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585,331
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91,270
7
the return of inspector Lavardin
In the middle of the eighties , it would be interesting to see what the survivors of the New Wavelet have become . Well , François Truffaut passed away in 1984 and Eric Rohmer persists in signing empty , sloppy films to show his " skills " at film-making . Her majesty Jean-Luc " God Ard " only keeps his small handful o...
582,428
1,219,578
116,722
7
Thomas Hardy's Jude
How could such a sprawling novel like Hardy's become a two-hour movie ? It was a mammoth task and the result is only partly successful . That's why the beginning of the movie seems botched . Actually everything happens when Kate Winslet's character appears . The main flaw lies in the fact that Jude's main ideal was to ...
583,789
1,219,578
70,460
7
Night for day .
François Truffaut had always despised his French colleague André Cayatte . When he was a journalist , he used to pan him as hell ! And what's funny lays in the fact that " day for night " ressembles " Les Amants de Verone " , a movie by . . . André Cayatte ( 1948 ) So , 25 years after Cayatte , the " modern " Truffaut ...
582,964
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273,148
7
Adrien got his gun . . . . and became John Merrick .
Based upon a true story which reportedly happened to the novelist's ancestor , " la chambre des officiers " is a strong manifesto against war . The first third of the movie ( before Adrien leaves his bed ) strongly recalls Dalton Trumbo's masterpiece " Johnny got his gun " but with a weaker direction . The voice over ,...
583,024
1,219,578
73,747
7
These perfect days
Ira Levin was a terrific writer . He seemed fascinated by small conspiracies ( This story and " Rosemary's baby " ) as well as huge ones ( the world of his classic sci-fi " this perfect day " ) Actually , Levin's novel fuses " Rosemary's baby " ( 1967 : the novel of course ! ) secret plot with this unbearable happiness...
583,188
1,219,578
347,751
7
Here ( yesterday ) today ( and tomorrow )
This is a great film for McCartney's and Beatles fans ! A splendid time is guaranteed for all . The audience ( feat some celebrities such as Nicholson , Cuzak , Michael Douglas ) is , as always , quite amazing : from small children to old campaigners of the sixties . They know the words to all the songs by heart , and ...
584,261
1,219,578
120,449
7
how to deal and to improve one's life in a gritty environment
For a long time , French cinema had the bias to choose to overlook the marginalized , the social misfits who have trouble to struggle and to fit in a society . In the nineties , some French filmmakers began to get interested in these categories of ill-fated ones as Erick Zonca's tale bears witness . His chronicle of th...
584,853
1,219,578
41,763
7
Let me ride on the wall of death one more time . . . .
. . . You can waste your time on the other ridesBut this is the nearest to being aliveOh let me take my chances on the wall of death . ( Richard Thompson ) This is a mysterious film . The precedent user was cross cause they did not mention Maria Montez's name on the DVD or video cassette release . He must realize that ...
583,950
1,219,578
30,667
7
Elysees fields forever !
Let Guitry take you down cause he's going to . . . Elysées fields . . . where nothing is real ( isn't it ? ) and nothing to get hung about . . Champs Elysées forever ! This movie belongs to Guitry's historical movies ; such works include " les Perles de la Couronne " ( 1937 ) and the two magnus opus " Si Versailles M'E...
585,518
1,219,578
41,756
7
Dark as a dungeon .
le Point Du Jour did not look like the other movies of the era . There are no principals , no real plot and it's centering on the mine itself . No melodrama , no disaster , most of the time it's the miners ' daily life ; their day begins " Au Point Du Jour " ( at daybreak ) and most of them seem happy . Only a little...
582,917
1,219,578
43,907
7
All along the canal
The screenplay is very thin and the story so unlikely it is a wonder Henri Calef made an endearing movie . This must be the cinematography ( Jacques Lemare ) : the pictures are really a feast for the eyes . Almost all the story takes place on a barge sailing down a canal , or on the banks beneath the shady trees which ...
583,629
1,219,578
37,024
7
The picture of Dorian Slade
Although a remake of a Hitchcock's celebrated silent movie , the 1944 version compares favorably with it . The conclusion is different from Hitchcock's who had " the wrong man " concept in mind . Laird Cregar gives a tormented performance , which often reminds me of Peter Lorre's " M " . John Brahm uses him with an abs...
