Marcel Dalio Movies
Short of stature but giant in talent, French actor Marcel Dalio entered films in 1933. He gained world-wide renown for his brilliant work in the Jean Renoir classics La Grande Illusion (1937) and Rules of the Game (1938). When the Nazis marched into Paris, the Jewish Dalio fled to the United States with his actress wife Madeleine Le Beau (the wisdom of his sudden flight was confirmed when the Nazis distributed a photograph of Dalio, labelled "The Typical Jew"). Launching his Hollywood career in 1941, Dalio was never able to rescale the heights of prominence that he'd enjoyed in France. In fact, he was often unbilled, even for his memorable role as the cynical croupier in 1942's Casablanca. The best of Dalio's Hollywood character parts included Clemenceau in Wilson (1945), Danny Kaye's nervous business associate in On the Riviera (1951), and the "dirty" old Italian in Catch-22 (1970). A frequent visitor to American television, Dalio was cast as Inspector Renault (the role originated by Claude Rains) in the short-lived 1955 TV version of Casablanca. In his final years, Marcel Dalio returned to the French film industry; his last movie assignment was 1980's Vaudoux aux Caraibes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1955
Les Amants du Tage (The Lovers of Tage) was based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. Daniel Gelin plays a soldier who is acquitted after committing a crime of passion. Relocating to Lisbon, and still feeling remorse over his impulsive killing of his faithless wife, Gelin manages to find love in the form of gorgeous widow Francoise Arnoul. Alas, it turns out that Arnoul has a sordid past of her own, leaving our hero sadder but wiser. Trevor Howard, whose presence in this essentially Gallic entertainment comes as a surprise, plays the relentless police inspector who exposes the seemingly virtuous Arnoul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Françoise Arnoul, (more)
- 1955
Raid on the Drug Ring is the English-language title of this Jean Gabin vehicle. The venerable French leading man plays the curiously sympathetic head of an international narcotics ring, invited from across the Atlantic to oversee the European branch of his operation. Using a fancy restaurant as a cover, the drug lord keeps his fingers in several crooked pies. One questionable sequence suggests that black singers and dancers can only "swing" when high on drugs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio, (more)
- 1955
Jump into Hell is one of the first films to deal with the ongoing conflict in Vietnam or, as it was still known in 1955, French IndoChina. The 56-day battle of Dien Ben Phu is herein reenacted, with several French volunteers emerging as the heroes. Arriving in IndoChina by parachute, Captain Guy Bertrand (Jacques Sernas, here billed as "Jack") and his comrades make a courageous stand against the Communist forces. Before their inevitable doom, the men conjure up visions of the mademoiselles they left behind. Jump into Hell was scripted by novelist Irving Wallace, whose attitudes towards Western intervention in Vietnam would undergo a radical change within the next 15 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Billy Wilder directs the lighthearted romantic comedy Sabrina, based on the play by Samuel A. Taylor. Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) is the simple, naïve daughter of a chauffeur, Thomas Fairchild (John Williams). They live on an estate with the wealthy Oliver Larrabee (Walter Hampden) and his two sons: workaholic older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) and fun-loving younger brother David (William Holden). Sabrina adores the charming David, but he thinks of her as just a kid. Her father sends her away to Paris for chef school, where she meets Baron St. Fontanel (Marcel Dalio), and she returns a worldly, sophisticated woman. David immediately falls for her, but he is already engaged to marry heiress Elizabeth Tyson (Martha Hyer). Sabrina wants to break up the wedding in order to finally catch the man of her dreams, while Linus fights to keep the marriage on in the interest of family business and Mr. Tyson's (Francis X. Bushman) fortune. In order to keep Sabrina away from David, Linus pretends to court her himself. In doing so, they eventually realize their true feelings for each another. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, (more)
Lucky Me is a mixed-bag musical from Warner Bros., adhering to a tried-and-true formula that was wearing just a bit thin in 1954. Candy (Doris Day), Hap (Phil Silvers), Duke (Eddie Foy Jr.) and Flo (Nancy Walker) are four small-time performers who find themselves stranded in Miami. Forced to take domestic jobs in a fancy hotel, the foursomes's spirits are lifted when songwriter Dick (Bob Cummings) checks in. On the verge of writing a big-time Broadway show, Dick invites the four entertainers to participate. The hitch: In order to bankroll the show, Dick must woo and win the daughter (Martha Hyer) of a Texas oil magnate. . .and Candy has fallen in love with Dick. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot Angie Dickinson making her uncredited feature-film debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, Robert Cummings, (more)
