French cinema: 1950s
Des gens sans importance (1955)
Henri Verneuil
Jean Viard is a long-distance lorry driver who makes a habit of stopping off at a roadside inn run by his friend Barchandeau during his frequent excursions between Paris and Bordeaux...
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Henri Verneuil
Deux hommes dans Manhattan (1959)
Jean-Pierre Melville
When Fèvre-Berthier, an important French diplomat, goes missing in New York, a French journalist, Moreau, is sent to investigate what became of him...
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Jean-Pierre Melville
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Michel Delasalle and his wife Christina run a private boarding school in Saint-Cloud, on the outskirts of Paris. Delasalle is a tyrant not only to the youngsters under his care but also to his wife and his mistress Nicole, who works at the school as a teacher...
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Henri-Georges Clouzot
Le Dindon (1951)
Claude Barma
Paris, in the 1890s. Monsieur Pontagnac, an inveterate womaniser, is making overtures to Lucienne when her husband Vatelin appears unexpectedly...
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Claude Barma
Le Dos au mur (1958)
Edouard Molinaro
Jacques Decrey has an unpleasant errand to perform one dark evening. Under cover of darkness, he carries the body of a dead man out of his house and dumps it in his car...
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Edouard Molinaro
Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)
Jules Dassin
Not long after his release from prison, ageing crook Tony Le Stéphanois meets up with his former criminal associates, Jo and Mario... [More...]
Jules Dassin
Not long after his release from prison, ageing crook Tony Le Stéphanois meets up with his former criminal associates, Jo and Mario... [More...]
Édouard et Caroline (1951)
Jacques Becker
Édouard and Caroline are a young couple who believe they have found lasting happiness, even though they come from very different milieus... [More...]
Jacques Becker
Édouard and Caroline are a young couple who believe they have found lasting happiness, even though they come from very different milieus... [More...]
Elle et moi (1952)
Guy Lefranc
Jean Montaigu is a confirmed bachelor who loves the company of women but lives in mortal fear of getting snared in the matrimonial net... [More...]
Guy Lefranc
Jean Montaigu is a confirmed bachelor who loves the company of women but lives in mortal fear of getting snared in the matrimonial net... [More...]
En cas de malheur (1958)
Claude Autant-Lara
Yvette Maudet is a 23-year-old prostitute who leads a reckless and carefree life in Paris. One day, she and her friend Noémie attempt to hold up a jeweller, but the scheme backfires when an old woman enters the shop and Yvette knocks her unconscious in a moment of panic... [More...]
Claude Autant-Lara
Yvette Maudet is a 23-year-old prostitute who leads a reckless and carefree life in Paris. One day, she and her friend Noémie attempt to hold up a jeweller, but the scheme backfires when an old woman enters the shop and Yvette knocks her unconscious in a moment of panic... [More...]
Les Enfants terribles (1950)
Jean-Pierre Melville
Paul and Elisabeth are a teenage brother and sister who live with their dying mother in a cramped apartment. When Paul is injured in a snowball fight, the overly protective Elisabeth takes care of him, although she also taunts him... [More...]
Jean-Pierre Melville
Paul and Elisabeth are a teenage brother and sister who live with their dying mother in a cramped apartment. When Paul is injured in a snowball fight, the overly protective Elisabeth takes care of him, although she also taunts him... [More...]
L'Ennemi public no 1 (1953)
Henri Verneuil
Having lost his job in a New York department store on account of his advanced myopia, Joe Calvet decides to cheer himself up with a visit to the cinema... [More...]
Henri Verneuil
Having lost his job in a New York department store on account of his advanced myopia, Joe Calvet decides to cheer himself up with a visit to the cinema... [More...]
L'Envers du paradis (1953)
Edmond T. Gréville
Badly in need of a few weeks of rest in tranquil surroundings, a Parisian named Gabriel Dautrand arrives in a small rural town in the south of France... [More...]
Edmond T. Gréville
Badly in need of a few weeks of rest in tranquil surroundings, a Parisian named Gabriel Dautrand arrives in a small rural town in the south of France... [More...]