582,392
1,219,578
59,170
7
A lot of fun ! !
This movie looks like an erotic comic strip of the sixties . Today , it's priceless delightful trash . If you have a chance to see it - which is not easy - do not think twice . It could be the granddaddy of " pulp fiction " " Texas chain saw massacre " or " Born killers " with more humor than the three former works put...
584,904
1,219,578
38,950
7
If you've got one hour and a half to lose . . . . .
. . . you can do worse than watch this intriguing film . The story only lasts six hours but do not panic : it's not a six-hour flick ! A tour de force Alex Joffé will pull off in his 1957 film " les Fanatiques " everything happens in real time like in Wise's " set-up " and later in Varda's " Cleo De Cinq à Sept " . A t...
584,232
1,219,578
65,195
7
Take a walk with John Huston . . .
. . . . through the MIddle Ages in France . A voice over warns us : this is the story of a boy and a girl . Something has begun ( the Hundred Years War ) : they have not seen the beginning and they will not see the end . Who did anyway ? It takes place in France and it was not meant to be realistic ; its closest relati...
583,332
1,219,578
70,586
7
Yves Boisset , the political director .
The Algeria war was a taboo subject for about ten years . Then at the beginning of the seventies , came Claude Berri's " le pistonné " , Yves Boisset's " RAS " and the best of them " avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès " by René Vautier . Boisset's movie is a good work which , although his characters may seem stereotyped ( the...
585,125
1,219,578
95,511
7
happiness in books through Marie
Possible spoilers . . . In the evening , Constance reads the novel " the reader " . She likes this novel so much that she ends up identifying with the heroine of the novel , Marie . Her job is to read several pages of any book to her customers including a disabled teenager called Eric , a stressed businessman or a litt...
582,802
1,219,578
43,837
7
A forgotten little gem
Nez de Cuir is virtually forgotten in France today and it's really a pity , for it is probably Allégret's sleeper . The black and white cinematography is dazzling : a lot of scenes take place in the forest and we really feel its atmosphere , hundred-year - old trees , brooks , where men go hunting with hounds or walk...
584,417
1,219,578
41,877
7
The gypsy and the gentleman
The fact that this movie is not granted even one star in the " Guide Des Films " speaks volumes about what " modern " critics are still thinking of the Pre-Nouvelle Vague cinema . That there are three comments on it and that they are ALL positive prove that there is , sometimes , justice in the universe . Ingmar Bergma...
585,234
1,219,578
30,578
7
Poor thing !
The precedent user was surprised by the happy ending . First thing to bear in mind is that it is a novel by Alphonse Daudet transferred to the screen . And as this novel was partly autobiographic , the screenplay could not modify it . . Like in the novel , the most interesting part is the first one : as his family was ...
584,499
1,219,578
212,338
7
parental advisory
This is another topic which has been extremely used in cinema : a young man who wishes to marry his girlfriend but first he's got to ask her parents the permission . And sometimes things don't go as they are expected . . . By making this movie , it's clear that the director Jay Roach gave the actors a free hand perhaps...
584,386
1,219,578
288,276
7
A muddled affair .
Despite its clichés - the private is obligatory a divorced man , the plaster on his nose directly comes from Polanski's " Chinatown " , " une affaire privée " has intellect , atmosphere and even restrained emotion ( Aurore Clement's two scenes are moving ) going for it . The first hour is even intriguing , sometimes re...
582,919
1,219,578
52,663
7
Le Dernier Tournant .
Pierre Chenal's last hurrah-although not his last movie - , it's easily the best of the four thrillers he made when he was back from Argentina . " Jeux Dangereux " the precedent year suggested a return to form for a director who made interesting film noirs in the thirties and a masterpiece in the forties ( " La Foire A...
584,830
1,219,578
43,769
7
Wonderful Robert Donat !
A first-class actor , playing a character from his youth to an old man , with the same talent : he is as convincing as the mischievous boy who takes photographs unbeknown to his boss as the old man who tries to save the seventh art from the moneychangers in the Temple . The film has an unusually inventive construction ...
583,600
1,219,578
52,318
7
the cheats
It's generally an accepted fact that Marcel Carné's 1936-1946 movies are masterpieces and it's considered polite to say that the rest are mediocrities . This is an unfair opinion : at least , two of the latter era are eminently watchable : " Thérèse Raquin " , his best post-war work , and " les tricheurs " ( the cheats...