Second-billed Marilyn Monroe is the blonde in question in this second film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Miss Lorelei Lee, whose philosophy is "diamonds are a girl's best friend." Together with her best human friend Dorothy (top-billed Jane Russell), showgirl Lorelei embarks upon a boat trip to Paris, where she intends to marry millionaire Gus Esmond (Tommy Noonan). En route, the girls are bedeviled by private detective Malone (Elliot Reid), hired by Esmond's father (Taylor Holmes) to make certain that Lorelei isn't just another gold-digger. When Dorothy falls in love with the poverty-stricken Malone, Lorelei decides to find her pal a wealthier potential husband, and that's how she gets mixed up with flirtatious diamond merchant Sir Francis Beekman (Charles Coburn) and precocious youngster Henry Spofford III (George "Foghorn" Winslow). Most of the Leo Robin-Jule Styne songs from the Broadway show remain intact, including Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," a production number later imitated by pop icon Madonna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, (more)
- 1953
In this suspense drama, a group of strangers becomes acquainted as they wait for a plane to arrive at an airport in Tangier. Among those awaiting the flight are Susan (Joan Fontaine), an American who is dating the pilot; Gil Walker (Jack Palance), an expatriate who received the Congressional Medal of Honor during the war; and Nicole (Corinne Calvet), a lovely but mysterious French woman who seems to be attracted to Walker. When the plane they've been waiting for crashes, no pilot or passengers can be found -- and that $3 million on board, being smuggled into Tangier to buy fighter planes for Soviet forces on the black market, have also gone missing. Susan immediately organizes a search party to find the pilot; Walker eagerly joins in, though Susan soon discovers he has his own reasons for being concerned about the fate of the plane and its cargo. Flight To Tangier was shot and initially released in 3-D, as well as Technicolor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Fontaine, Jack Palance, (more)
Ernest Hemingway could never come to terms with Hollywood's preoccupation with The Happy Ending: he accepted the money for the screen rights to his short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, but he could never bring himself to watch it. Gregory Peck plays a character based, in decidedly unflattering fashion, on Hemingway crony F. Scott Fitzgerald. While hunting in the African mountains in the company of his faithful lady friend Susan Hayward, Peck is seriously wounded; in fact, it doesn't look as though he'll survive the night. In the few hours he has left, Peck reflects upon what he considers a wasted life. Having aspired to be the Great American Novelist, Peck has only turned out money-making drivel. The only time that he truly felt as though he'd made a contribution to the world was when he fought on the Loyalist side in Spain (this element isn't in the short story, but is drawn from Hemingway's own experiences). As for his lost romance with his late wife Ava Gardner, Peck still cannot figure out what went wrong. The Hemingway original ended with the Peck character dying from his wounds; producer Darryl F. Zanuck wouldn't hear of this, preferring that Peck survive with the resolve to write something of lasting value. The Technicolor location photography of Leon Shamroy and the rumbling musical score of Bernard Herrmann are the main attractions of The Snows of Kilimanjaro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, (more)
- 1952
The reason the 1935 Astaire/Rogers film version of Roberta was unavailable for years was that, in 1952, MGM bought the property and refilmed it under the title Lovely to Look At. Inheriting one-half of a Parisian dress salon from his late aunt, Red Skelton travels to France with his showbiz friends Howard Keel and Gower Champion. The threesome hopes to convince the owners of the other half of the salon to sell their share so that Skelton, Keel and Champion can finance a Broadway show. Meeting Skelton's "partners" Kathryn Grayson and Marge Champion, the three Americans discover that the salon is all but broke, so they pool their resources and wits to make the establishment a winning proposition. The plot thickens as more and more characters are added to the storyline, including stagestruck gendarme Kurt Kaznar and chorus girl Ann Miller. Songs retained from the original Jerome Kern Broadway score for Roberta include "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," "I Won't Dance" and, of course, "Lovely to Look At." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, (more)
- 1952
