chrisgreseque Reviews

Au petit bonheur (1946)

French post-war turkey

[4/10 · 18 March 2024]

Being a Danielle Darrieux's fan, I was looking forward to seeing this film, but I was very disappointed and (quite frankly) annoyed by this ridiculous cinematic fanfare.

Danielle Darrieux was obviously trying to recapture and regain the success she had during the wars years with movies like "Premier rendez-vous" or "Caprices" where she played a zany and spoilt little creature... But this time it did not work at all!

François Périer is so bad in this film. He is forever shouting and gesticulating and quite painful to watch.

Only André Luguet and Paulette Dubost emerge relatively unscathed from this dreadful production.

My advice is to pass this one and watch other Danielle Darrieux's vehicles...

It Was a Gay Ballnight (1939)

Total disappointment

[5/10 · 9 March 2024]

I had long wanted to watch this movie, given it featured two of the biggest stars of German cinema: Zarah Leander and Marika Rökk... and what a disappointment it was!

Apart from the fact, the whole story is historically grotesquelly inaccurate... the male leads are wooden... and as usual, Marika Rökk dances like a heifer... Only Zarah Leander manages to captivate the audience with her songs and her (beautifully photographed) languorous face.

The song " Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen" will continue to haunt you well after the end of the film!

All in all, this film will be appreciated by Zarah Leander's fan. If you are not (or if you are not familiar with 1940's Gernan cinema), you might want to give it a miss and opt for another of Leander's films.

God Needs Men (1950)

Horrid

[3/10 · 15 December 2023]

I tried several times to watch that film, but Pierre Fresnay is so awful & annoying in this film that I had to force myself to watch it until the end !

His acting is way over the top. Nothing rings true: He keeps shouting and ranting from start to finish: A hamming job if there was ever any! Absolutely dreadful.

Daniel Gélin is not any better either.

The ensemble cast in smaller roles are good: Madeleine Robinson the sinner; piercing-eyed Sylvie and hard-faced Andrée Clément.

A special mention too for Lucienne Bagaert, playing the demented Anaïs.

Only, for Pierre Fresnay's unconditional fans!

Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach (1953)

Carbon-copy of the English-speaking version

[7/10 · 15 December 2023]

I am very familiar and very fond of the English-speaking version of the film, with the trio Holden-McNamara-Niven... I probably saw it close to 10 times (I even saw the French-dubbed version). I love the witty and sharp dialogue !

So I was very keen on seeing the German version and I finally did.

I was flabbergasted to hear & see that it is exactly the same movie, only in German & with a different cast: The dialogue is translated almost word for word... the acting, down to the minutest voice inflection or gesture is the same... I am almost certain that it was rehearsed thoroughly prior to shooting.

The German cast is good too: Even though I am not a big fan of Johannes Heersters, he was perfectly cast as the middle-aged roué.

Johanna Matz is a bit more restrained than Maggie McNamara: She did not have that cookie verging on the zany quality that McNamara had.

Saying that, I enjoyed it a lot!

Boefje (1939)

Interesting but not great

[6/10 · 7 November 2022]

There were so few Dutch films made in the 30's and the 40's that I decided to watch 2 of them... out of curiosity.

One of them was Boefje.

The first thing that surprised me was that it was made by Douglas Sirk (billed as Detlef Sierck), who had recently left Nazi Germany because his second wife was Jewish. I could not see in this film any relation to the films made by the same Douglas Sirk in the US, not the same technique, not the themes he was later comfortable with... Nothing at all. It is as if it was another film maker altogether.

I can image that he made this film in the Netherlands to make some money before emigrating to the United States... This being said, it is not a bad film at all.

Lead actress Annie van Ees is totally credible as a 12 year-old petty hoodlum, even though she was about 45 herself at the time. She actually looks like an adolescent boy: her face & mannerisms... The only thing that "betrayed" her is when she runs. She looks like a girl running.

The fact that she played the role on stage before has a lot to do with the fact she fits the role perfectly.