582,799
1,219,578
106,573
7
all Victor Meynard has to do is to kill Renée Darieux
Victor Meynard ( Jean Rochefort ) is a seasoned , aging contract killer with a hesitant sexuality , under his mother's thumb . But his future could be symbolized by a young , naive dispatch rider Antoine ( Guillaume Depardieu ) whom he wants to initiate to his job . For his next contract , he has to kill a young female...
582,325
1,219,578
80,120
7
Jungleland
This is not my kind of movie , but " the warriors " sustained my interest till the very end . The characters are not very interesting but the sensational use of night landscapes is absolutely mind-boggling , with those desert streets , those saving subway stations and those parks where it's dangerous to venture after d...
584,639
1,219,578
91,556
7
The glass house .
Joel Santoni has made a handful of movies theatrically released . " Mort un dimanche de pluie " was his last work before he went to make TV movies . It's also his best and one of the rare French thrillers of the eighties which seems to go somewhere . Like in the ( much inferior ) American " the glass house " ( 2001 / I...
582,652
1,219,578
274,993
7
Harassment .
A cross between " la meilleure façon de marcher " and " ladri di biciclette " ? Perhaps so . . In 1976 , Claude Miller made " la meilleure façon de marcher " , his best movie , where he pitted a romantic shy young man ( Patrick Bouchitey ) against a strong vulgar macho ( the late Patrick Deweare ) in the " no exit " of...
582,358
1,219,578
83,925
7
20 years after .
Les fantômes du chapelier , very well received at the time of release , still stands as Chabrol's best movie in the eighties , though certain aspects of its premise have undergone some reassessment . Seen today , the movie displays flaws that were hardly noticeable 20 years ago . First of all , Michel Serrault overpl...
584,817
1,219,578
54,719
7
Everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds
The script writers have transposed the action of Voltaire's famous novel in the to the twentieth century , essentially the forties and the fifties . By doing so , they did not make it realistic for all that : Carbonneaux's movie remain a fable faithful to the writer's spirit . Do not look for historical accuracy here :...
584,753
1,219,578
202,302
7
Dying of love . .
George Lacombe's best film " Six Hommes Morts " was a Clouzot screenplay ( from a S . A . Steeman novel ) . Clouzot's influence shows in " les Condamnés " : no character to side with , a gloomy atmosphere , gossips , anonymous letters signed " signed an " ill-wisher " " . The first scene is a celebration : a couple ( F...
584,811
1,219,578
39,394
7
The red earth of Harrow .
Another melodrama by one of the giants of the genre . I think the story does not really takes off in its first part . Gambling and Amorous Quarrel again and again . If it were not for Maureen O'Hara or Rex Harrison , it would be downright boring . But the second part , after the wedding , is much more exciting : it loo...
583,057
1,219,578
52,251
7
Forbidden games
Pierre Chenal was a minor but interesting director who in the late thirties was the first to transfer to the screen " the postman always rings twice " . His masterpiece was " la foire aux chimères " ( all Erich Von Stroheim's fans MUST see that work ) where he introduced an extraordinary dreamlike atmosphere which we a...
585,469
1,219,578
56,625
7
The bad and the beautiful ( continued )
A film of love and hate . Between the fallen actor and his aging director ; between the director and his hysterical wife ; between Carlotta and her former husband ; between the young actor and the old one . In a nutshell , an intense melodrama in the vein of these Minnelli extravaganzas ( " some came running " " home f...
585,431
1,219,578
143,316
7
like father like son
A young trainee chef Sauveur ( Guillaume Canet ) learns the existence of his father he never knew Bertrand ( Jean Yanne ) . The latter lives thanks to two-bit tricks and swindles . At first hostile to this intrusion , he ends up associating his son and learns him the tricks of the trade until one day Sauveur falls in l...
585,198
1,219,578
39,360
7
When the time comes . . .
It was the second time Ophüls had broached an historical subject ( unless we count " Lola Montès " ) . In France 1939 , he filmed the tragic love story of Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie Chotek , of course a misalliance , hence a Morganatic marriage . As it did not happen as Charles Stuart was concerned , the lover...