Based on an operetta by Franz Lehar, this remake of the 1934 original finds a wealthy widow (Lana Turner) returning to her husband's native land to dedicate a memorial to him. The king (Thomas Gomez) of the country, deep in debt, tries to convince her to stay by offering a young count (Fernando Lamas) for her to marry. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Costumes. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas, (more)
- 1952
The Happy Time was adapted from the long-running Broadway play by Samuel Taylor, which in turn was based on the novel by Robert Fontaine. Set in Quebec during the early part of the 20th century, the film concentrates on the activities of a large French-Canadian family headed by Charles Boyer. Most of the humor arises from "coming of age" complications and sexual awakenings, especially when worldly prodigal son Louis Jourdan returns to the fold and exercises his influence on impressionable young Bobby Driscoll. Not permitted to include the racier portions of the play, director Richard Fleischer compensated by adopting a frenetic, farcelike pace, which works about half the time. Happy Time was later musicalized on Broadway in the 1960s, with Robert Goulet in the Louis Jourdan part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Louis Jourdan, (more)
- 1951
Nous Irons a Monte Carlo guest-stars the Ray Ventura Band and French comedian Max Elloy (best remembered as the stateless refugee in Laurel and Hardy's Utopia). The thinnish storyline concerns a baby boy left in the care of Ventura's drummer. Unable to care for the child himself, the drummer leaves the bundle on Ventura's doorstep, claiming that it is the offspring of one of the other musicians. Unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, the baby is actually the son of a divorce-bound Hollywood actor and actress (John van Dreelen and Audrey Hepburn), who spend most of the film frantically searching for their missing offspring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Ventura, Max Elloy, (more)
On the Riviera is a remake of 1941's Weekend in Havana, which in turn was a remake of 1934's Folies Bergere. The plot remains the same in all three incarnations: for business purposes, a nightclub entertainer is coerced into posing as his look-alike, a powerful financier/aviator. This time it's Danny Kaye who essays the dual role of American cabaret comedian Jack Martin and French financial wizard Henri Duran. While impersonating Duran, Martin is forced to make amorous advances towards Duran's neglected wife (Gene Tierney), proving himself the better lover in the process. Meanwhile, Martin must mollify his genuine sweetheart (and nightclub partner) Collette (Corinne Calvet) without revealing his ruse. A little too top-heavy in the plot department, On the Riviera must be regarded as a second-echelon Danny Kaye vehicle, though Sylvia Fine's specialty numbers -- especially the eerily autobiographical "Popo the Puppet" -- are well up to standard. One of the uncredited specialty dancers is future Broadway star Gwen Verdon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Kaye, Gene Tierney, (more)
- 1951
Rich, Young and Pretty succinctly describes Jane Powell, the heroine of this frothy MGM musical. Vacationing in Paris with her father, Jim Stauton Rogers (Wendell Corey) -- a cattle baron-turned-politician, Elizabeth Rogers (Powell) falls in love with handsome Andre Milan (Vic Damone, in his film debut). She also learns to her surprise that her Gallic mother, Marie (Danielle Darrieux), is not dead as she's been led to believe, but very much alive and very much involved with suave South American Paul Sarnac (Fernando Lamas). The plot is merely there to provide breathing space for the film's ten -- count 'em, ten -- musical numbers. If Rich, Young and Pretty resembles a Deanna Durbin picture at times, it may because it was produced by Durbin's discoverer, Joseph Pasternak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Powell, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1950
A French-American cooperative film about drug smuggling on the French Riviera. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1949
Alternately titled Captain Black Jack, this Franco-American coproduction stars George Sanders as a sophisticated scoundrel living by his wits on the Riviera. Sanders lets those around him believe that he's a secret agent; actually he's a notorious drug smuggler known as Captain Black Jack. Herbert Marshall plays a doctor who appears to swallow Sanders' story. In truth, Marshall is a detective, sworn to track down and capture Sanders. Filmed in Spain, Black Jack was released in the US three years after its completion--and then only after 15 minutes had been shorn from its running time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Patricia Roc, (more)
- 1949
The French Hans le Marin secured an American distributor on the strength of its three stars. Jean-Pierre Aumont plays the title character, a Canadian sailor docked in Marseilles. Here he carries on a torrid romance with cabaret owner Dolores (Maria Montez). When he is robbed and left for dead, Hans awakens to discover that Dolores has disappeared. Ever hopeful that she will return, he takes a job as a nightclub bouncer, and dallies with gypsy girl Marie (Lilli Palmer). This little diversion results in even more trouble for the hapless Hans, who ends up on the lam from the law. Marcel Dalio pops up from time to time, espousing Gallic philosophy as only he can. Hans le Marin was also released as The Wicked City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Montez, Jean-Pierre Aumont, (more)
