Cinema - French films - 1930s

French cinema: 1930s (Page 4 of 8)

Ernest le rebelle (1938)

Christian-Jaque

On a cruise ship bound for South America, Ernest Pic unwittingly attracts the attention of the wealthy Suzanne Gringue, although his gestures are the result of seasickness not amorous intent. Inevitably, this ends in a fierce altercation with the lady’s husband. During a stopover, Ernest is distracted by a beautiful native and the boat leaves without him... [More...]

L’Étrange Monsieur Victor (1937)

Jean Grémillon

Outwardly, Monsieur Victor is the model citizen – a respectable Toulon shopkeeper, with a loving wife, courteous and charming to all. However, behind this veneer of respectability hides a notorious receiver of stolen goods, who trades with hardened crooks. Victor manages to keep up his double life with no problems, until the day when one of his crooks threatens to blackmail him... [More...]

Fanny (1932)

Marc Allégret

Fanny has allowed her lover Marius to follow his desire to travel. But a short while after Marius has set out for a five year trip on a ship bound for the Indian Ocean, Fanny discovers that she is pregnant. Although she is still in love with Marius, she has no other option but to accept the offer of marriage from the widowed sail-maker Honoré Panisse..... [More...]

Le Fauteuil 47 (1937)

Fernand Rivers

Gilberte Boulanger is a distinguished stage actress. Paul Séverac is her most fervent admirer. Each night, Paul attends Gilberte’s performance, taking seat number 47 in the theatre. When she learns that she is facing financial ruin, Gilberte insists that the loyal occupant of seat 47 be brought to her dressing room so that she can work her charms on him... [More...]

La Femme du boulanger (1938)

Marcel Pagnol

A middle-aged man Aimable and his young wife Aurélie decide to settle in a Provençal village, running the local baker’s shop. A short while later Aurélie runs of with a young shepherd, leaving her husband broken hearted. Aimable refuses to make any more bread and the villagers are forced to separate Aurélie from her new lover and return her to her husband..... [More...]

Ferdinand le noceur (1935)

René Sti

The virtous Ferdinand works in a pharmaceuticals laboratory, devoted to his quest for a pill that will give courage and resolve to timid men like him. His boss, Fourageot, is, by contrast, a hedonist who thinks only of amusing himself. So that he can spends his days pursuing attractive women, Fourageot sends his daughter Pauline off to a boarding school run by the fastidious Colonel Paturin and his wife... [More...]

La Fin du jour (1939)

Julien Duvivier

A one-time popular actor Raphael Saint-Clair takes up residence in a home for retired actors, where he meets up with a former rival, Marny. The inmates revive past glories and failures, even old jealousies. Another resident, the has-been Cabrissade, demands rights for his fellow inmates, but is humiliated when the director informs him that the owners of the home have run out of money... [More...]

Forfaiture (1937)

Marcel L’Herbier

Whilst her husband, the engineer Pierre Moret, is engaged on construction projects, Denise occupies herself with charity work in the Chinese town that has become her home. Tempted into a gambling den, she soon loses a fortune. She has no recourse but to accept a gift of money from the wealthy Prince Hu-Long, who has fallen in love with her... [More...]

François Premier (1937)

Christian-Jaque

Honorin is the timid stage manager of the Théâtre Cascaroni, which is currently rehearsing a production of “François 1er ou les amours de la Belle Ferronnière ”. Honorin’s dream of playing the title role comes true when the current lead actor falls ill. However, Honorin is afflicted with a terrible stage fright, and so he turns to a friend, the fortune teller and mystic Cagliostro... [More...]

Fric-Frac (1939)

Claude Autant-Lara

A jeweller’s assistant, Marcel, meets and instantly falls in love with the beautiful Loulou, even though he is engaged to be married to his employer’s daughter, Renée. Loulou and her boyfriend, Jo, are in truth petty crooks. They play on Marcel’s gullibility, making him an unwitting accomplice in a jewel robbery..... [More...]

