Cinema - French films - 1920s

French cinema: 1920s (Page 2 of 2)

Le Joueur d’échecs (1927)

Raymond Bernard

The year is 1776. Under Catherine the Great, Russia has annexed Poland, Lithuania and Prussia. Polish nobleman Boleslas Vorowski is the leader of a secret resistance movement that intends to free Poland from the yoke of imperialist Russia. After a failed uprising, Vorowski becomes a wanted man and goes into hiding... [More...]

Maldone (1928)

Jean Grémillon

For twenty years, Olivier Maldone has lived the life of an itinerant labourer, content to earn his meagre wage by toiling on the land and the canals. One day, he sees a young gypsy girl, Zita, and is mesmerised by her beauty. They meet up again at a country ball and Maldone becomes jealous when he sees Zita dancing with another man... [More...]

Marquitta (1927)

Jean Renoir

The wealthy Prince Vlasco leaves his mistress for Marquitta, a poor street singer whom he tries to educate to his own level. Marquitta repays Vlasco’s kindness towards her by stealing a jewel. Betrayed, Vlasco drives her away. When they meet some time later, their situations are reversed. Marquitta has become a rich and famous singer, Vlasco a performer in a modest troupe... [More...]

Les Misérables (1925)

Henri Fescourt

Having served a prison sentence for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean’s attempt to start a new life is frustrated by his parole officer, Javert. Adopting an assumed name, Valjean becomes a successful business man and mayor of a town before allowing himself to be arrested. He escapes from prison and adopts Cosette, the young daughter of a brutal factory worker, Thénardier... [More...]

Monte Cristo (1929)

Henri Fescourt

On the day of his marriage to Mercèdes, the navigator Edmond Dantès is arrested, wrongly accused of being a Bonapartist conspirator. Ignorant of who has denounced him, Dantès is sent to the island castle of If, where he will be imprisoned for the rest of his life. Before he dies, a prisoner in an adjoining cell, Abbot Faria, tells Dantès where to find a huge fortune in jewels, hidden on the island of Monte Cristo... [More...]

Les Mystères du château de Dé (1929)

Man Ray

The wooden hands of a mannequin hold a pair of dice. "A throw of dice will never abolish chance"... At St Bernard, a modern villa stands amidst the runs of an ancient castle. Far away, in Paris, two men wearing stocking masks throw dice and decide to set out on their journey. They drive across open French countryside and arrive at the villa... [More...]

Nana (1926)

Jean Renoir

A proud but talentless young actress, Nana, dreams of a better life for herself, away from the tawdry slums of Paris. She gets her chance when a government official, Count Muffat, falls under her spell having watched her performance at the theatre. Through Muffat’s influence, Nana gets the starring role in her next play, but the play is a commercial disaster... [More...]

Napoléon (1927)

Abel Gance

In the dying days of the French Revolution, a Corsican general comes to great prominence. Over the following years, Napoléon Bonaparte would win France many great military victories, transforming a divided nation into a great empire... [More...]

Paris qui dort (1925)

René Clair

The young keeper of the Eiffel Tower awakes one morning and, from his vantage point at the top of the tower, finds that the whole of Paris is at a standstill. On descending the tower, he finds the streets are filled with stationary cars and motionless people. He meets up with a group of tourists who have just landed in a biplane at Paris airport... [More...]

La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928)

Carl Theodor Dreyer

In 1431, Joan of Arc is arrested and brought before a court of ecclesiastical judges on a charge of treason and heresy. The Church believes that Joan’s visions are manifestations of the Devil, but she maintains they are messages from God and his saints. Under intense questioning, the 19-year-old peasant girl refuses to recant... [More...]

Poil de carotte (1925)

Julien Duvivier

Ten-year-old François, nick-named Poil de Carotte (carrot-top) on account of his red hair, is blighted with the most miserable life imaginable. Constantly bullied by his tyrannical mother, ignored by his father, and teased by his older brother and sister, poor François imagines that he is the unhappiest person in the world... [More...]

La Roue (1923)

Abel Gance

A widowed railway worker, Sisif, discovers a young girl in the wreckage of a train crash. He decides to bring the girl, Norma, up as his own, along with his son Elie who, he hopes, will one day become a great maker of violins. Years later, when the two children have grown up, Norma reveals that she is going to marry an engineer named Hersan... [More...]

Tire au flanc (1928)

Jean Renoir

By an odd stroke of fate, the bourgeois Jean Dubois d’Ombelles and his valet Joseph Turlot end up having to serve their military service at the same time, in the same barracks. Neither man is particularly well-suited for army life and a series of disasters naturally ensues. Jean, who sees himself as a poet, is as inept at becoming a soldier as he has been in his attempts to court his cousin, Solange... [More...]

Le Tournoi dans la cité (1929)

Jean Renoir

France, 1562. Catherine de Medici rules as regent for her son, the 12 year-old Charles IX. Though nominally Catholic, Catherine seeks to maintain peace between the rival Catholic and Protestant factions. To that end, she outlaws duelling and invites the Protestant ’Queen’, the Comtesse de Baynes, to sit beside her at the forthcoming Tournament and her son, François, to attend at court... [More...]

Les Trois mousquetaires (1921)

Henri Diamant-Berger

1625, France. The young d’Artagnan leaves his home in Gascony and sets out for Paris to fulfil his dream to serve as a musketeer under King Louis XIII. He soon has the chance to prove his swordsmanship and courage to musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who gladly accept him as one of their number... [More...]

Un chapeau de paille d’Italie (1928)

René Clair

The year is 1895. Fadinard is on the way to his wedding when his horse picks up and eats a straw hat. The owner of the hat is a married woman who, at the time, is in the embrace of a French officer, Lieutenant Tavernier. The officer follows Fadinard to his new home and demands that he finds a substitute hat so that his mistress can return home to her husband without arousing suspicion... [More...]

Un chien andalou (1929)

Luis Buñuel

A man sharpens his cut-throat razor before using it to slice open a woman’s eye... Eight years later, the same mysterious woman is fondled by another man. When she resists his advances, a swarm of ants emerge from a hole in his hand... [More...]

Verdun, visions d’histoire (1928)

Léon Poirier

Early in 1916, a young French soldier returns home to break the news to his mother that he is soon to be sent to the front near Verdun, an area that has so far been untouched by the conflict. Shortly after his arrival, the German offensive begins. Under the orders of the German Crown Prince, Verdun must be taken in a relentless assault, bleeding the French army into submission... [More...]

Visages d’enfants (1925)

Jacques Feyder

In Saint-Luc, a remote village in the Swiss Alps, the president, Pierre Amsler, mourns the death of his wife. Whilst his 4-year old daughter Pierrette is seemingly unaffected, his 11-year old son Jean is traumatised by this tragic loss. A few months later, Pierre decides to re-marry, taking as his wife Jeanne, a poor widow with a young daughter, Arlette... [More...]

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