88% (3) Eyes Without a Face 90 min, Not Rated, [Drama, Horror] [Georges Franju] [24 Oct 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 78%, Rotten Tomatoes: 98%, Metacritic: 90%, External Reviews
Actors: Alexandre Rignault, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Pierre Brasseur
Writer: Jean Redon (novel), Pierre Boileau (adaptation), Thomas Narcejac (adaptation), Jean Redon (adaptation), Claude Sautet (adaptation), Pierre Gascar (dialogue)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France, Italy
Plot: After causing an accident that left his daughter Christiane severely disfigured, the brilliant surgeon Dr. Génessier works tirelessly to give the girl a new face. He does so however by kidnapping young women and attempting face transplants. He has been woefully unsuccessful to date. The doctor's world begins to collapse around him when his daughter realizes just what he has been doing.
Rotten Tomatoes: A brilliant but crazed surgeon resorts to horrifying measures to restore the beauty of his daughter's disfigured face.
Scroll To: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% [ / 6]
90% (2) Children of Paradise 189 min, Not Rated, [Drama, Romance] [Marcel Carné] [15 Nov 1946]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 83%, Rotten Tomatoes: 97%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins.
Actors: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir
Writer: Jacques Prévert (scenario and dialogue)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France
Plot: This tale centers around the love between Baptiste, a theater mime, and Claire Reine, an actress and otherwise woman-about-town who calls herself Garance. Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: Frederick, a pretentious actor; Lacenaire, a conniving thief; and Count Edouard of Montray. The story is further complicated by Nathalie, an actress who is in love with Baptiste. Garance and Baptiste meet when Garance is falsely accused of stealing a man's watch. Garance is forced to enter the protection of Count Edouard when she is innocently implicated in a crime committed by Lacenaire. In the intervening years of separation, both Garance and Baptiste become involved in loveless relationships with the Count and Nathalie, respectively. Baptiste is the father of a son. Returning to Paris, Garance finds that Baptiste has become a famous mime actor. Nathalie sends her child to foil their meeting, but Baptiste and Garance manage one night together. Lacenaire murders Edouard. In the last scenes, Garance is returning to Edouard's hotel and disaster as Baptiste struggles after her through crowds of merrymakers, many dressed as his famous character.
Rotten Tomatoes: Even in 1945, Marcel Carnà (C)'s Children of Paradise was regarded as an old-fashioned film. Set in the Parisian theatrical world of the 1840s, Jacques Prà (C)vert's screenplay concerns four men in love with the mysterious Garance (Arletty). Each loves Garance in his own fashion, but only the intentions of sensitive mime-actor Deburau (Jean-Louis Barrault) are entirely honorable; as a result, it is he who suffers most, hurdling one obstacle after another in pursuit of an evidently unattainable goal. In the stylized fashion of 19th-century French drama, many grand passions are spent during the film's totally absorbing 195 minutes. The film was produced under overwhelmingly difficult circumstances during the Nazi occupation of France, and many of the participants/creators were members of the Maquis, so the movie's existence itself is somewhat miraculous. Children of Paradise has gone on to become one of the great romantic classics of international cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Scroll To: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% [ / 6]
86% (2) Port of Shadows 91 min, Not Rated, [Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller] [Marcel Carné] [29 Oct 1939]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 96%, External Reviews
Awards: 6 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors: Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michèle Morgan, Pierre Brasseur
Writer: Pierre Dumarchais (novel), Jacques Prévert (scenario and dialogue)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: French Country: France
Plot: Life's a rotten business, says Jean, a deserter who arrives at night in Le Havre, looking to leave the country. He lucks into civilian clothes, a little bit of money, a passport, and a dog, and he also meets Nelly, a 17-year-old who's grown up too fast. She's the object of lust of men: including a boyfriend Maurice, her putative protector Zabel, and Lucien, a local hood. Jean falls for her, faces down Lucien, and gives her courage to stand on her own feet. A ship is leaving for Venezuela; can at least one of them be on it, or is that just a dream?