583,087
1,219,578
116,367
7
the unlikely marriage of " Pulp Fiction " ( 1994 ) and " Evil Dead " ( 1981 )
Sourced from a story Quentin Tarantino penned in his youth and dusted off in the wake of the " Pulp Fiction " impact , this Robert Rodriguez effort achieves this incredible hybrid . I must say I am uneven about the two authors of these credentials . For Tarantino , I thoroughly enjoyed " Kill Bill : Volume I and II " (...
584,055
1,219,578
32,888
7
Gone with the war .
Actually the right year is 1939 . The title ( lost paradise ) tells it all . Like many works of the era , " paradis perdu " is an omen of the impending storm about to break . Abel Gance had already warned everybody with his remake of " j'accuse " two years before . " Paradis perdu " is not really a manifesto , although...
583,759
1,219,578
47,944
7
Too many spiders .
. . . this may account for the strange structure of the plot and the relative short appearance of Lauren Bacall . Strange how this movie should begin with a conversation between a mentally sick young man ( John Kerr ) and one of the shrinks's wife ( Gloria Grahame ) . And what do they talk about ? Madness and Van Gogh ...
585,405
1,219,578
56,800
7
Even in an epic , Ray will be Ray .
Hats off to Epdean , the user who did the hard task of letting us know about the situation in China when our film begins . I wish every " historical " movie had an user like him . What about the movie ? It ' s perhaps not as absorbing as " Dr Zhivago " ( it's important to notice that anyway Robert Bolt took liberties w...
585,411
1,219,578
52,436
7
The ball chase .
At my time of writing , " échec au porteur " has a very low rating . It's too bad : people who ' ll give it a chance will not be disappointed . Gilles Grangier's fifties movies are almost all worthwhile . Okay the gangsters side - with Gert " Goldfinger " Froebe - as the leader is conventional . But all that remains is...
583,141
1,219,578
61,089
7
Railroad track blues .
Natalie Wood , giving one of her best performances , portrays a typical Williams heroine . Alva is an innocent sinner . She knows she's attractive , she teases every man around , but she has kept her childhood's dream , she's an immature character . she's akin to the girl of " the glass menagerie " . Alva hides her dre...
582,516
1,219,578
66,434
7
star wars antithesis
In 1977 , George Lucas acceded to fame and fortune when " Star Wars " rode high all over the world . I can easily comprehend many viewers's enthusiasm about this epic saga while not sharing it . For me , " Star Wars " represents the turning point when science-fiction began to seriously regress from an artistic perspect...
583,097
1,219,578
202,460
7
Sophie's choice
Given the very poor users ' rating and given the fact that only a 70 min copy is available , it's doubtful people might want to see Jacqueline Audry's take on a child's book which is a classic in France ( in Russia I was told the young students who learn French frequently read the Comtesse de Segur's book , for this wr...
582,852
1,219,578
89,832
7
one can do everything my bloke when one is in the police force !
I have sometimes written in some reviews about some Claude Chabrol's flicks that I didn't find " Poulet Au Vinaigre " a memorable work . However I watched it recently and it's not that bad after all . Of course , it is several notches below such incomparable works as " La Femme Infidèle " ( 1969 ) or " Le Boucher " ( 1...
583,284
1,219,578
156,517
7
All that Heaven will not allow . . . .
The story tales place in a small village in Provence where everybody should be happy . There are artists , painting in the streets , and people playing Pétanque ( bowls ) . . . . But the captain ( Von Stroheim ) warns us . . . No hope here . . . Violaine is seriously ill and soon she will die . Her parents try to conce...
584,610
1,219,578
202,433
7
French falling down .
Bacri's character is sick and tired of his spouse , his work ( as a writer running out of ideas ) , his offspring , his doctor , his dentist , his friends , the whole world . Like Mickael Douglas in " falling down " , he goes off the rails : but whereas Schumacher's hero opts for violence , Bacri's character chooses a ...
582,715
1,219,578
74,114
7
Alice Carroll in wonderland .
Few people know this Chabrol movie and I agree with the precedent users : it's a work that deserves to be restored to favor . Almost unique in the director's canon , it deals with the fantastic genre : only the final sequences of " la rupture " ( 1970 ) verge on it . Its less - than - critically - acclaimed reception l...
