Valentine Tessier
1892 - 1981Justice est faite
André Cayatte
Michel Auclair, Antoine Balpêtré
Elsa Lundenstein is accused of having murdered her lover. The jury discusses the case vividly. All members are somehow prejudiced because of personal life experience and subsequently each member reads something different into the presented facts.
Justice Is Done
Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case
Jean Delannoy
Jean Gabin, Michel Auclair
Police Commissioner Jules Maigret returns to the small village where he spent his childhood at the request of the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, who has received a disturbing anonymous letter.
Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case
La charrette fantôme
Julien Duvivier
Pierre Fresnay, Micheline Francey
French version of the Selma Lagerlof story, most famously filmed in 1921 by Victor Sjostrom, about a poor sinner who only realizes what misery he's wrought when he dies on New Year's Eve and is collected by Death in his carriage.
The Phantom Wagon
La neige était sale
Luis Saslavsky
Daniel Gélin, Daniel Ivernel
La neige était sale is based on a novel and play by the phenomenally prolific Georges Simenon. Upon learning that his mother was a prostitute, Frank (Daniel Gelin) dejectedly vows that he, too, will live a life of debauchery. Part of his self-degradation program is to kill someone, and since the story takes place during the Nazi occupation of France, he chooses a German officer as his victim. His steady descent into psychosis and depravity becomes his ultimate undoing.
Stain on the Snow
Madame Bovary
Jean Renoir
Valentine Tessier, Pierre Renoir
Soon after the death of his first wife (whose dowry was inadequate), Charles Bovary, a country doctor in Normandy, marries Emma Rouault. In her new home, Emma finds conflict with her mother-in-law, a husband uninterested in the social whirl, and general discontentment; thereby proving an easy conquest for philanderer Rodolphe. Other lovers follow. Does tragedy await?
Madame Bovary
Club de femmes
Jacques Deval
Danielle Darrieux, Betty Stockfeld
A hotel for women-only and catering to working girls is the setting for not being able to get a USA PCA seal-of-approval for this French-film, but New York City's 55th Playhouse played it anyway. Along the way the audience meets the girl who sneaked her lover into her no-men-allowed room and her patch soon turns blue; a young lady with a passionate intensity who chooses another young lady as the object of her affections; the blindly-misguided director of the hotel, another lady of real easy virtue who is not the one who smuggled her lover into her room; and a girl who is only there as a procurer for a slavery ring.
Girls' Club
Nez de cuir
Yves Allégret
Jean Marais, Françoise Christophe
After being hurt in the face, Count de Roger Tinchebraye is forced to hide his disfigured face behind a leather mask. Dispirited for a while, he decides to become a Casanova-like seductor. When he meets true love, cynical Roger does not believe in it and lets pure Judith marry an old marquis. But once Judith's husband dies, he sees Judith again, shows her his disfigured face, which does not discourage the young woman from loving him. Nevertheless, he distances himself from her forever
Leathernose
Le due verità
Antonio Leonviola
Anna Maria Ferrero, Michel Auclair
The young Loris is undergoing a trial for killing his girlfriend Maria Luce. According to the reconstruction of the facts, the young man would shoot his mistress making it then end up under the wheels of a tram. On the remains of the woman's body, however, there is no trace of a gunshot wound and, during the trial, the accused, who appears hypnotized, refuses to answer. The arrival of the ex-lawyer Cidoni, who takes the place of the defense, overturns the thesis of the prosecution and instead demonstrates that the victim was not a naive girl as had been believed up to then.
The Two Truths
Lucrèce Borgia
Christian-Jaque
Martine Carol, Pedro Armendáriz
In the early 16th century, Italy is ruled by the powerful Borgia family, led by César Borgia and his sister Lucrèce. In a ruthless power play, César plots to have his sister’s husband murdered. But without her brother’s knowledge, Lucrèce has taken a strong lover who will challenge the Borgias.
Lucrèce Borgia
Désarroi
Robert-Paul Dagan
Suzy Carrier, Jules Berry
Martine discovers, on the eve of her wedding, that her mother, whom she believed to be dead, leads an adventurous life. Pierre, her fiancé, unable to overcome his family's opposition to the revelation of this news, decides to kidnap Martine. The adventurer, who is not recognized by her daughter, agrees to leave France. The family of the young man will no longer put obstacles in the way of marriage.
Distress