Les Évadés (1955)
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
In 1943, during the Second World War, two French prisoners-of-war, François and Michel, succeed in escaping from Stalag B377 in the north of Germany... [More...]
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
In 1943, during the Second World War, two French prisoners-of-war, François and Michel, succeed in escaping from Stalag B377 in the north of Germany... [More...]
Les Fanatiques (1957)
Alex Joffé
When he learns that a revolution has broken out in his own country whilst he is away in France, South American dictator Ribera decides to return home in a private plane, accompanied by his wife and some security guards... [More...]
Alex Joffé
When he learns that a revolution has broken out in his own country whilst he is away in France, South American dictator Ribera decides to return home in a private plane, accompanied by his wife and some security guards... [More...]
Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)
Christian-Jaque
In the mid-1700s, Fanfan la Tulipe is an inveterate skirt-chaser whose days of youthful debauchery appear to be at end when he is forced into marrying his latest amorous conquest, a farmer's daughter... [More...]
Christian-Jaque
In the mid-1700s, Fanfan la Tulipe is an inveterate skirt-chaser whose days of youthful debauchery appear to be at end when he is forced into marrying his latest amorous conquest, a farmer's daughter... [More...]
Le Fauve est lâché (1959)
Maurice Labro
Once a gangster and secret services operative, Paul Lamiani now leads a respectable life as a restaurateur and family man... [More...]
Maurice Labro
Once a gangster and secret services operative, Paul Lamiani now leads a respectable life as a restaurateur and family man... [More...]
La Fête à Henriette (1952)
Julien Duvivier
When the censor rejects their latest script two screenwriters set about developing the scenario for a new film. They soon decide on their main characters - a young Parisian dressmaker named Henriette and her fiancé, a photo-journalist named Robert... [More...]
Julien Duvivier
When the censor rejects their latest script two screenwriters set about developing the scenario for a new film. They soon decide on their main characters - a young Parisian dressmaker named Henriette and her fiancé, a photo-journalist named Robert... [More...]
French Cancan (1954)
Jean Renoir
Nini, a pretty laundry worker, is recruited by Monsieur Danglard, along with a number of other attractive young women, to join his theatre company... [More...]
Jean Renoir
Nini, a pretty laundry worker, is recruited by Monsieur Danglard, along with a number of other attractive young women, to join his theatre company... [More...]
Le Garçon sauvage (1951)
Jean Delannoy
Marie earns a comfortable living working as a prostitute in the French port of Marseilles. Now that she has some stability in her life, she decides to take charge of her twelve-year old son Simon, whom she has placed in the care of kindly shepherd... [More...]
Jean Delannoy
Marie earns a comfortable living working as a prostitute in the French port of Marseilles. Now that she has some stability in her life, she decides to take charge of her twelve-year old son Simon, whom she has placed in the care of kindly shepherd... [More...]
Gervaise (1956)
René Clément
In the 1850s, at the start of France's Second Empire, life is a constant struggle for most of the ordinary people of Paris... [More...]
René Clément
In the 1850s, at the start of France's Second Empire, life is a constant struggle for most of the ordinary people of Paris... [More...]
Gibier de potence (1951)
Roger Richebé
On leaving the orphanage in which he grew up, Marceau Le Guern has difficulty finding gainful employment. Not long after he is dismissed as a butcher's assistant he encounters the mysterious Madame Alice, an older woman who, seeing he is in difficulty, offers him easy work for good pay... [More...]
Roger Richebé
On leaving the orphanage in which he grew up, Marceau Le Guern has difficulty finding gainful employment. Not long after he is dismissed as a butcher's assistant he encounters the mysterious Madame Alice, an older woman who, seeing he is in difficulty, offers him easy work for good pay... [More...]
Les Grandes manoeuvres (1955)
René Clair
Armand de la Verne is a soldier in the French cavalry in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and he sees himself as something of a Don Juan, a man whom no woman can refuse... [More...]
