Jean d'Yd
1880 - 1964Le cavalier de Croix-Mort
Lucien Gasnier-Raymond
Henri Nassiet, Madeleine Robinson
Elisabeth D'Anthar cheats on her husband François with Simon De Chabre. François, who suspects something, surprises his rival and wounds him. Elisabeth 's sister, to save the situation, claims that Simon is actually in love with her and came to see her. They have to get engaged and Simon breaks up with his lover. But Elisabeth is not prepared to accept it, and she becomes the head of a gang of "drivers" in order to kidnap her husband. Famous Vidocq intervenes.
Le cavalier de Croix-Mort
Napoléon
Abel Gance
Albert Dieudonné, Vladimir Roudenko
A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign) to his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797. Originally intended to be the first of six films, director Abel Gance realized the full project would be nigh impossible, and never raised the money to complete the other five. The film's legendary reputation is due to the astonishing range of techniques that Gance uses to tell his story, culminating in the final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens.
Napoléon
La passion de Jeanne d'Arc
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Maria Falconetti, Eugène Silvain
A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Les Misérables
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Jean Gabin, Danièle Delorme
Victor Hugo's monumental novel Les Miserables has been filmed so often that sometimes it's hard to tell one version from another. One of the best and most faithful adaptations is this 240-minute French production, starring Jean Gabin as the beleaguered Jean Valjean. Arrested for a petty crime, Valjean spends years 20 in the brutal French penal system. Even upon his release, his trail is dogged by relentless Inspector Javert. Valjean's efforts to create a new life for himself despite the omnipresence of Javert is meticulously detailed in this film, which utilizes several episodes from the Hugo original that had hitherto never been dramatized. Originally released as a single film, Les Miserables was usually offered as a two-parter outside of France.
Les Misérables
Gossette
Germaine Dulac
Régine Bouet, Maurice Schutz
In Gossette (1923), Dulac experimented with and designed a number of special lenses and prisms to produce a variety of effects and multiply the expressive means which translate the characters' visions and mental states. She also reversed class and gender roles, as she made the female character Gossette come to the aid of Phillipe de Savières, falsely accused of murder, in order to save his name.
Gossette
Jéricho
Henri Calef
Raymond Pellegrin, Louis Seigner
June 1944, a French town towards the end of the occupation. Following several attacks perpetrated by the resistance, the inhabitants who listen to English radio are rounded up by the Germans in a prison and considered as hostages. In one of the cells are found men from all walks of life: an aristocrat, the Viscount of Saint-Leu, Doctor Noblet, a resistance fighter, Béquille the wanderer with a wooden leg, and a strange character nicknamed "Black Market". The latter arouses mistrust among the prisoners, because it could well have been introduced by the enemy.
Behind These Walls
Martin Roumagnac
Georges Lacombe
Marlene Dietrich, Jean Gabin
The local building-contractor Martin Roumagnac is fascinated by the fashionable Blanche Ferrand. To impress Blache, Martin presents her with a villa. However, this ruins him financially. Despite Martin's many efforts for the now femme-fatal Blanche, she is not able to chose between him and the rich consul De Laubry.
The Room Upstairs
Le pays sans étoiles
Georges Lacombe
Gérard Philipe, Jany Holt
Simon's life is troubled by images of a crime which happened in his family a hundred years ago. While traveling in south France, he finds the landscape familiar. That's when he meets Catherine and falls in love. But her lover comes back and his strong personality attracts her again.
Land Without Stars
Chiens perdus sans collier
Jean Delannoy
Jean Gabin, Anne Doat
Judge Julien Lamy regularly deals with the welfare of children, namely down on their luck delinquents. When an orphan named Alain Robert burns down a barn belonging to his abusive foster family, Judge Lamy has no choice but to send him to a juvenile jail. There he meets an older boy named Francis Lanoux, who is desperate to escape and be reunited with his girlfriend Sylvette. The boys eventually flee the institution, as Francis goes in search of his lost love and Alain continues looking for his parents. Unfortunately, the little rebels run into some big problems once on the outside.
The Little Rebels
La Vie de bohème
Marcel L'Herbier
Maria Denis, Louis Jourdan
Four young friends share the carefree, cheerfulness, laughter and dances of Bohemian life. Rodolphe the painter, Alexandre Chaunard the composer, Colline the philosopher, as well as Marcel and his friend Musette. Mimi, a romantic young girl, falls in love with Rodolphe.
The Bohemian Life
