Leslie Caron Movies
The sort of performer for whom the term "gaminlike" was coined, Leslie Caron was prepared for a performing career by her American mother, a former dancer. Training from childhood at the Paris Conservatoire, Caron was 16 when she was selected to dance with the Ballet de Champs Elysses. After three years with this prestigious troupe, she was discovered by Gene Kelly, who cast her as the ingénue in his 1951 film An American in Paris. This led to a long-term MGM contract and a string of films in which Caron's dancing and singing skills were showcased to the utmost: Lili (1953), The Glass Slipper (1954), Gaby (1956), and Gigi (1958). During this period, she was loaned out to co-star with Fred Astaire in 20th Century-Fox's Daddy Long Legs (1955), and was seen on the Paris stage in Jean Renoir's Ornet. As musicals slowly went out of fashion, Caron sought to alter her screen image, successfully doing so with her portrayal of a pregnant, unmarried woman awaiting an abortion in The L-Shaped Room (1962), a performance that won her the British Film Academy award (she had previously been nominated for a BFA, and an Oscar, for Lili). Her later film assignments included Father Goose (1965), in which she received an image-shattering slap in the face from Cary Grant; Ken Russell's Valentino (1977), in the role of silent-screen legend Alla Nazimova; and Louis Malle's Damage (1992). The first of Caron's three husbands was George Hormel, of the famous American meat-packing family. Her second marriage was to British director Peter Hall, and husband number three was producer Michael Laughlin, whom she wed in 1969. Though not quite as starry-eyed and apple-cheeked as she was in An American in Paris, Caron has retained her beauty and vivacity into her sixties. Among the many awards and honors bestowed upon Leslie Caron was the title of Jury President at the 1989 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1965
A Very Special Favor stars Rock Hudson as a notorious romeo and Leslie Caron as a prudish psychiatrist. At the urging of Caron's lawyer father Charles Boyer, Hudson begins a seduction campaign. Caron resents this intrusion in her private affairs and builds up a wall of resistance against the ardent Mr. Hudson. Still, the film ends with Hudson and Caron happily married, with plenty of children underfoot and another one on the way. Roundly panned for its alleged smarminess in 1965, A Very Special Favor is offensive today not for its sex talk but for its "pregnant, barefoot, in-the-kitchen" mentality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Leslie Caron, (more)
Gene Kelly does his patented Pal Joey bit as Jerry Mulligan, an opportunistic American painter living in Paris' "starving artists" colony. He is discovered by wealthy Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), who becomes Jerry's patroness in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Jerry plays hookey on this setup by romancing waif-like Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron) -- who, unbeknownst to him, is the object of the affections of his close friend Henri (Georges Guetary), a popular nightclub performer. (The film was supposed to make Guetary into "the New Chevalier." It didn't.) The thinnish plot is held together by the superlative production numbers and by the recycling of several vintage George Gershwin tunes, including "I Got Rhythm," "'S Wonderful," and "Our Love Is Here to Stay." Highlights include Guetary's rendition of "Stairway to Paradise"; Oscar Levant's fantasy of conducting and performing Gershwin's "Concerto in F" (Levant also appears as every member of the orchestra); and the closing 17-minute "American in Paris" ballet, in which Kelly and Caron dance before lavish backgrounds based on the works of famed French artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, (more)
Norman Lloyd directed this televised production of Jean Renoir's World War II-era play. Taking place backstage at a theatrical performance in Nazi-occupied France, Carola is a tale of passion and intrigue that involves a beautiful stage actress and her emotional and psychological struggles over a Nazi officer, whom she is entangled in an affair with, and a Resistance leader whom she is hiding. Featuring Leslie Caron as Carola, the play also stars Mel Ferrer, Albert Paulsen, Michael Sacks, Carmen Zapata, and Anthony Zerbe. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, (more)
The most tempting of all sweets becomes the key weapon in a battle of sensual pleasure versus disciplined self-denial in this comedy. In 1959, a mysterious woman named Vianne (Juliette Binoche) moves with her young daughter into a small French village, where much of the community's activities are dominated by the local Catholic church. A few days after settling into town, Vianne opens up a confectionery shop across the street from the house of worship -- shortly after the beginning of Lent. While the townspeople are supposed to be abstaining from worldly pleasures, Vianne tempts them with unusual and delicious chocolate creations, using her expert touch to create just the right candy to break down each customer's resistance. With every passing day, more and more of Vianne's neighbors are succumbing to her sinfully delicious treats, but the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), the town's mayor, is not the least bit amused; he is eager to see Vianne run out of town before she leads the town into a deeper level of temptation. Vianne, however, is not to be swayed, and with the help of another new arrival in town, a handsome Irish Gypsy named Roux (Johnny Depp), she plans a "Grand Festival of Chocolate," to be held on Easter Sunday. Based on the novel by Joanne Harris, Chocolat features a distinguished supporting cast, including Judi Dench, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Peter Stormare, Hugh O'Conor, and Leslie Caron. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, (more)
Guido Santi and Tina Mascara's documentary Chris and Don. A Love Story traces the romantic relationship between writer Christopher Isherwood and painter Don Bachardy. The filmmakers utilize interviews with Don himself, as well as personal documents belonging to Isherwood, in order to show how the duo nurtured each other's artistic instincts while establishing a deep emotional bond that survived even after Isherwood's passing. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Bachardy, Christopher Isherwood, (more)
With a story that seeks to continue the famous tale of Heidi, Courage Mountain focuses on the teenager (Juliette Caton), forced to leave her grandfather (Jan Rubes) to attend an Italian boarding school on the eve of World War I. The German army appropriates the school, and Heidi is forced to depend on her smarts until she can be reunited with her boyfriend Peter (Charlie Sheen). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Caton, Jan Rubes, (more)
A hedonistic recluse seeking to control the lives of the few who faithfully serve her is plunged into a sea of madness as her paranoid suspicions tighten their grip on her sanity in this sensual drama starring Leslie Caron and The Dukes of Hazard's Catherine Bach. A voluptuous but reclusive widow who confines herself to life inside her giant mansion following the death of her husband, Nicole (Caron) uses her money and sexuality to pull the strings of those closest to her until the arrival of a handsome suitor and an aspiring dancer (Bach) find her wanton ways fading. When Nicole begins to suspect her newfound lover of being unfaithful, however, her momentary calm explodes into a hysterical madness that threatens to drive her to murder. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
This last remake (thus far) of the Jean Webster novel Daddy Long Legs was extensively revised to accommodate the talents of Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. Fragments of the basic plot remain: American millionaire Astaire is the unknown benefactor of French orphan girl Caron, financing the girl's education on the proviso that his identity never be revealed to her. Moved by Caron's letters of thanks, Astaire's secretary Thelma Ritter advises Astaire to go to France to visit the "child". When he arrives, he finds that his ward has grown up rather nicely, and the two fall in love--though Caron never knows until the very end who Astaire really is. The old story has been updated to allow for an elaborate "cowboy" number and a couple of Eisenhower jokes. Highlights include a solo ballet by Caron and a wonderful Astaire routine involving a set of drums. The score for Daddy Long Legs is unremarkable save for Johnny Mercer's hit "Something's Gotta Give". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, (more)
Adapted from Josephine Hart's spare novel by British screenwriter David Hare and French director Louis Malle, this brooding erotic drama concerns the obsessive sexual relationship between an English politician and his son's lover. Stephen Flemming (Jeremy Irons), an up-and-coming member of Parliament, has a beautiful and loving wife, Ingrid (Miranda Richardson), and two children, including son Martyn (Rupert Graves), a successsful journalist. Sparks fly, however, when Stephen meets beautiful art-world denizen Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche), Martyn's new girlfriend. A measured, seemingly passionless man who believes that life can be controlled, Stephen suddenly finds himself unable to resist brief but intense liaisons with the mysterious, melancholy Anna. Eventually she explains the palpable air of sadness that hangs over her: When she was 15, her beloved older brother committed suicide because he could not possess her. "Remember," Anna warns Stephen, "Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive." Drawn to Anna and the passion she engenders in him, Stephen tries to justify his betrayal by telling himself Martyn isn't serious about Anna; he is stunned, then, when the two announce their engagement. On the advice of Anna's mother (Leslie Caron), who sees right through the charade, Stephen tries to break things off. But soon the affair resumes with full force, eventually destroying several lives. Although Damage's stark, frank sex scenes were trimmed to attain an R rating for theatrical release, the original, uncut version is available on video and DVD. Richardson received an Oscar nomination for her work. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, (more)
Michel Piccoli plays Akiva Liebskind, a Russian chess genius in the Swiss-filmed Dangerous Moves. He is pitted against Soviet exile Pavius Fromm (Alexandre Arbatt), who, since childhood, has dreamed of nothing but defeating Liebskind. Both men soon become obsessed with winning. Already suffering from a weak heart, Liebskind courts a coronary, while the increasingly paranoid Fromm is convinced that his opponent is spying on him from every corner. The KGB enters into the game by attempting to sabotage Fromm, hoping that by doing so they will discredit everyone who's ever publicly opposed the Soviet government. Dangerous Moves was the 1984 recipient of the Best Foreign-Language Picture Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Alexandre Arbatt, (more)
In this drama, a German woman treasures a ring, the one tie she has left to her life before WWII. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, Linda Lavin, (more)
- 1982
Klaudia (Leslie Caron) once starred in movies and on the stage, but now she is wealthy enough to retire to her exclusive villa and live without the interference of the world, the press, and work demands. In order to keep her solitude inviolate, she never allows anyone into the villa except for Marianne (Leslie Malton), her lone housekeeper -- her only conduit to the world outside. Marianne's boyfriend Marek (Daniel Webb) would like to get into the villa and take forbidden photos and gain all the information he can on the reclusive star. So one day when the maid is away, Marek shows up at the gate looking as though he has just been beaten up, and asks to come in to call a friend. Klaudia opens the door as though she herself were the maid, and of course, Marek already knows this cannot be. Then he "confides" that he is really there to photograph the Canaletto painting in the star's collection. The interaction between the two suggests that they will end up with more than just a quick conversation, as Klaudia wonders why Marek wants to seduce the maid after all. The intrigue continues until the next day, when the Canaletto comes back into the picture just as Marek finally achieves his objective. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Daniel Webb, (more)
Fanny was adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the final chapter of Marcel Pagnol's "Marseilles Trilogy". Pagnol's original, titled Cesar, ends with protagonist Marius returning to the sea, leaving behind his lover Fanny and their son. Expanding upon the original, Fanny picks up the narrative nine years later. Marius (Horst Buchholtz) finally meets his son and is reunited with Fanny (Leslie Caron). She tells him that Panisse (Maurice Chevalier), the elderly suitor who married Fanny to save her from disgrace, is dying. On the verge of shuffling off his mortal coil, Panisse gives Fanny and Marius his blessings, hoping that they'll marry at long last. Charles Boyer co-stars as Cesar, the philosophical gent portrayed in the 1930s film versions of the Pagnol trilogy by the great Raimu. Fanny goes its merry way without any of the songs in the original Broadway score, despite the proven musical talents of Caron and Chevalier. Producer/director Joshua Logan saved himself plenty of embarrassment when he agreed not to release this film as Joshua Logan's Fanny. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, (more)
Deliberately casting his established screen image to the four winds, Cary Grant plays Walter Eckland, an unkempt, uncouth and unshaven beach bum in Father Goose. During World War II, Walter keeps busy relaying radio reports of Japanese air activity. But he's no hero, and in fact volunteered for this mission only because he's been promised a shipment of liquor by Australian naval officer Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard). Making matters worse for the misanthropic Eckland is the arrival of French schoolmistress Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) and her seven little-girl charges, whose plane has crashed nearby. The animosity between Walter and Catherine erupts into a slapping contest, with Walter dishing it out as well as taking it. Only when Catherine is bitten by a deadly snake does Walter express his affections for her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, (more)
- 1964
Four Fables of Love is better known by its original Italian title: Bambole! A quartet of skilled Italian directors offer four home-grown romantic playlets, based on Boccacio's Tales of the Decameron. Dino Risi's "The Telephone Call" is a showcase for Virna Lisi as an errant bride. Luigi Comenici's "Treatise on Eugenics," a satire on the philosophy of breeding geniuses, stars Elke Sommer. Franco Rosi's "The Soup" top-bills Monica Vitti in a tale of sex and gastronomics. And Mauro Bolognini's "Monsieur Cupid" finds Akim Tamiroff playing matchmaker for Gina Lollobrigida. The English translation of Bambole! is Dolls!, an apt description of the four lovely leading ladies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
A dance instruction series from the Fred Astaire Studios, with instructors Lee and Peggy Santos. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1999
- Add From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff to QueueAdd From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff to top of Queue
Michael Chekhov and George Shdanoff were Russian expatriates who came to Hollywood and became two of the best known and most influential acting coaches in the film industry; Chekhov was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Spellbound, and as a teacher he and his associate Shdanoff helped guide the careers of Leslie Caron, Patricia Neal, Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Marilyn Monroe and Clint Eastwood. From Russia to Hollywood provides a glimpse into their lives and careers as Chekhov flees Russia for Germany after the Communist government expresses its displeasure with his productions for the Moscow Art Theater (Stanislavsky considered Chekhov a genius, but the government considered him ideologically unsound). When the Nazis began to rise to power, Chekhov relocated to the United States, where he taught acting when not busy with his own career on the stage and screen. Here, several of Chekhov and Shdanoff's better known students discuss their work and how their teachings effected a generation of Hollywood actors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Mala Powers, (more)
