Cesar 1936  N/R, 117 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Marcel Pagnol
Cast: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Charpin, Orane Demazis, Andre Fouche, Alida Rouffe, Milly Mathis, Robert Vattier, Paul Dullac, Marcel Maupi, Edouard Delmont, Thommeray
This is the final entry in Marcel Pagnol's trilogy. (It was preceded by "Marius" (1931) and "Fanny" (1932).) Twenty years have passed since Fanny (Orane Demazis) and Honore Panisse (Fernand Charpin) were married. Now, as Panisse lies on his deathbed, he and his friend Cesar (Raimu) reminisce, and Panisse reflects on the fact that he has never told Fanny's son, Cesariot (Andre Fouche), that Marius (Fernand Charpin), not Panisse, is his biological father. After Panisse dies, Fanny tells Cesariot the truth, and, with that knowledge, Cesariot sets out on a search for Marius.
|  | |
Devil's Daughter 1946  N/R, 98 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Maurice Saurel
Cast: Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Ledoux, Andree Clement, Therese Dorny, Albert Remy, Serge Andrehuy, Albert Glado, Francois Patrice, Felix Claude, Paul Frankeur
Bank robber Saget (Pierre Fresnay) assumes the identity of a dead millionaire and arrives in the dead man's boyhood home to make a killing. But the local doctor knows the truth, and the town's vamp, Isabelle (Andree Clement), complicates matters when she falls for Saget.
| | |
Fanny 1932 N/R, 130 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy / Drama
Director: Marc Allegret
Cast: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis, Fernand Charpin, Auguste Mouries, Robert Vattier, Marcel Maupi, Alida Rouffe, Milly Mathis, Edouard Delmont, Odette Roger, Louis Boulle
In this second part of Marcel Pagnol's trilogy–"Marius" (1931) preceded it, and "Cesar" (1936) would follow)–Fanny (Orane Demazis) is pregnant by Marius (Pierre Fresnay) who has left for sea duty. So, she marries the elderly Honore Panisse (Fernand Charpin) to give the baby a home and keep his identity secret from Marius.
| | |
The Grand Illusion 1937  N/R, 111 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jean Renoir
Cast: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Dita Parlo, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Jean Daste, Jacques Becker, Georges Peclet, Werner Florian, Sylvain Itkine, Albert Brouett, Claude Sainval, Michel Salina
Written while Hitler was beginning to make his move in Europe, this film examines the mindset of men involved in World War I and shows how the aristocratic backgrounds of French prisoner de Boldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the German commandant of the prison camp, von Rauffenstein (Eric von Stroheim), contribute to them forming a bond that will have deadly consequences when they allow two French soldiers (Jean Gabin and Marcel Dalio) to escape. The negatives of the film survived, and the restored movie was released in 1999, complete with a new translation.
| | |
Le Corbeau 1943 N/R, 91 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Raven
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Cast: Pierre Fresnay, Pierre Larquey, Ginette Leclerc, Helena Manson, Noel Roquevert, Antoine Balpetre, Micheline Francey, Jeanne Fusier-Gir, Sylvie, Liliane Maigne, Jean Brochard, Bernard Lancret
This film was controversial because it was paid for by the Nazis during World War II. It was remade in the United States under the title, "The 13th Letter." The plot involves inhabitants of a small French town who become upset when poison-pen letters begin to arrive revealing their hidden pasts.
| | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much 1934 N/R, 75 min.
Genre: Mystery
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Nova Pilbeam, Frank Vosper, Pierre Fresnay, Cicely Oates, D.A. Clarke-Smith, George Curzon, Henry Oscar
When Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) learn about an assassination plot, the would-be perpetrators kidnap their teenage daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam) to prevent disclosure of their plans. Good Alfred Hitchcock fare, and he remade the story 22 years later.
| | |
Marius 1931 N/R, 125 min.
Genre: Action / Drama / Thriller
Director: Alexander Korda
Cast: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis, Fernand Charpin, Alida Rouffe, Paul Dullac, Alexandre Mihalesco, Robert Vattier, Edouard Delmont, Milly Mathis, Marcel Maupi, Lucien Callamand
In this the first of Marcel Pagnol's trilogy–"Fanny" (1932) and "Cesar" (1936) would follow–the story begins in Marseilles in the late 1920s. Marius (Pierre Fresnay) and Fanny (Orane Demazis) are in love, but Marius delays marriage because he longs to go to sea. Fanny, at long last, understands his desire and grants him his wish.
| | |
Monsieur Vincent 1947 N/R, 111 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Maurice Cloche
Cast: Pierre Fresnay, Aime Clariond, Jean Debucourt, Lise Delamare, Germaine Dermoz, Gabrielle Dorziat, Yvonne Gaudeau, Jean Carmet, Pierre Dux, Michel Bouquet, Gabrielle Fontan, Robert Murzeau, Marcel Peres, Marcel Vallee, Francette Vernillat
During Europe's epidemic of the bubonic plague–the Black Death–Vincent de Paul (Pierre Fresnay) struggles to help the French peasants and their nobility deal with the tragedy in their midst. He is canonized for his efforts. This biography received an Honorary Oscar for Outstanding Foreign Language Film.
| | |
| 1. Cesar (1936)
2. Devil's Daughter (1946)
3. Fanny (1932)
4. The Grand Illusion (1937)
5. Le Corbeau (1943)
aka: The Raven
6. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
7. Marius (1931)
8. Monsieur Vincent (1947)
In The News
|
