director Leonide Moguy. As its various titles indicate, this is the story of a young prostitute, played by newcomer Danik Patisson. Blame for the girl's tawdry lifestyle is placed squarely on Society, which didn't want her when she was "clean" and now rehects her for her fall from grace. The long-suffering heroine is rescued from her plight by the love of an understanding doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leonid Moguy's Domani e un Altro Giorno (Tomorrow is Another Day) was an unofficial follow-up to his 1950 effort Domani e Troppo Tardi (Tomorrow is Too Late). Both films were "thesis" pictures, but whereas the first film dealt with sex education, the second tackles the even more delicate subject of suicide. Three different stories are offered with the film's framework, each probing into the reasons that a person would take his or her own life. In the first, a young girl is seduced and then tormented by an older man. In the second, an old woman's dog is poisoned by nasty neighbors. And in the third, a young socialite, denied genuine affection by parents, begins looking for love in all the wrong places. Only one of the three episodes ends happily, but it wouldn't be fair to reveal which one. At the bottom of the cast list is Rosanna Podesta, who'd achieve international fame in the mid-1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danielle Darrieux stars as Arabella Delvaire in this baroque adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel Bethshabee. Arabella is a woman of the world who arrives at a remote Foreign Legion outpost for a rendezvous with her current lover, Captain Duveuil. It so happens that one of Arabella's previous amours, Captain Somerville (Paul Meurisse), is also serving at the same post. So much for joining the Foreign Legion to forget. A climactic knife duel "solves" the film's various plot complications. Despite its Foreign Legion background, Bethsabee has next to no action, which must have made things difficult when the film was distributed to the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exiled from his own country during WW2, French filmmaker Leonide Moguy worked briefly in Hollywood, where he directed the patriotic thriller Action in Arabia. George Sanders stars as Gordon, an American newspaperman at large in Damascus. When a colleague is murdered, Sanders wants to find out why. He is helped along by glamourous secret agent Yvonne (Virginia Bruce), who is on the trail of a group of Nazi saboteurs. It turns out that the murder is tied in with a plan to destroy the Suez Canal in the name of Der Fuehrer. Though economically produced, Action in Arabia benefits from several rather spectacular-looking scenes of desert combat-most of these lifted from a never-finished 1933 filmed biography of Lawrence of Arabia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This French Underground melodrama stars George Sanders as a seemingly apolitical Parisian doctor who is actually a resistance leader. Sanders' nurse (Brenda Marshall) is likewise a French patriot--less so the nurse's husband (Philip Dorn), who has become disillusioned after two years in a POW camp. The husband changes his mind and joins the Resistance, though he and several other freedom fighters lose their lives to German bullets. Worth noting in Paris After Dark is the fact that several of the personnel involved were actual French refugees, including director Leonide Moguy and husband-and-wife supporting actors Marcel Dalio and Madeleine LeBeau. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two Women was adapted by Charles Spaak from L'Empreinte de Dieu, a novel by Maxence Van der Meerck. Terrified of her violent-tempered husband Gomar (Jacques Dumenil), Karelina (Blanchette Brunoy) takes refuge in the home of Wilfrida (Annie Ducaux), her best friend. The one who suffers most from this set-up is Wilfrida's kind-hearted husband Van Bergen (Pierre Blanchard), who falls in love with Karelina. Upon learning that Karelina has been rendered pregnant, Gomar insanely charges into the Van Bergen household and murders the erstwhile good samaritan. Much of the film was lensed on the coast of Holland, a scant few months before the Nazi invasion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Le Deserteur (The Deserter) is Jean-Pierre Aumont, who during WWI jumps off a troop train en route to the battlefield. It's not that he's a coward: Aumont hopes to locate his runaway sweetheart, who has taken a job in a rundown tavern. It turns out that the hero's own mother, a bitter, spiteful woman, is responsible for his girlfriend's present sorry state. Hoping to take her away from all this, Aumont is cornered by the tavern's hateful owner, who intends to turn the boy over to the military authorities so that he can have the girl all to himself. A struggle follows, ending in a killing, but a timely German bombing raid wipes out all evidence of the "crime." Less than two hours after his desertion, Aumont manages to rejoin his regiment, having solved all of his girlfriend's problems in record time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prison Sans Barreaux (Prison Without Bars) takes place in a private correctional institution for young women. Annie Duchaux stars as Yvonne, the new director of the institution, who is of the opinion that her charges will respond better to kindness than brutality. One who benefits greatly from Yvonne's progressive policies is an inmate named Nelly (Corinne Luchaire), who transforms from a hardened sociopath to a useful member of society. Alas, this triumph proves to have its price when Nelly falls in love with Yvonne's doctor fiancé (Roger Duchesne). Handled with subtlety rather than sensationalism, Prison Sans Barreaux remains one of the better "girls in jail" efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide