Charles Spaak Movies
Screenwriter Charles Spaak was born to an important family in Brussels. His father was a famed poet and playwright; his mother was a member of the Belgian Senate, and his brother was Paul-Henfi Spaak, a world renowned statesman. Spaak began his career in the French film industry in 1928 when he became a secretary for director Jacques Feyder. In no time, Spaak began writing scripts for Feyder and other directors and became instrumental in helping to revitalize the flagging French cinema of the 1930s. His writing also had great effect on directors such as Feyder, Renoir, and Duvivier. Spaak later greatly influenced director Andre Cayatte. He himself only directed one film, Le Mystere Barton (1949). Spaak's daughters, Agnes and Catherine, are both screen actresses. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1974
Hélène (Lea Massari) has a lovely family, and lovely children. She is not discontented with things just as they are: her young lover is attentive, her husband is pleasant -- all is just as it should be. In this French suspense film, Hélène's cozy life begins to unravel when she finds her lover is dead. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Michel Bouquet, (more)
- 1963
Based on a Jules Verne tale about a make-believe, 19th-century country in the throes of revolution, this routine costume drama by Georges Lampin has a slight storyline about Mathias (Louis Jourdan), a noble count whose innate sensibilities lead him to side with the rebelling masses and intellectuals in the nation. His problem is that his daughter has fallen in love with the leader of the military regime, causing an understandable split in the family. Mathias is then betrayed by some supposed friends, and his situation as well as that of the revolution reach a crisis point. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Jourdan, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1963
The scene is the French Riviera. Based on eyewitness testimony, three identically dressed men are accused of kidnapping and murdering a child, but two of them can possibly be guilty. Is the innocent party Anthony Perkins, an American who has fled to France in the wake of a sex scandal? Is it Italian Renato Salvatori, whose bad reputation with women has preceded him? Or is it Jean-Claude Brialy, a French businessman whose sister uses her sexual wiles to clinch her brother's big business deals? We'll never know...because Two Are Guilty director Andre Cayatte, a longtime critic of the French justice system, contrives to have all three suspects killed by an out-of-control mob. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Perkins, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1963
Etienne (Jean Sorel) is a young man who seeks work in the coal mines of South France. After experiencing the harsh working conditions, he becomes a labor activist and tries to organize a strike to improve wages and conditions. He is tormented by the mine owner, whose promiscuous wife steps out on him at will. Etienne falls in love with the daughter of a fellow miner, but her loyalty to her father and fear for the loss of his job makes her initially unresponsive to his romantic leanings. The film version of the novel by Emile Zola loses much of the poignant political commentary of the original text. Although the strike is not entirely successful, it paves the way for new considerations of worker's rights. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Sorel, Berthe Grandval, (more)
Jean-Paul Belmondo romps his way through the role of 18th century French bandit chief Cartouche. At first robbing from everyone in sight (he has to -- he's head man of a Parisian crime syndicate) Cartouche is rechanneled into becoming a Gallic Robin Hood by beauteous gypsy Venus (Claudia Cardinale). In Highwayman fashion, Venus eventually sacrifices her own life to save Cartouche from harm. He vows to continue his activities to avenge her death, but still manages to have a riproaring good time doing so. Hilarious without being condescending, Cartouche was reissued under the completely inappropriate title Swords of Blood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
Love and the Frenchwoman (La Francaise et L'Amour) concentrates on the nature of love by illustrating seven separate aspects of the emotion. In "Childhood," 9-year old Pierre-Jean Vaillard suffers a traumatic experience when he takes his parents' "cabbage patch" theory of conception too literally. In "Adolescence," a little girl (Annie Sinigalla) constructs an elaborate fantasy world on the occasion of her first kiss. "Virginity" is a study in frustration, as betrothed couple Valerie Lagrange and Pierre Michel agonizingly await their wedding-night consummation of their ardor. "Marriage" finds a union ending almost before it begins as a pair of newlyweds (Marie-Jose Nat and Claude Rich) bicker all the way to their honeymoon rendezvous. "Adultery" allows husband Paul Meurisse the opportunity to calmly provide an object lesson to his wife's lover Jean-Paul Belmondo. In "Divorce", a couple (Annie Girardot and Francois Pierer) find that it's impossible to have a "civilized" breakup. And in "A Woman Alone," bigamist Robert Lamoreaux meets his Waterloo in the forms of Martine Carol and Sylvia Montfort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darry Cowl, Sophie Desmarets, (more)
- 1959
Feeling hamstrung and confined by Hollywood, writer/director Robert Siodmak returned to Europe to make most of his latter-day films. Produced in France, Magnificent Sinner stars Curt Jurgens as Czar Alexander II, with Romy Schneider as schoolgirl Katja. The Czar takes Katja as his mistress, elevating her to princess status. The romance leads to court intrigue, and is instrumental in Alexander's ultimate assassination. Magnificent Sinner was originally released as Katia; it was a remake of a 1938 French film of the same name, which starred Danielle Darieaux. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1958
- NR
Les Tricheurs (The Cheats) was director Marcel Carne's first film after a two-year absence from the screen. On the surface, the film is a gallic variation of an American "j.d." film, with young, aimless teenagers being led astray by jazz music rather than Rock 'N' Roll. But there's much more to the story than that: Carne's youthful characters are not so much people as symbols of the postwar relaxation of worldwide manners and mores. In anticipation of the "hippie flicks" of the 1960s, the main characters indulge in a great deal of sex, but abstain from true love and commitment, citing these things as irrelevant in a world full of instant gratification. Of the cast, Pascale Petit stands out as a trendy young girl whose willingness to follow the crowd leads to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascale Petit, Andréa Parisy, (more)
- 1957
Quand la Femme S'en Mele (When the Woman Butts In) stars French film favorite Edwige Feuillere as a high-class gangster's moll named Maine. When Maine's first husband and daughter pay a visit, it's an awkward time for our heroine and her current amour, gang boss Godot (Jean Servais). In addition to fielding a lot of embarrassing questions, Godot also has to deal with a pesky turf war with a rival mobster. Not that the ex-husband is a paragon of virtue: he's busy trying to get even with a crooked business associate. Billed fourth in the cast of Quand la Femme s'en Mele is Alain Delon, who, according to contemporary viewers, "shows promise". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1955
The title of this French noir drama translates to The Black File. Jean-Marc Bory plays Jacques Arnaud, an idealistic young investigator who comes to work in a small French town. He is soon involved in a mysterious case incriminating a town notable. Arnaud devotes himself to the case but the upshot of this is rather surprising to all concerned, not to mention the audience. Like Cayatte's previous efforts, Le Dossier Noir is based on the proposition that the phrase "French justice" can at times be oxymoronic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Marc Bory, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1954
Rumeur Publique (Public Rumor) is a complicated story rendered nearly incomprehensible by poor English-language dubbing. Seeking a major news story, journalist Jaier (Daniel Gelin) pounces upon a mysterious small-town death. A young wife has fallen down a huge flight of stairs, and her husband is being held for her murder. Through a series of heartrending newspaper columns, Jaier manages to save the husband from the guillotine. Striking while the iron is hot, the journalist talks the young man into collaborating on a movie script about the tragic incident. In the process, the awful truth of the matter is fully revealed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Maria Mauban, (more)
- 1954
In this romance, a jilted lawyer joins the French Foreign Legion to help him forget his faithless love. While in the desert he espies a village beauty who is the exact double of his true-love. It turns out that she is an amnesiac. With her, the attorney tries to re-spark his old relationship. Trouble ensues when his real ex-love shows up and makes her look-a-like hit the road. The lawyer ends up going back to the Legion to escape it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Jean Pascal, (more)
- 1954
La Pensionnaire was released in English-speaking countries as The Boarder. The title character is a good-hearted prostitute named Joy, played by Martine Carol. Unable to locate a cheap hotel room at a swank seaside resort, Joy settles for the only available space, which happens to be in a high-class hotel. Despite her sordid profession, the girl is befriended and protected by the hotel staff, who pay for her lodgings. Not so charitable is the local police chief, though he agrees to allow Joy to stick around if she promises to reform. This proves difficult when Joy innocently finds herself in the middle of several domestic brouhahas. La Pensionnaire might make an amusing double feature with the 1990 Julia Roberts film Pretty Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martine Carol, Raf Vallone, (more)
The grim Emile Zola "naturalist" novel Therese Raquin has been vividly cinematized by director Marcel Carne. Simone Signoret plays the title character, the long-suffering housewife who dreams of a more romantic life-partner than the bourgeois Camille (Jacques Duby). Therese enjoys a torrid affair with burly truck-driver Laurent (Raf Vallone), only to realize the true emptiness of her aspirations. Ultimately, Therese brings about her own destruction, never truly learning to appreciate what she already has. In the U.S., Therese Raquin was released under the come-on cognomen The Adulteress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, (more)
- 1952
Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, (more)
- 1952
Smuggler's Ball is the English-language title for this French-Belgian seriocomedy. The action takes place along the borders separating Belgium, Holland and France. It is here that the worldly Pierre (J. P. Kieran) carries on a profitable smuggling operation, all the while romancing Siska (Christian Lenier), the daughter of a local customs official. Various subplots and secondary characters weave in and out as the plotline guides the viewer through the WW II years. Towards the end, the story shifts gears when the Benelux Frontier Agreement eliminates all government regulations. The film's screenplay is by Charles Spaak, himself the descendant of a Belgian political family, and thus well-versed in bureaucracy and red tape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Rosay, Yves Deniaud, (more)
- 1952
The Seven Deadly Sins is a portmanteau film (a la Quartet and O. Henry's Full House) assembled by some of the biggest talents in the Italian and French film industry. The film's six sections (one containing two sins) are designed by separate titles, which should be self-explanatory. "Avarice and Anger" stars its director, Eduardo DeFilippo, as a miser who comes to grief. "Lust," directed by Yves Allegret, contrasts minor flirtation with major sexual passion. "Pride," directed by Claude Autant-Lara, details the fall from grace of a snooty mother and daughter. The other episodes include "Sloth," directed by Jean Dreville; "Envy," directed by Roberto Rosselini; and "Gluttony," directed by Carlo Rim. An eighth sin, directed by Georges Lacombe and starring Gerard Philipe, is thrown in as a comic bonus. Seven Deadly Sins is a lot of fun, though each of the individual episodes could use a little work in the continuity department. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Viviane Romance, (more)
- 1952
Newly married Daniel Gelin spends most of Adorable Creatures reflecting longingly on his previous amours. One of his past conquests was unhappy housewife Danielle Darrieux. Another was insatiable widow Edwige Feuillere. And yet another was avaricious Martine Carol (then married to director Christian-Jacque). Originally released in France in 1952, Adorable Creatures didn't get theatrical play in the US in 1956, and then only in a heavily bowdlerized addition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1950
In Justice est Faite, French director Andre Cayatte and his favorite screenwriter Charles Spaak tackle the delicate issue of euthanasia. The story is related in flashback, from the vantage point of a murder trial. The central character is Marceline (Valentine Tessier), who kills her incurably ill lover at his request. Emphasis is placed not on the crime itself, but on the thought processes and legal strategies of the prosecution and defense. Justice est Faite won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Its chance for success in English-speaking countries was hampered somewhat by the film's overabundance of dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valentine Tessier, Claude Nollier, (more)
- 1950
A French-American cooperative film about drug smuggling on the French Riviera. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1949
Three powerhouse European screen personalities--Pierre Brasseur, Erich Von Stroheim, Maria Montez---elevate the tawdry melodramatics of Le Portrait d'Un Assassin. Brasseur plays Fabius, a reckless motorcycle driver, currently working in a carnival. When he begins to "choke up" in front of the crowd, Fabius decides it would be best to quit his job and leave for parts unknown. But first he must rid himself of his nagging wife. Attempting to kill his missus, he accidentally wounds carnival owner Catherine (Maria Montez). Fabius decides to continue risking his life when he falls for Catherine, who is "turned on" only by men in dangerous professions. Von Stroheim plays Eric, one of Catherine's ex-lovers, now hopelessly paralyzed. His tendency to "ham" confined by a body brace, Von Stroheim delivers one of his most effective performances. According to contemporary reports, Le Portrait d'Un Assassin was to have been directed by Orson Welles, who presumably would have also played the Pierre Brasseur role (though it would have been fun to see him in the Erich Von Stroheim part--or, for that matter, to watch him try to direct Von Stroheim). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Montez, Arletty, (more)
- 1946
This dark drama, based on Dostoyevsky's novella, chronicles the exploits of a jealous widower who is enraged to discover that his child is really the product of a union between his wife and her secret lover. For revenge, the widower forces the lover to take the child. Unfortunately, the child dies, and both men feel horribly guilty. The widower is so angry that he wants to kill the lover. Instead, he simply wanders away. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
For his first French film in nearly a decade (he'd spent the war years in Hollywood), filmmaker Julien Duvivier chose to adapt Les Fiançailles de Monsieur Hire, a novel by Georges Simenon. Panique, as Duvivier's version was titled, is a twisted tale of murder, subterfuge and revenge from "Beyond." Middle-aged loner Monsieur Hire (Michel Simon) falls for his neighbor Alice (Viviane Romance) only to be framed for the murder commited by Alice's lover Alfred (Paul Bernard). The ending suggests that the actual culprits are going to get their well-deserved comeuppance, though exoneration comes a shade too late for the luckless Monsieur Hire. The Simenon book was filmed again in 1989, as the excellent Monsieur Hire, directed by Patrice Leconte, a film as bleakly pessimistic as the original, more in keeping with the style and tone of the literary source. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Viviane Romance, (more)