Rotten Tomatoes: When Jean (Jean Gabin), a deserter from the Colonial Army, hitchhikes his way into Le Havre, he's only looking for a place to hide until he book ship's passage. He never expects to become embroiled in a dispute between local "tough" guy Lucien (Pierre Brasseur) and wealthy but shady shopkeeper Zabel (Michel Simon). Nor does he expect to fall in love with the beautiful Nelly (Michèle Morgan), who Zabel also "keeps" What was supposed to be a stopover on his way to a better life turns into a fight against petty jealousies, buried obsessions, and unpleasant pasts. One of Marcel Carné's most revered films, Port of Shadows explores the foggier aspects of identity, love, and the possibility, or perhaps impossibility, of escape.
Scroll To: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% [ / 6]
84% (2) King of Hearts 102 min, UNRATED, [Drama, Comedy, War] [Philippe de Broca] [19 Jun 1967]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 94%, External Reviews
Actors: Adolfo Celi, Alan Bates, Geneviève Bujold, Jean-Claude Brialy, Pierre Brasseur
Writer: Daniel Boulanger (scenario and dialogue), Maurice Bessy (idea)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French, English, German Country: France, Italy
Plot: During the latter part of World War I, Private Charles Plumpick is chosen to go into the French town of Marville and disconnect a bomb that the German army has planted. However, Charles is chased by some Germans and finds himself holed up at the local insane asylum, where the inmates are convinced that he is the "King of Hearts." Feeling obligated to help the inmates, Charles attempts to lead them out of town, but they are afraid to leave and frolic about the streets in gay costumes. Will Charles be able to deactivate the bomb in time and save his newfound friends?
Rotten Tomatoes: During World War I, Scottish soldier Private Plumpick (Academy Award (R) Nominee, Alan Bates) is sent on a mission to a village in the French countryside to disarm a bomb set by the retreating German army. Plumpick encounters a strange town occupied by the former residents of the local psychiatric hospital who escaped after the villagers deserted. Assuming roles like Bishop, Duke, barber and circus ringmaster, they warmly accept the visitor as their King of Hearts. With his reconnaissance and bomb-defusing mission looming, Plumpick starts to prefer the acceptance of the insane locals over the insanity of the war raging outside.
Scroll To: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% [ / 6]
73% (1) The Gates of Paris 106 min, [Crime, Drama, Romance] [René Clair] [14 Jan 1958]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.
Actors: Dany Carrel, Georges Brassens, Henri Vidal, Pierre Brasseur
Writer: René Clair (screenplay), René Fallet (novel), Jean Aurel (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France, Italy
Plot: An old bum becomes infatuated with a pretty young girl who gets entangled with a young gangster.
Rotten Tomatoes: Port de Lilias was Rene Clair's first film since 1955, and his last until 1960. It is more serious than most of Clair's efforts, ending with a death that is all the more surprising in that the director never quite prepares us for it. Pierre Brasseur plays Juju, a likeable ne'er-do-well who suddenly finds himself the "guardian" of a murderer named Barbier (Henri Vidal). When his identity is discovered by the heroine Maria (Dany Carel), Barbier wins and betrays the girl. This galvanizes the otherwise easygoing Juju into drastic action. Functioning as a Greek chorus throughout the proceedings is well-known balladeer George Brassens.
Scroll To: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% [ / 6]
69% (1) The Law 114 min, Not Rated, [Comedy, Crime, Drama] [Jules Dassin] [11 Nov 1960]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors: Gina Lollobrigida, Marcello Mastroianni, Melina Mercouri, Pierre Brasseur
Writer: Roger Vailland (novel), Jules Dassin, Françoise Giroud (dialogue)
External Links: IMDb Language: Italian Country: Italy, France
Plot: Marietta, servant of aristocrat Don Cesare, is the bellezza of an Italian town where men gather nightly in the tavern for the 'game of the Law,' selecting one by lot to boss and humiliate the others. Illicit passions abound: the judge's wife pursues Francesco, son of crime boss Matteo, who is after Marietta (so is her brother-in-law); Marietta wants engineer Enrico for a husband, but he claims he's too poor to marry. So she decides to steal herself a dowry! All this may lead to an explosion...and some changes in who dictates 'the law.'
Scroll To: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% [ / 6]