French Cinema: A Critical Filmography (1929-1939)
Colin Crisp's third book in his study of French cinema in the 1930s analyzes 101 key films from the decade.
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102 titles
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsLouise BrooksGeorges CharliaAugusto BandiniLucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently disapproves of such events and tries to withdraw, but it's too late; she's even then being named Miss France. The night Andre planned to propose to her, she's being whisked off to the Miss Europe finals in Spain, where admirers swarm around her. Win or lose, what will the harvest be?
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAlbert PréjeanPola IlléryEdmond T. GrévilleAlbert is smitten for Pola but ends up wrongly committed in jail, in the meantime her affections are sought after by his friend, and on his release both love and friendship must be tested.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorWilhelm ThieleMax de VaucorbeilStarsLilian HarveyHenri GaratRené LefèvreThree young friends working at a filling station all fall in love with the same woman.Simultaneously filmed French version of the German musical, Die Drei Von Der Tankstelle.
- DirectorPierre ColombierStarsGeorges MiltonHenri KernyHélène PerdrièreThe first in a series of popular comedies featuring the character of Bouboule, a man of few means who somehow manages to sneak into various athletic events (such as here boxing, cycling, and rugby) without paying the entrance fee, and who thoroughly enjoys himself doing so.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsPierre AlcoverJulien BertheauAlexandre MihalescoVictor Berthier, a good man but also a very jealous one, killed his wife in a fit of jealousy. After serving a few years in a chain gang, he is released for good behavior. He feels very happy to be able to return to Paris and to meet Lise, his daughter, again. But, to his dismay, he finds that Lise, through the fault of André, her lover and pimp, has unwillingly committed a murder.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsRudolf ForsterLotte LenyaCarola NeherThe Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurPaule AndralJackie MonnierDavid is a poor but ambitious Polish Jew who reinvents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. After gaining wealth, he relocates to Paris, only to have his selfish and demanding wife squander his fortune.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAnnabellaRené LefèvreJean-Louis AllibertAn impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsRaimuPierre FresnayFernand CharpinMarius is faced with a choice whether to fulfill his passion by sailing the seas or stay and marry the woman he loves.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonJanie MarèseGeorges FlamantMaurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsRaymond CordyHenri MarchandRolla FranceSeeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsEnrique RiveroElizabeth Lee MillerPauline CartonTold in four episodes - an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRobert Le ViganGeorges PécletFive gentlemen are on vacation in Morocco; one of them takes off a Muslim girl's veil and the sorcerer curses them: before the full moon, all of them will die.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsPierre BlancharGabriel GabrioCharles VanelWorld War 1 begins and a young man enlists to fight for his country.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsBrigitte HelmHeinz KlingenbergTela TchaïTwo French Foreign Legionnaires are lost amid the shifting sands of the Sahara Desert when they stumble across the entrance to an underground world. Searching this new found subterranean passage, our heroes are surprised to find the lost city of Atlantis. Ruling over this fantastic underworld realm, an evil queen sets her sights upon these strangers to her kingdom.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsRaimuJean GabinFernandelThe life of disorderly soldiers in the barracks dealing with daily routines.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsJulian WestMaurice SchutzRena MandelA drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRobert LynenLouis GauthierA red-haired boy is his mother's punching bag ; only his father's presence is a great comfort to him,but this weak man is under the shrew's thumb. His pain is so great he feels suicidal.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonMarcelle HainiaSévérine LerczinskaA bookseller saves a tramp from drowning and shelters him, but the tramp's odd behavior starts to wear everyone down.
- DirectorPierre PrévertStarsJulien CaretteAnthony GildèsEtienne DecrouxBenjamin Déboisé, a hatter, his salesman and a young man want to kidnap an American millionaire, put him in a bag and hold him to ransom. But they make a mistake: the fellow they find in the bag is not the millionaire himself, but his son...!
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAnnabellaJorge RigaudRaymond CordyJean is a young cab driver. Anna, a flower-girl neighbour, is in love with him. But he is still thinking to Pola, who just left him. Jean asks her to the bal. Many events (Pola's come back, two villains...) will disturb this arising love.
- DirectorJean EpsteinStarsJean MuratMarie BellJoan HeldaThe almost financial ruined French gentleman Gaston Dewalter spends several day in Biarritz before going off in the Hispano-Suiza, a luxe car which was a present from his friends. George becomes the lover of Lady Stéphane Oswill pretending he is wealthy. Then Stéphane spends the remaining funds with which the now desperate George hoped to rebuild his fortune in Senegal.
- DirectorPierre ColombierStarsRaimuAlbert PréjeanPierre AlcoverTo investigate a would be adultery,Clodomir dresses up as a superintendent,a butler ,a priest ,a fireman ,and even ..a woman .
- DirectorJean VigoStarsJean DastéRobert le FlonLouis LefebvreIn a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.