René Clair
Armand de la Verne is a soldier in the French cavalry in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and he sees himself as something of a Don Juan, a man whom no woman can refuse... [More...]
Le Guérisseur (1954)
Yves Ciampi
Stricken with a sudden heart attack, Madame Mériadec, a woman in her fifties, is as good as dead until Pierre Laurent shows up at her bedside and applies his unique method of treatment... [More...]
Yves Ciampi
Stricken with a sudden heart attack, Madame Mériadec, a woman in her fifties, is as good as dead until Pierre Laurent shows up at her bedside and applies his unique method of treatment... [More...]
Guernica (1950)
Alain Resnais
The work of the artist Pablo Picasso and a poem by Paul Eluard are woven into this personal reflection on one of the most heinous of war crimes, the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica at the time of the Spanish Civil War... [More...]
Alain Resnais
The work of the artist Pablo Picasso and a poem by Paul Eluard are woven into this personal reflection on one of the most heinous of war crimes, the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica at the time of the Spanish Civil War... [More...]
Les Héros sont fatigués (1955)
Yves Ciampi
Michel Rivière, a French pilot who served with distinction during the Second World War, discovers a fortune in diamonds when his aircraft crash-lands in Africa... [More...]
Yves Ciampi
Michel Rivière, a French pilot who served with distinction during the Second World War, discovers a fortune in diamonds when his aircraft crash-lands in Africa... [More...]
Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
Alain Resnais
In the summer of 1957, an aspiring French actress travels to Hiroshima in Japan to work on an anti-war film. The city was totally destroyed when the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on it at the end of the Second World War, but now it has been rebuilt and shows little sign of the past devastation... [More...]
Alain Resnais
In the summer of 1957, an aspiring French actress travels to Hiroshima in Japan to work on an anti-war film. The city was totally destroyed when the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb on it at the end of the Second World War, but now it has been rebuilt and shows little sign of the past devastation... [More...]
L'Homme aux clefs d'or (1956)
Léo Joannon
Antoine Fournier is a teacher in a college, a kind man who spends his free timing raising funds for a good cause. One day, Rémy Bellanger, one of his students, is caught by Fournier whilst stealing money in his office... [More...]
Léo Joannon
Antoine Fournier is a teacher in a college, a kind man who spends his free timing raising funds for a good cause. One day, Rémy Bellanger, one of his students, is caught by Fournier whilst stealing money in his office... [More...]
Huis clos (1954)
Jacqueline Audry
On leaving an elevator, a diverse group of people find themselves in the lobby of what looks like a plush hotel. The receptionist deals with the new arrivals with a cold professionalism and, one by one, they are directed to their rooms... [More...]
Jacqueline Audry
On leaving an elevator, a diverse group of people find themselves in the lobby of what looks like a plush hotel. The receptionist deals with the new arrivals with a cold professionalism and, one by one, they are directed to their rooms... [More...]
Identité judiciaire (1951)
Hervé Bromberger
When 17-year-old Denise runs away from home, the police make haste to find her. They arrive too late. She drowns herself in a canal, the third casualty of a dangerous psychopath who drugs his victims and either abandons them or murders them... [More...]
Hervé Bromberger
When 17-year-old Denise runs away from home, the police make haste to find her. They arrive too late. She drowns herself in a canal, the third casualty of a dangerous psychopath who drugs his victims and either abandons them or murders them... [More...]
Interdit de séjour (1955)
Maurice de Canonge
Pierre Ménard is a young man who makes an honest living working in a Paris jewellery. Unfortunately, he gets into bad company when he falls for Suzie, an attractive young woman who, unbeknown to him, works as a hostess in a sleazy Pigalle nightclub... [More...]
Maurice de Canonge
Pierre Ménard is a young man who makes an honest living working in a Paris jewellery. Unfortunately, he gets into bad company when he falls for Suzie, an attractive young woman who, unbeknown to him, works as a hostess in a sleazy Pigalle nightclub... [More...]