584,112
1,219,578
112,951
7
will , courage , determination and hope
Alice is 26 years old . She's a goods handler in a fish factory in Boulogne sur Mer . One day , she is fired for economic reasons . Obviously , this piece of news makes her sad but she doesn't get discouraged for all that . She decides to leave and to start a new life again in Lyon . So , she momentarily settles in a h...
585,364
1,219,578
68,457
7
Coming home
A very interesting movie by Bob Clark who has just passed away . Gore and special effects are kept to the minimum , the director and the screenplay focusing more on the family than on the dead man walking . Bob Clark renewed a theme which French Abel " Napoleon " Gance had broached in the silent era ( and remade as a t...
583,455
1,219,578
106,632
7
guess who's coming to dinner . . .
The adaptation of plays for the screen goes right for the French cinema as the enormous success of " le diner de cons " ( 1998 ) and " 8 femmes " ( 2002 ) testified . It is not this first movie from the pair Jaoui / Bacri that will prove the contrary . Based on a very successful play written by the quoted couple , ther...
584,289
1,219,578
210,163
7
my little firm
Like its predecessor " Fred " ( 1997 ) , " ma Petite Entreprise " is in the same league : the world of workers in popular neighborhoods and the tricks the characters elaborate to get out of their distress . Pierre Jolivet finds again the same actor and one of his favorites Vincent Lindon for a role quite familiar to th...
584,341
1,219,578
284,573
7
Girod's best since " le trio infernal " .
Francis Girod began his career with a scandalous movie : Romy Schneider , who was looked upon as a Madonna by most of the FRench audience became one the most disgusting criminals an actress had ever played . Since he watered down his wine and subsequent works were much more moderate ( " Lacenaire " " la banquière " ) w...
585,137
1,219,578
41,329
7
The invisible boy
In Cukor's " Women " ( 1939 ) the heroines talked about men we never saw cause it was an all-female cast . In " Edward My Son " , the character of the title , " Edward " never appears either . It may be interesting but it's also a bit infuriating cause we know him only through the others ' conversations . It takes all ...
583,239
1,219,578
118,117
7
Rebel with a cause
The connection with James Dean ? In a short plan , we see Emilio Estevez toying with a teddy bear ( remember the first scene of Ray's " rebel without a cause " ) . Moreover , the main conflict is Estevez versus Sheen , father against son , as in " East of Eden " . The soldier has come home , and nobody has been able to...
584,153
1,219,578
139,222
7
Very entertaining melodrama .
Adapted from an obscure Dumas père novel , " I Fratelli Corsi " is a very good melodrama , which encompasses everything storybook means : two twin boys estranged from each other from the cradle , blood and passion , duels , abductions , treasons , far-fetched but action-packed screenplay , lots of characters , a classy...
582,995
1,219,578
39,597
7
I'd like to be under the sea . . . .
. . . not in an octopus's garden , but in a huge cave beneath the waves . Henri Calef was an underrated director : after " Jericho " and " Les Chouans " , he achieved a hat trick with " La Maison Sous La Mer " . All of these movies deserve to be watched by people interested in the oldies of the French cinema , provided...
582,930
1,219,578
126,734
7
The heart is no longer a lonely hunter .
Guédiguian tackles here a subject which Marcel Pagnol treated many times some sixty years ago : the pregnant girl and the fate of the soon-to - be born baby : " Angèle " ( 1934 ) " Fanny " ( 1936 ) and " la fille du puisatier " ( 1942 ) Both Guediguian's and Pagnol's works are set in the Provence . But the times have c...
584,157
1,219,578
111,127
7
Beverly Sutphin is not to be trifled with
Imagine this : the main character is a woman called Beverly Sutphin . Her husband is a dentist and she does her best to bring up her children . In short , she is a respectable human being with the particularity of being a real stickler for good manners . Maybe , a little too respectable so that when someone speaks ill ...
584,837
1,219,578
169,519
7
Fine miniseries
Adapted from the wonderful Maurice Leblanc's novel , it is a very exciting if a bit slow-moving miniseries . Claude Jade , whom Truffaut's lovers know quite well ( She was the heroine of the Antoine Doinel Saga ) , is well cast as Veronique , a young woman who finds back her son and her father on a Breton Island and ge...
585,237
1,219,578
22,430
7
Desperate hours . . . . .
. . . Our the grandpa's hour . More than the gangsters , it's a detailed depiction of an American family circa 1930 : the father , proud of his job who worries about his son who's given up high school , the mum everyone would like to have , the daughter who forgets dinner time in his squeeze's arms , and the twins who ...
583,610
1,219,578
27,726
7
Love versus Napoleon
First thing to do is to forget history ( I will not argue with American history , but as far as French history is concerned , well . . ) : No , they did not live happily ever after , for the marriage was finally broken , and Jerome had more mistresses than you could count . No , Madame Mère - who briefly appears to swe...
582,527
1,219,578
53,050
7
Resistance and whodunit .
Resistance fighter Marie-Octobre ( it's her former code name ) gathers her mates after the war . There's a traitor among them and they've got to discover him and do away with him . The audience is induced to suspect one by one all the " guests " , à la Agatha Christie . The film forgets the historical background very q...
583,118
1,219,578
107,275
7
sweet euphemism . . .
A widowed man , Mr Charme ( Michel Bouquet ) doesn't recover from his wife's death and he asks a nurse , Reine ( Gwennola Bothorel ) to find a solution so that he can join his late wife . Reine accepts because Mr Charme is a well-off widowed and she hopes to appropriate his fortune . For this , she is helped by Mr Char...
584,443
1,219,578
100,840
7
mother you had me but I never had you
This premier effort from a beacon French actress , Nicole Garcia already shows where her author chose to go as regards her set of themes : family and problems that can reign in it . See also " le Fils Préféré " ( 1994 ) and especially the unsettling " l'Adversaire " ( 2002 ) with a mind-boggling Daniel Auteuil . So , d...
582,435
1,219,578
85,190
7
We survive through our children .
The eighties brought in France another way of making movies : first a relatively short version which was shown in the theaters , then a miniseries which was broadcast on TV . Examples : " Lelouch's " les uns et les autres " Hossein's " les miserables " Bolognini's ( co-production with Italy ) " la dame aux camelias " "...
585,135
1,219,578
39,437
7
Slip of the pen
Overlong story which should appeal to melodrama buffs . It has almost everything a good melodrama should : love , hatred , romanticism , exoticism , adventures and voyages , and even an earthquake - the special effects are not bad for the time - : and whereas the disaster movies of the seventies would revolve around th...
585,491
1,219,578
187,044
7
sex is good in Brittany
Mais Ne nous Délivrez pas Du Mal ( 1971 ) was a cannon ball in the landscape of French cinema . Its director Joël Séria staked out a position of shocking director who didn't shrink from bad taste . The 1971 film was a work whose prevailing mood was evil . " Les Galettes De Pont-Aven " is openly dissimilar to the 1971...
585,256
1,219,578
126,886
7
it's a long way to the top ( if you want to win an election )
This movie broaches an election . It isn't absolutely a presidential or legislative election . Simply , this election takes place in an American high school and it must elect a student for the following role : the president's board of the students . This is what Reese Witherspoon would like to become and she stands in ...
582,503
1,219,578
194,766
7
Compartment lady killers . / Compartiment Tombeurs
Mme Monicourt : " but , my dear , isn't it a bit too much to appear on stage wearing only a vest ? " Isabelle , des Folies Bergères : " You miss the point ! I'm completely naked ! " This is a movie which is so far-fetched , so silly but so dense ( there's a lot of Coups de Théâtre in a movie which lasts barely 70 min ....
583,865
1,219,578
47,191
7
Trailer break first !
Not only Minnelli made memorable musicals such as " Brigadoon " or brilliant melodramas like " some came running " , but he also directed delightful comedies . " The long long trailer " is one of them . It's an exquisite little story , the star of which is not Lucille Ball but the trailer : its size is so imposing that...
585,245
1,219,578
54,890
7
Minnelli and Visconti .
When you're watching Minnelli's work today you cannot help but thinking that he had a strong influence on Luchino Visconti's " la caditi dei degli " ( 1969 ) Actually the two movies begin the same way : a family whose members are tearing each other part because some of them go nazi . It does not matter if the scene tak...
582,357
1,219,578
57,068
7
The ladder of law has no top and no bottom , has it ?
A buried treasure . The director has made a lot of these peplums which proliferated circa 1960 . None is particularly memorable . But " IL fornaretto di Venezia " is a different matter ; this is a definitely absorbing , excellent work , that would deserve to be restore to favor . Had it come from a recognized " auteur ...
