Cinema - French films - 1950s

French cinema: 1950s (Page 10 of 15)

Ni vu, ni connu (1958)

Yves Robert

Montgaillard prides itself on being the most peaceful town in France. The only worry for the town’s authorities is Blaireau, a poacher who busily supplies the townsfolk with game and fish outside the hunting season. Blaireau delights in tormenting his archenemy Parju, a humourless country policeman... [More...]

Notre Dame de Paris (1956)

Jean Delannoy

Paris, 1492. In and around the Catherdral of Notre Dame, the poor folk celebrate the Festival of Fools. One star attraction is Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy girl who enchants all with her dancing and singing. One of her unseen admirers is Frollo, a respected judge and part-time alchemist. He lives within the walls of the Cathedral with Quasimodo, an object of fear and ridicule because of his misshapen body and hideously disfigured face... [More...]

Nous irons à Paris (1950)

Jean Boyer

Jacques, Paul and Julien have one ambition: to host a new radio show. Unable to break into national radio, they decide to create their own radio station. The good-natured farmer Mother Terrine puts her loft at their disposal and, in complete secrecy, the three friends launch Radio X. In no time at all, this new radio station attracts a large audience, thanks to its mix of popular music and light-hearted banter... [More...]

Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)

André Cayatte

During World War II, a series of chance incidents lead an ill-educated young man, René Le Guen, to be recruited by the French Resistance. When he is instructed to execute a traitor in the organisation, Le Guen finds himself transformed into a callous murderer. After the war, he kills again – but this time justice is not on his side... [More...]

La Nuit est mon royaume (1951)

Georges Lacombe

In a brave attempt to save a colleague, railway mechanic Raymond Pinsard is badly injured in an locomotive accident. He is rendered blind, but his doctor assures him that an operation can restore his sight. At first, Raymond has difficulty coming to terms with his disability, and he becomes withdrawn and depressed... [More...]

Nuit et brouillard (1955)

Alain Resnais

The Holocaust – two words forever etched on the consciousness of mankind. They resound in our minds like an implacable condemnation from a Celestial power, for a crime which rips the heart and soul out of man’s moral purpose. Not just killing, but meticulously planned and executed slaughter on an industrial scale... [More...]

Olivia (1951)

Jacqueline Audry

Victoire, the cook at a young women’s institution, is charged with meeting Olivia, a young English student, at the station. No sooner has Olivia arrived than she is indoctrinated into the secrets of the establishment by her fellow inmates. The management of the school is shared by Mademoiselle Julie and Mademoiselle Cara, two very different personalities... [More...]

Les Orgueilleux (1953)

Yves Allégret

A young woman, Nelly, arrives in a remote Mexican town with her sick husband. Diagnosed with having meningitis, her husband dies a short while later and Nelly is left alone, having lost her money and her travel tickets. She is drawn to a scruffy drunk named Georges who, she discovers, is an French expatriate who never recovered from the tragic death of his wife... [More...]

Papa, maman, la bonne et moi... (1954)

Jean-Paul Le Chanois

Robert Langlois, a trainee lawyer, still lives with his parents in their modest Montmartre apartment. Robert loses his job when his employer catches him flirting with a female colleague. He then meets Catherine, a young woman who is preoccupied with bringing up her dead sister’s little daughter... [More...]

Paris, Palace Hôtel (1956)

Henri Verneuil

Françoise Noblet is a young manicurist who works at a high class hotel in Paris. One Christmas Eve, she meets Monsieur Delormel, a wealthy businessman who offers her an evening she will never forget. But Françoise is more interested in a handsome young man named Gérard who, unbeknown to her, has been charged with delivering a Cadillac to Delormel... [More...]

Le Passe-muraille (1951)

Jean Boyer

When he is locked out of his home by his sister and her husband, a humble civil servant Léon Dutilleul discovers he has a peculiar talent: he can walk through walls. He explains to his artist friend Jean-Paul that his new skill will not alter his lifestyle and he will only use it to do good. Then he meets Susan, an English young woman who makes a living as a cat-burglar... [More...]

Le Pays, d’où je viens (1956)

Marcel Carné

One Christmas Eve, a carefree young man, Eric, arrives in a small provincial town. Here, he meets Julien, a bar pianist who is his exact double. Julien is in love with Marinette, a pretty waitress, but he is too shy to make any romantic overtures. Eric decides to give the course of true love a helping hand by pretending to be Julien... [More...]

Pêcheur d’Islande (1959)

Pierre Schoendoerffer

The trawler Pecheur d’islande runs into difficulty in a heavy storm off the coast of Brittany. With the captain badly injured, the second in command Yan Gaos attempts to navigate the vessel through the turbulent waters. When he tries to call his boss Mevel, Yan is told that he has gone off to Paris to collect his daughter, Gaud... [More...]

Le Petit monde de Don Camillo (1952)

Julien Duvivier

The peace and tranquillity of a rural Italian village is disrupted by the on-going hostility between a Catholic parish priest, Don Camillo, and the newly elected Communist Mayor, Peppone. Their very public wrangles reflect the schism between the two halves of the community, half supporting the communist party, the others standing for traditional right-wing values, personified by the retired school mistress Madame Cristina and Don Camillo himself... [More...]

Le Petit prof (1959)

Carlo Rim

Since his birth in 1925, Jérôme has striven to bring peace and happiness to all around him. During the war, his sunny outlook brightens many a dark day, and his time in military service and as a schoolteacher are equally trouble free. A pity then that not everyone around him shares his outlook… ... [More...]

Pickpocket (1959)

Robert Bresson

As he stands in the crowds at a horse race, a solitary young man named Michel yields to an uncontrollable impulse to steal from a woman’s handbag. He is arrested, but then released through lack of evidence. Afterwards, Michel reflects on the morality of crime and arrives at the conclusion that he belongs to a privileged class in society which is not bound by the usual laws... [More...]

Pigalle-Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1950)

André Berthomieu

With work hard to come by, musician Jacques Hélian and his orchestra end up working in an unpopular night club in the Pigalle district of Paris. The club’s owner, Monsieur Jo, is mixed up with a band of gangsters and has to resort to robbing a bank to keep his business solvent. Seeing that Jo now has money, Hélian demands payment for his musicians... [More...]

Le Plaisir (1952)

Max Ophüls

The writer Guy de Maupassant recounts three of his short stories to show that pleasure should not be confused with happiness. In Le plaisir et la jeunesse (Le Masque), an old man goes dancing at the Palais de la danse, wearing a mask to conceal his aged features. One evening, he collapses through his wild exertions on the dance floor and is taken home to his long suffering wife by a kindly young doctor... [More...]

La Poison (1951)

Sacha Guitry

The home life of Paul Braconnier and his wife Blandine can hardly be described as one of marital bliss. They hate each other – to the point of wanting to murder one another. When Braconnier hears about Maître Aubanel, a defence lawyer who has won over a 100 cases, he decides to visit him... [More...]

Poisson d’avril (1954)

Gilles Grangier

A garage mechanic, Emile Dupuis, buys some fishing tackle with some money that his wife has given him to buy a washing machine. Discovering his wife’s feelings on the subject, Emile decides to pursue his new hobby in secret. One weekend, pretending to go to work, Emile goes fishing with his son... [More...]

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