Tommy Fawkes (Oliver Platt) is a struggling stand-up comedian who has tried for years to get out from under the shadow of his father, George Fawkes (Jerry Lewis), himself a famous humorist. Tommy finally scores a showcase spot at a major resort in Las Vegas, but when opening night rolls around, Tommy's act is an unqualified disaster, with the failure made even more painful by his father's presence in the audience. In search of a fresh start, Tommy heads to Blackpool, England, where he was born and raised, to look for a new act. Hoping to buy material from local performers, Tommy auditions a large number of acts, most of whom are utterly hopeless, until he sees a hilarious vaudeville team, the Parker Brothers. Their act seems more than a bit familiar, however, and Tommy soon realizes that they're doing his father's old material. But they have every right to be doing George's schtick -- it seems George stole his act from the Parkers ages ago. What's more, the younger and more eccentric of the Parker Boys, Jack (Lee Evans), is actually Tommy's half brother, the product of a fling with a Blackpool showgirl years ago. Veering between comedy and drama, Funny Bones has more than its share of effective moments on either side of the fence, and features fine supporting performances from Oliver Reed, Leslie Caron and Harold Nicholas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Platt, Lee Evans, (more)
- 1956
The third film version of Robert E. Sherwood's play Waterloo Bridge, Gaby is also the most antiseptic of the three. In the original 1931 film, Mae Clarke is cast as a British streetwalker who falls despearately and tragically in love with aristocratic military officer Douglass Montgomery. In the cleaned-up 1940 version, Vivien Leigh plays a ballerina who becomes a prostitute only after being informed that her lover, British "landed gentry" officer Robert Taylor, was killed in battle. In the 1956 edition, Leslie Caron is once again a ballerina at the outset, who once again turns to the World's Oldest Profession when she believes that her sweetheart, American GI John Kerr, has been killed during the D-Day invasion. The source material has been dry-cleaned to the extent that the heroine is permitted a happy ending, something she was flatly denied in the first two versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, John Kerr, (more)
- 2002
- Add Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer to QueueAdd Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer to top of Queue
On the short list of great cinema dancers, Gene Kelly led a multi-faceted career that included acting, directing, and choreography. This documentary, narrated by Stanley Tucci, offers a look at the man's driving work ethic and his rich talent that led to such memorable classics as Singin' in the Rain, On the Town, and the Oscar-winning An American in Paris. The DVD release of this documentary offers a complete Gene Kelly filmography. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Tucci, Gene Kelly, (more)
- 1993
Desmond Denton (Joe Gibbons) is a whacko psychiatrist who has invented a machine that enables him to practice giving himself "personality transplants" using his patients for the source material. When he adopts the personality of a terrorist client, the rest of the world had better watch out: he's getting addicted to this one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Leslie Caron plays Gigi, a young girl raised by two veteran Parisian courtesans (Hermione Gingold and Isabel Jeans) to be the mistress of wealthy young Gaston (Louis Jourdan). When Gaston falls in love with Gigi and asks her to be his wife, Jeans is appalled: never has anyone in their family ever stooped to anything so bourgeois as marriage! Weaving in and out of the story is Maurice Chevalier as an aging boulevardier who, years earlier, had been in love with Gingold's character. Chevalier gets most of the best Lerner & Loewe tunes, including Thank Heaven for Little Girls, I'm Glad I'm Not Young Any More, and his matchless duet with Gingold, I Remember it Well. Caron's best number (dubbed by Betty Wand) is The Night They Invented Champagne while Jourdan gets the honor of introducing the title song. Filmed on location in Paris, Gigi won several Oscars, including Best Picture; it also represented the successful American movie comeback of Chevalier, who thanks to this film was "forgiven" for his reputed collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, (more)
- 1952
Authentic New Orleans locations enhance the overall enjoyment of the prizefight melodrama Glory Alley. A mere few seconds before a championship bout, Socks Barbarrosa (Ralph Meeker) decides to throw in the towel so far as his boxing career is concerned. Socks' friends, family and handlers assume that he's turned yellow. A series of complex flashbacks, coupled with a subsequent tour of duty in Korea, prove otherwise. For those not interested in cinematic pugilism, Glory Alley offers such sidelines pleasures as the jazz music of Jack Teagarden and the dancing of leading lady Leslie Caron. Kurt Kazner also provides some choice moments as a blind "boxing groupie" who happens to be Caron's father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Meeker, Leslie Caron, (more)
- 1979
- PG
The very healthy looking Susan Anton is appropriately cast in Goldengirl. The daughter of a former Olympic athlete, Goldengirl (that's her name!) has been groomed for athletic competition since childhood. Her hero worship of her dad (Curt Jurgens) comes to an abrupt end when she finds out that he was an intimate of Adolf Hitler and that, through experimentation, he has converted his darling daughter into a near android. Somehow, Goldengirl must regain her humanity and sustain her integrity in the face of a myriad of celebrity endorsement deals. Originally intended as a two-part TV movie to be run in conjunction with the 1980 Olympics, Goldengirl was re-edited and released theatrically when the U.S. pulled out of competition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Anton, James Coburn, (more)