On the other hand, her delivery is quite stagey and at times fairly annoying... Boefje was her only talking picture!

Marguerite de la nuit (1955)

Unbearably bad

[2/10 · 13 July 2022]

This is one of the worst films I have ever seen.

Totally unwatchable... I almost gave up after 25 minutes but kept hoping it would get better... but it didn't.

The dialogues are grotesque... The set decoration hideous... Poor Michèle Morgan looks bored as if she is thinking "What the hell, am I doing here?"...

But worst of all is Yves Montand... he is ABSOLUTELY dreadful, it's almost embarassing!

Never again.

Yamilé sous les cèdres (1939)

Delightful

[7/10 · 15 May 2022]

I have been wanting to see that film for more than 20 years and I finally found it in some obscure Russian site and the copy was surprisingly top-notch!

Although a bit dated for today's audience, the film is a delightful reminder of the kind of movies they used to do "back then".

The script is following the book quite well (despite the inevitable cuts in the story)... so much so that, two years after the film release, author Henry Bordeaux actually thanked one-time director Charles d'Espinay by saying: "Yamilé was a true to the novel, for which I remain grateful to you."

It is such a shame that lead actress Denise Bosc did not pursue a career in films! She is lovely and revealed an innate capacity to convey a wide range of emotion in the most natural way, with both her warm voice and highly expressive face. Her performance is a departure from the over-acting often see in pictures from the 1930's.

It is hardly surprising she became one of the most prominent French dubbers in the 40's and 50's, In parallel, she had a very successful career on the stage well into her eighties.

The film was shot on locations in North Lebanon and the film capturing very well the beauty of the scenery.

I highly recommend this film!

Die Frau meiner Träume (1944)

Only for unconditional fan of Marika Rökk

[4/10 · 14 May 2022]

I watched this film out of curiosity more than anything else and several things bemused me:

1) Marika Rökk: Whilst one cannot doubt for one minute that she was fearless and acrobatic dancer, the dance numbers are totally graceless. The whole thing looks "heavy" and Marika Rökk is like a heifer. In addition, and probably due to the garish Agfa colour, she looks a bit like a drag queen... Saying that, with the right director and right script, she could have been a really good comedienne comparable to the talented Lucille Ball.

2) Both males leads are so plain and lackluster and totally forgettable.

3) The script is very choppy as if scenes were put together in a higgldy-piggledy fashion.

For me the only pleasurable parts were the scenes with the great Grethe Weiser... It is a shame she only appears in just a few scenes.

Overall, I would not recommend this film, unless you are an unconditional fan of Marika Rökk.

Verdict (1974)

Gripping

[7/10 · 6 January 2013]

Of course it is not one of Cayatte's best film like _Justice est faite (1950)_(qv) or _Avant le déluge (1954)_(qv), but it is for sure a very gripping story served by a Gabin equal to himself - even though we are used to see him in this kind of role; and a very hard, yet vulnerable Sophia Loren in one of her last meaty roles (with the exception of the brilliant _Una giornata particolare (1977)_(qv)). Cayatte was in the second half of his career by then and was able to do this film with a top-notch cast after the immense success of his unforgettable _Mourir d'aimer (1971)_(qv)) about the "Gabrielle Russier case". Once more Cayatte shows the flaws in the judicial system very well as he has done in the past. A film to rediscover if you have not seen it before, you will be kept on the edge of your sit. If you have, you will take pleasure in seeing two of the best actors in the history of cinema playing together for the first and last time.

I accuse (1941)

A film more about choices than Nazi propaganda

[7/10 · 30 January 2011]

I have studied the influence of politics on European cinema, particularly in France, Italy and Germany; and whilst one cannot totally dismiss the link between this film and the Nazi euthanasia programme, for me this film is more about choices... It asks the following question: "Would you assists someone you love and who is suffering if he/she would ask you?" as opposed to whether euthanasia should be made legal or anything like that. Opposite views are illustrated by the two main male characters: Thomas (played by Paul Hartmann) who is the one who "helps" Hanna to die, and Bernhard (played by Mathias Wieman) who is initially totally against the idea (Hanna has asked him to help her die, but he refused). Propaganda is about trying to convince people that your views are the right ones or justify your choices or actions. This film does not try to do either, and the proof is that it ends before the verdict is rendered... I honestly don't think this film would be considered controversial if it was done today, or indeed would it be considered Nazi propaganda...