584,958
1,219,578
80,661
7
prime form , trite contents
In France , it's considered polite from French critics to genuflect to the apparently cohesive chain of films Brian De Palma left behind him . However , a good proportion of his films are marred by bombastic effects " Carrie " ( 1976 ) , " the Fury " ( 1978 ) " Scarface " ( 1983 ) without mentioning his borrowings from...
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Bang the drum slowly
Produced by Maureen O'Hara's brother , in order to recharge his sister's career , Sam Peckinpah did not like this film . O ' Hara sings on the cast and credits and at the end of the movie . It's strange to see this par excellence Fordian heroine on Peckinpah's territory . But you do not have to be a Peckinpah fan to en...
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Your mother would tell you to do that .
Based on an Oscar Wilde , a delightful bittersweet period piece which is some kind of reductio ad aburdum that conjugal love can be the way to happiness and that you must not throw it all away . A long flashback , where a fan sold in auction becomes the Madeleine de Proust which revives memories of long ago , when the ...
584,299
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41,378
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The granddaddy of " 10 Rillington Place " and " The Boston Strangler "
The two movies I mention in my title were proofs positive that , all that Fleischer threatened to do in the film noir field all the promises were fulfilled . " Follow me quietly " can be looked upon as a blueprint for these masterful works . Its only flaw is its length : it's obviously too short , and we would like to ...
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Gregory Ratoff's got only the best film about Oscar Wilde to declare
Without a doubt , this is the film to see if you are deeply interested in this unconventional and fabulous writer that was Oscar Wilde . Two other films about him were shot : " the Trials of Oscar Wilde " and Brian Gilbert's work in 1997 but they aren't found wanting to Gregory Ratoff's version . Of course , it's indis...
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7
new hedonism for Justin Kerrigan
Cardiff , Wales . A bunch of 5 mates are deeply bored in this town . There's Jip who works in a clothes shop . Coop , an easy-going DJ . Nina , inseparable from her best friend Lulu and Moff . The week is hell for them and they only wait for one thing : the week-end . At this time , they got out to a nightclub and to t...
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Purging baby .
This is Jean Renoir's first talkie and he was probably delighted to let his audience hear . . . the sound of a flush ! Preceding " la chienne " , which was Renoir's first masterpiece , " on purge bébé " is a hilarious farce which is not totally harmless . Georges Feydeau who wrote the play and was the specialist of the...
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Mayerling revised and updated by the seventh art .
In my reviews of the 1968 Terence Young version , I've already told my thoughts on the historical facts . There's no need to get back on it : suffice to say the true story was not as romantic as sensitive people still thinks so today . Anatole Litvak does not pass over in silence Rudolph's dissoluteness , as two orgy s...
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Back in the Casbah
It was made just one year after Duvivier's classic , which even Godard ( Godard ! ) mentioned in his " Pierrot LE Fou " . Although I hate God'Art about as much as I love Duvivier , I must admit that a film that can transcend the New Wavelet's contempt possesses something magic a la " Casablanca " . I was skeptical abou...
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And justice for all . . .
French critics often talk about Cayatte's cybernetics . . . But , they say , some day , the robots went wrong . Roughly from 1960 onwards , well another cheap trick of the nouvelle vague . At the time , " le glaive et la balance " was slagged off by the young turks of the rising generation godardesque . " bad actors " ...
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7
Meet Joe Black
Jean Gourguet has sunk into oblivion , and the rare critics we can read are downright negative : poor melodramas , coarse comedies dominated by sex . . . " Son Dernier Role " must be the exception which proves the rule , for it is melodrama for sure , but good melodrama . An actress Hermine Wood ( Gaby Morlay ) who tri...
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White madness
A very fine adventures movie with a great Stewart Granger , an actor so nice that even when he tries to become nasty we don't believe him . The fifties were his heyday , with such exciting works as " Moonfleet " " the prisoner of Zenda " or " the last hunt " . " The wild north " shows Granger at the top of his game : w...
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brilliant disguise
After a feud with his father , Larbi a young Arab man decides to leave Dunkerque in the North of France to start a new life again in Marseille . But the meeting with a young couple , Christian ( Clovis Cornillac ) and Béa ( Sylvie Testud ) will modify his plans . After he helped Béa to hold a drunken Clovis until their...