- 1949
A frequent visitor to the Late Late Show, the Anglo-American Snowbound is set in the frozen Alps. Robert Newton and Dennis Price head an expedition in search of a fortune of gold, stashed away by the Nazis in the last days of the war. Snowed into an old cabin, the men quickly get on one another's nerves. Just when tension reaches the boiling point, one of the party saves the day. He happens to be a movie screenwriter, who uses his cinematic knowhow to reach a solution to their dilemma. Snowbound is based on The Lonely Skier, a novel by Hammond Innes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Newton, Dennis Price, (more)
- 1949
The beautiful and versatile French film star Viviane Romance was also popular in America, as much for her revealing wardrobe as her acting ability. Filmed in 1947, Romance's Maya earned a U.S. release two years later. Based on a venerable Legend of the Sea, the story concerns a pliable prostitute named Bella (Romance) who is all things to all men. No matter what sort of woman her client wants, she will become that woman -- at least for the night. When a middle-aged man named Jean (Marcel Dalio) insists that Bella is his long-lost sweetheart, she plays along, hoping to escape her sordid lifestyle. The emotional tragedy that follows is meant to explain how Bella became "Maya," the living embodiment of Lost Souls. The film's symbolism is a bit overpowering at times, but Viviane Romance is always worth watching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viviane Romance, Frehel, (more)
- 1948
Per its title, Lovers of Verona is an updated adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The film was a joint project of those felicitous collaborators, screenwriter Jacques Prevert and director Andre Cayatte. The star-crossed lovers are portrayed by Serge Reggiani and Anouk Aimee, cast respectively as the poverty-stricken son of a glassblower and the daughter of a disgraced nobleman. While playing bit roles in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet, Angelo (Reggiani) and Georgia (Aimee) are suddenly promoted to the leading parts. Predictably, hero and heroine begin acting out their characters in real life as well as on stage. Not so predictably, their romance is challenged not by modern-day counterparts to the Montagues and the Capulets, but by the lovers' own heightened sensitivities to their social differences. Following the worldwide success of Lovers of Verona (it was released in Italy in 1949, then internationally in 1951), director Andre Cayatte was given what one historian has described as "carte blanche" in the French film industry; put simply, the man could do no wrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Serge Reggiani, (more)
- 1947
Originally released in France as Dedee D'Anvers in 1948, this tight little melodrama was both directed and co-written by Yves Allegret. The title character, played by Simone Signoret, lives in near-squalor near the docks of Anvers. Her only companions are practitioners in that left-handed form of endeavor known as petty crime. Even the man she lives with, doorman Marco (Marcel Dalio), is not immune to baser instincts: Marco is driven to murder when sea captain Francesco (Marcel Pagliero) threatens to take Dedee away from him. For his troubles, Marco is himself knocked off by Dedee and seedy café-owner Rene (Bernard Blier). And so it goes. Suspense is deliberately downplayed in Dedee in favor of characterization and mood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Signoret, Marcello Pagliero, (more)
- 1947
This psychological drama is set aboard a submarine carrying Nazi officials fleeing their country just before the end of World War II. They are trying to get to South America, but along the way they meet with many obstacles including a bout with a destroyer where they are depth-charged. When the count's wife, Marly, (she is also the on-board general's mistress) is wounded the sub lands in France where the Germans snatch a doctor. The doctor knows his life is in danger. To combat the self-exiles he begins manipulating their emotions, getting them to feel despair, defeat, and helping them realize that all their actions are hopeless. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Auclair, Henri Vidal, (more)
- 1947
In this British crime drama, an honest railroad signalman finds himself sorely tempted when he witnesses a murder and later finds $20,000 floating in the harbor. The trouble begins when he decides to take the money and leave town with his daughter and a gold digger. The killer is in hot pursuit when the railroadman kills him. In the end, the signalman's conscience erupts and he returns the stolen loot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Barton, Kathleen Boutall, (more)
