Les Disparus de Saint-Agil is classic of French cinema, an atmospheric comedy thriller
with dark elements of fantasy and mysticism, which is regarded as one of director Christian-Jaque’s
best works... [More...]
This is an early example of the kind of thriller-mystery, or "polar", which would become
phenomenally popular in France during the 1950s. It is also one of the earliest
adaptations of a novel by the popular thriller writer... [More...]
Despite being a somewhat lacklustre melodrama (typifying the blandness of French cinema
immediately after the Liberation), Étoile sans lumière retains a
certain interest value with enthusiasts of cinema... [More...]
Les Portes de la nuit marked the beginning of
a dramatic decline in the fortunes of its director Marcel Carné. Prior to
and during World War II... [More...]
Through a series of dove-tailing love vignettes, Max Ophüls offers us an enchanting
film replete with some of the greatest acting talent French cinema has known... [More...]
Georges Lampin makes a reasonable job of directing a film that seems to have an identity
crisis almost from the first scene. The cocktail of film noir... [More...]
Arguably Jacques Becker’s best and most famous film, Casque d’Or illustrates perhaps
more than any of his films his unique conception of film-making.
Becquer’s main preoccupation is to capture through... [More...]
The scope of this film and its scale are breathtaking – but the end result is only partially
successful. Even in his formidable epic of the 1920s... [More...]
Victor Hugo’s powerful classic novel of revenge and redemption is brought to life in this
magnificent film adaptation, scripted by one of French cinema’s best writers... [More...]
Although the latter part of his career was blighted by some notable
misfires and unfair comparison with the work of his younger
contemporaries (New Wave directors such as François Truffaut)... [More...]
Le Doulos is a sophisticated policier which shows its roots in classic film noir
throughout. The American gangster movies of the 1930s and 1940s had a great appeal
to director Jean-Paul Melville and in this film he creates... [More...]
In this film, director Jean-Pierre Melville draws on his own war-time experiences to paint
a vivid and realistic picture of life in the French Resistance during the Second World
War... [More...]