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Riffraff Beau Geste .
La bandera is one of Julien Duvivier's most famous movies , but it seems a bit dated now . People who saw a version of " Beau Geste " cannot help but be struck by the similarities between the two stories : the " legion etrangere " , as a way out when the police is hot on your heels . But whereas Beau Geste characters...
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Russian roulette or the ordeal .
Although he is known as an actor , Robert Hossein was a fine film noir director . His " toi le venin " should appeal to people who enjoyed De Palma's " sisters " ( 1973 ) . " Mort d'un tueur " takes a hackneyed screenplay and brilliantly succeeds in surprising . Only the middle part , with strip tease scenes , seems ir...
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teenage riot ( in Marc's mind )
In my comment on " the hairdresser's wife " ( 1990 ) by Patrice Leconte , I wrote that this gorgeous movie was awarded by the " Louis-Delluc " price with " le petit criminel " ( 1990 ) . It was only right . Although I consider Jacques Doillon's movie as inferior as " the hairdresser's wife " , it remains interesting an...
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we wish Lino Ventura a happy new year
Claude Lelouch is known for having left a copious filmography behind him and in which very few films reach the scale of the masterwork , except maybe " un Homme et Une Femme " ( 1966 ) and " la Vie , l'Amour , la Mort " ( 1969 ) . A good proportion is to be pigeonholed in the category of entertaining , homespun films a...
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the polar opposite of " Excalibur " ( 1981 )
In Robert Bresson's short filmography , " Lancelot Du Lac " is probably his most dismissed piece of work for evident reasons . The author of such pearls like " Journal d'Un Curé De Campagne " ( 1951 ) and " au Hasard Balthazar " ( 1966 ) chose to adapt his minimal , inimitable style to the fabled tale of the Knights of...
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Michel Blanc , the intruder .
When he started walking in the cinema , Patrice Leconte decided first to specialize in comedy . This one , will probably remain the best that he ever made . I found it superior to its predecessor : " les bronzés " ( 1978 ) with its crude and often vulgar humor . So , after he broached the behavior of the tourists when ...
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The circus is in town
At the time , Feyder's former pupil , Marcel Carné , was beginning to outstrip his master . " Les gens du voyage " is a movie which is worth seeking out because it's the only one , to my knowledge , which takes place in a circus in the thirties in France . And Feyder perfectly depicts its atmosphere : the long line of ...
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A talented actor's second effort .
Bernard Giraudeau has always been one of the most ambitious actors of his generation , but his parts were sometimes below par . Fortunately , Scola and Ozon provided him with roles worthy of himself . He tackled directing with a very interesting work " l'autre " , some kind of Wilder's " the big carnival " in reverse ....
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Signé Pierre Véry . . . . . .
. . . . . a writer whose thrillers were transferred to the screen with success " l'Assassinat Du Père Noel " " Goupi Mains Rouges " " Les Disparus De Saint Agil " . This miniseries , very faithful to the book ( one name or two were changed ) , tells the story of a little boy , Noël , whose father is a millionaire ; but...
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the master and the pupil
In the French humorous show , " les guignols de l'info " , Christophe Lambert often says in a weary tone : " Yeah , I know . All my movies are rotten . " Well , he should think twice before telling silly things . Indeed , " Max et Jérémie " ( 1992 ) is his best movie since " Greystoke " ( 1984 ) . And this terrific mov...
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I'm the marquis de Lafayette !
. . or La Fayette , the French spelling . The first thing to bear in mind is that , at the time , it was the biggest budget France had ever spent for a movie : hence the cast which includes Orson Welles as Franklin - a part he had already played in Sacha Guitry's " si Versailles m'était conté " - , Vittorio DeSica , Ja...
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And justice for no one .
At first sight , Duvivier seems to follow in André Cayatte's footsteps . At the time , the latter director had launched a crusade against all the miscarriages of justice and had begun to champion any good cause going . But further acquaintance shows this : " l'affaire Maurizius " is a Duvivier movie . In Cayatte's movi...
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Luc Besson's debut film
Luc Besson's first work is also his first foray in science fiction , a genre to which he will return fourteen years later with " the Fifth Element " ( 1997 ) . Even if this film was strongly influenced by Hollywood cinema , it is still highly enjoyable . Back in 1983 , " le Dernier Combat " reveals Besson's own approac...