Henri Verneuil Movies
Director Henri Verneuil was born Achod Malakian of Armenian parentage on October 15, 1920, in Rodosto, Turkey, and his family fled to France and settled in Marseilles when he was a young child. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into a 1991 film with the same name, which was followed by a sequel, 588 Rue Paradis,... (read more) the following year.
Verneuil enrolled in 1943 at the Ecole Navale des Arts et Métiers at Aix-en-Provence, where he studied engineering. He then pursued a career in journalism, working as the editor-in-chief of the magazine Horizon in 1944-1946 and as a film critic for a Marseilles radio station. In 1947, he had an idea for a short film set in Marseilles and proposed it to the famous comedian Fernandel. The comic liked it, and thus began a long-lasting partnership which produced such popular film hits as Forbidden Fruit, The Sheep Has Five Legs, and The Cow and I. Verneuil also had an important collaboration with Jean Gabin, starting with Les Gens sans Importance in 1955 and continuing with A Monkey in Winter, Any Number Can Win, and The Sicilian Clan in 1969. The commercial success of those films was invaluable to the filmmaker, and opened the door to a number of big-budget international productions, including The 25th Hour, Guns for San Sebastian (both starring Anthony Quinn), and Night Flight to Moscow starring Yul Brynner and Henry Fonda. Ironically, however, these projects did not turn out to be as successful as his French-made action thrillers with Jean-Paul Belmondo: The Burglars, Night Caller, and Les Morfalous. Verneuil received an honorary César award in 1996 for the body of his work. He died in January 2002. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
588 Rue Paradis
1992
This family drama is the sequel to director Henri Verneuil's autobiographical film, Mayrig. It takes place some forty years after the end of the previous film. In the...
Mayrig
1991
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Les Morfalous
1984
Considered more as a vehicle to display Jean-Paul Belmondo than as an independent, wartime action story, Les Morfalous rides the crest of the French actor's popularity and...
Mille Milliards de Dollars
1981
A young jounalist (Patrick Dewaere) stumbles across something much more sinister than a simple suicide in the death of a politician - the death seems to be an assassination...
I... Comme Icare
1979
Henry Volney (Yves Montand) is a crusading district attorney who refuses to believe the official investigation on the death of an assassinated President in this uneven suspense...
Le Corps de Mon Ennemi
1976
Francois (Jean-Paul Belmondo) was framed as a drug-trafficker by none other than the head trafficker himself and spent seven years in prison for his supposed crimes. Now an...
Peur sur la ville
1975
This crime thriller is about a psychotic who makes obscene phone calls to beautiful women and then murders them. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi...
Night Flight from Moscow
1973
In this convoluted spy thriller, a Russian ambassador places his life on the line when he steals classified documents and defects to the U.S. The papers he carries could rock the...
Le Casse
PG 1971
This French-made feature was based on a 1957 Hollywood "B" effort The Burglar. Both films were inspired by the same David Goodis novel. Gallic crime-flick icon Jean Paul...
La Bataille de San Sebastian
1969
In this French/Italian co-production set in Mexico in 1746, Alastray (Anthony Quinn), a gunman on the run from the law, happens upon a Franciscan priest, Father Joseph (Sam...
Le Clan des Siciliens
PG 1969
Roger Santet (Alain Delon) is a convicted murderer sprung from prison by the Sicilian clan headed by the aging Vittorio Manalese (Jean Gabin). They conspire to steal a...
La Vingt-Cinquième Heure
1967
Adapted from the novel by C. Virgil Gheorghiu, this satirical concentration-camp drama from Turkish-born French director Henri Verneuil stars Anthony Quinn as {%Johann...
Cent mille dollars au soleil
1964
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Weekend à Zuydcoote
1964
In this WW II drama set during a weekend in June of 1940, German invaders force British troops to flee Dunkirk. The French soldiers stationed on a nearby beach also want to...
Any Number Can Win
1963
Jean Gabin plays Charles, an aging gangster, newly released from prison. In fine Bogart tradition, the unrepentant Charles immediately sets to work planning a major casino...
100,000 Dollars Au Soleil
NR 1963
Before Greed in the Sun was released to the States by way of MGM, this French/Italian co-production had made the European rounds under the titles 100,000 Dollars au...
Un Singe En Hiver
1962
Latent forces for a strong individualism are pitted against the need to honor deeply held commitments in this effective comedy by Henri Verneuil. Jean Gabin and Jean-Paul...
Les Lions sont lachés
1961
Henri Verneuil directs a star-studded cast in this slight satire about love and life in the big city. Claudia Cardenale, in her first French film, appears as Albertine, a...
Le President
1961
Jean Gabin carries this conventional political drama set in pre-World War II France. He is Emile, a retired politico with a long memory, a curmudgeon who is not yet prepared...
Love and the Frenchwoman
1960
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...