Forces occultes (1943)

Dangerous Vichy propaganda

[3 June 2001]

"Forces occultes" represents Vichy France's most determined effort at nazi propaganda.

The film depicts the rise of a young MP who, to further his career, joins the French Freemasons. He subsequently starts to believe that along with the Jews, they deliberately want to push France into a war against Germany.

This is, of course, pure odious Vichy propaganda...

At the Liberation, screenwriter Jean Marquès-Rivière, producer Robert Muzard and director Paul Riche (real name Jean Mamy) were all severely punished for their overt collabaration with Vichy and the Nazis. On November 25th 1945, Muzard, also the director of the popular magazine "Ciné-Mondial" was condemned to 3 years imprisonment. Jean Marquès-Rivière, who had fled France, was condemned to death, to National degradation (loss civil rights as a French citizen); all his assets were also confiscated. Director, Jean Mamy (a.k.a Paul Riche), a journalist at the French nazi newspaper "Au pilori" and a fierce anti-semite was also condemned to death. He was shot by a firing squad at the Montrouge fortress on March 29th 1949.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)

Not since 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' have I felt cheated by the ending of a film.

[6/10 · 5 May 2001]

Everyone who has read Louis de Bernieres's fantastic book will agree that we have been deprived of a perfect ending to a perfect story, thus a great cinematic moment. Without the intended end I felt totally robbed.

Many will say that it is not advisable to see the movie adaptation of a book one has enjoyed so, because one feels inevitably disappointed and 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' unfortunately doesn't escape this widely accepted truth. To cram such a rich book in two hours is admittedly no easy task and many incidental, yet succulent passages are bound to disappear; yet all controversial aspects have been deliberately erased. All references to communism (Mandras joining the partisans is a significant theme in the book) or homosexuality (Carlo's love for Captain Corelli) have been omitted. This suggest the clear intend of the film makers: Making a commercially successful film at the expense of the story, and that is a real shame... but let's face it, isn't it what Hollywood has always done and continues to do even more: treating us like children who have to be shielded from potentially 'controversial' themes.

Of course if one hasn't read the book, 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' is first class entertainment.

The photography is glorious, the music superb (especially Pelagia's March) and the acting is quite impressive. No-one will deny that Nicolas Cage is a perfect Corelli, as well as John Hurt who makes a splendid Dr Iannis (even if he appears at time a bit too youthful at times). Penelope Cruz is simply radiant with beauty and strength. Given that most aspects surrounding Mandras are absent from the film, Christian Bale, sporting a very decent Greek accent, manages nonetheless to convey the great sense of loss his character suffers when Pelagia ceases to love him. In the book, Drosoula (played by Irene Papas) is supposed to be an ugly old hag which couldn't possibly qualify the amazingly youthful and energetic Papas who hasn't lost her magic touch. Only David Morrissey strikes a discordant note as Weber, the SS man. He sounds far too British and posh to be a convincing nazi.

Le dernier sou (1946)

Gem of a film

[3 May 2001]

"Le dernier sou" was completed in 1943 but not shown until 1946. Continental Films, who produced it, although French by name was in fact in all intends and purposes a German production firm. When Paris was liberated in 1944, all productions from Continental Films were confiscated, and "Le dernier sou", was shelved for several years. It was eventually released on January 23 1946 but was only ran for a week. It was not until 1982 that the Cinémathèque du Palais de Chaillot in Paris showed this gem of a film. Those lucky enough to have seen it discovered it was a very good film (scripted by Louis Chavance who also wrote 'Corbeau, Le (1943)') remarkably served by very talented actors.