Les Gaietés de l’escadron (1932)

Maurice Tourneur

Despite the best efforts of its commander, Captain Hurluret, the barracks of the 51st Rifles has yet to be acquainted with the notion of military discipline. One hapless soldier, Vanderague, tries in vain to reconcile the contradictory orders of his superiors. Fricot and Laplotte, two of life’s natural rebels, are endlessly on work detail, although they create more mess than they tidy up... [More...]

La Garnison amoureuse (1934)

Max de Vaucorbeil

In a small provincial town in the 1920s. there is a garrison of dragoons who are better known for their womanising than for their fighting. Whilst the lower ranks flirt happily with housewives and maids in the busy amusement parks, the officers take their pleasures in more salubrious surroundings. Appalled by this laxity, the new colonel decides to put his foot down and confines everyone to barracks... [More...]

Les Gens du voyage (1938)

Jacques Feyder

Flora, a tough, strong-willed lion-tamer, is the star attraction at the Barlay travelling Circus. However, even she is ill-prepared when her former lover, Fernand, returns to her after twenty years. Fernand, a crook who has just escaped from prison, tells Flora that unless she helps him he will tell the world he is the father of her son, Marcel, who also works at the circus as an acrobat... [More...]

Le Grand jeu (1934)

Jacques Feyder

Pierre Martel is a young Parisian financier whose taste for the high life leads him to embezzle his clients’ money. When his fraud is exposed, his wealthy uncle steps in to bail him out, on condition that he leaves France immediately. Pierre hopes to start a new life abroad with his girlfriend Florence, with whom he is madly in love, but she callously rejects him... [More...]

La Grande illusion (1937)

Jean Renoir

1916. During World War I, two French aviators, Lieutenant Maréchal and Capitaine de Boeldieu, are shot down by German artillery whilst on a reconnaissance mission. They are taken to a prisoner of war camp where they strike up a friendship with Lieutenant Rosenthal, a wealthy Jew who shares lavish food parcels sent by his family with his fellow prisoners... [More...]

Gribouille (1937)

Marc Allégret

One day, Camille Morestan, owner of a bicycle shop, finds himself juryman in the trial of a young woman, Nathalie, who is accused of murdering her lover. Moved by Nathalie’s story, Camille manages to convince his fellow jurymen of her innocence and she is acquitted. With nowhere to go, Nathalie accepts Camille’s kind offer of a room in his house and a job in his shop... [More...]

Gueule d’amour (1937)

Jean Grémillon

France, 1936. Military man Lucien Bourrache is not only a credit to the Spahi regiment but also the idol of every woman he meets. Nicknamed Gueule d’amour, he is worshiped by all the womenfolk of the town of Orange where he is currently stationed, not that he lets this interfere with his duties... [More...]

Hercule (1937)

Alexander Esway

Injured during a grape harvest and believing he is not long for this world, a Provençal peasant makes a confession to his son Hercule. His real father is none other than Maffre, the owner of a national newspaper who sacrificed his family life for a fruitful journalistic career in Paris. Believing that he might be able to persuade Maffre to support the cause of local fishermen, Hercule sets out for Paris, only to discover that the newspaper magnate has died, leaving him his heir and successor... [More...]

L’Hôtel du libre échange (1934)

Marc Allégret

A sound expert is called to a hotel to identify the cause of some unexplained noises. Little does he know that his wife is about to be unfaithful to him, with his best friend. Meanwhile, the expert’s nephew, Maxime, has chosen the same hotel to have a clandestine meeting with a maid... ... [More...]

Hôtel du Nord (1938)

Marcel Carné

One evening, two young lovers, Renée and Pierre, check into the Hôtel du Nord in Paris, near to the Canal Saint-Martin. Unable to find work and haunted by their past, they have made up their minds to commit suicide together, hoping to be reunited in Paradise. But at the fatal moment, Pierre cannot bring himself to turn the gun on himself, so having wounded Renée, he flees in a panic... [More...]

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