French cinema: 1940s
À vos ordres, Madame (1942)
Jean Boyer
Odette and Hector Depuis, husband and wife for twenty-five years, are en route for their holiday when their car breaks down...
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Jean Boyer
Les Affaires sont les affaires (1942)
Jean Dréville
Through his single-minded pursuit of wealth, Isidore Lechat has become one of the richest men in France, a fact to which his vast country estate is testament...
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Jean Dréville
L'Aigle à deux têtes (1948)
Jean Cocteau
Natasha, the queen of an unhappy kingdom, lives as a recluse, ten years after the king, her beloved husband, was assassinated...
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Jean Cocteau
Les Amants de Vérone (1949)
André Cayatte
A film crew is shooting an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in Venice. Bettina Verdi, the leading actress, visits a glass factory in Murano with her guide Raffaele...
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André Cayatte
Les Amoureux sont seuls au monde (1948)
Henri Decoin
Gérard Favier is a famous composer who has been married to the charming Sylvia for almost 20 years. Still deeply in love, they walk the streets of Paris and, one day, they hear a sonata that Gérard once wrote, played on a piano in a house...
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Henri Decoin
L'Ange de la nuit (1944)
André Berthomieu
Paris, 1939. A group of impoverished students open a restaurant in the Latin Quarter, and give each other moral and material support, assisted by their kindly landlord Père Heurteloup... [More...]
André Berthomieu
Paris, 1939. A group of impoverished students open a restaurant in the Latin Quarter, and give each other moral and material support, assisted by their kindly landlord Père Heurteloup... [More...]
Les Anges du péché (1943)
Robert Bresson
Rather than follow the life of wealth and comfort that has been mapped out for her by her family circumstances, Anne-Marie Lamaury opts instead to take holy orders and devote herself to the service of God... [More...]
Robert Bresson
Rather than follow the life of wealth and comfort that has been mapped out for her by her family circumstances, Anne-Marie Lamaury opts instead to take holy orders and devote herself to the service of God... [More...]
Antoine et Antoinette (1947)
Jacques Becker
Antoine and Antoinette are an ordinary working class couple who live in Paris and struggle to get by in the austere aftermath of World War II... [More...]
Jacques Becker
Antoine and Antoinette are an ordinary working class couple who live in Paris and struggle to get by in the austere aftermath of World War II... [More...]
Après l'amour (1948)
Maurice Tourneur
At a reception in honour of her husband winning the Noble Prize for literature, Nicole Mézaule meets a former lover who has some news for her... [More...]
Maurice Tourneur
At a reception in honour of her husband winning the Noble Prize for literature, Nicole Mézaule meets a former lover who has some news for her... [More...]
L'Armoire volante (1948)
Carlo Rim
Alfred Pic, a hardworking tax inspector, finds himself in a pickle when his bossy aunt, Madame Lobligeois, goes missing in the most bizarre circumstances... [More...]
Carlo Rim
Alfred Pic, a hardworking tax inspector, finds himself in a pickle when his bossy aunt, Madame Lobligeois, goes missing in the most bizarre circumstances... [More...]
L'Assassin habite au 21 (1942)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
A serial killer is at large in Paris and with four victims already to his name the police hunt to find him and bring him to justice is intensifying... [More...]
Henri-Georges Clouzot
A serial killer is at large in Paris and with four victims already to his name the police hunt to find him and bring him to justice is intensifying... [More...]
L'Assassinat du Père Noël (1941)
Roger Chapatte
Deep in the Savoie, a small alpine village decked in snow is busy making preparations for Christmas. Busiest of all is the old toy-maker Cornusse, who occupies himself by making globes, a popular gift, whilst his attractive daughter Catherine is happily engaged in sewing dolls' dresses... [More...]
Roger Chapatte
Deep in the Savoie, a small alpine village decked in snow is busy making preparations for Christmas. Busiest of all is the old toy-maker Cornusse, who occupies himself by making globes, a popular gift, whilst his attractive daughter Catherine is happily engaged in sewing dolls' dresses... [More...]
Au bonheur des dames (1943)
André Cayatte
Paris, 1860. Baudu, an ageing shopkeeper, is none too pleased when a new department store named Au Bonheur des Dames opens on his doorstep and starts poaching his clientele... [More...]
André Cayatte
Paris, 1860. Baudu, an ageing shopkeeper, is none too pleased when a new department store named Au Bonheur des Dames opens on his doorstep and starts poaching his clientele... [More...]
Au p'tit zouave (1949)
Gilles Grangier
Au p'tit Zouave is a café run by Armand Billot and his wife in a working class district of Paris. The café is a popular haunt for ordinary people working in the area, although Billot's main preoccupation is his treasured goldfish, which he guards day and night from his wife's cat... [More...]
Gilles Grangier
Au p'tit Zouave is a café run by Armand Billot and his wife in a working class district of Paris. The café is a popular haunt for ordinary people working in the area, although Billot's main preoccupation is his treasured goldfish, which he guards day and night from his wife's cat... [More...]
Au royaume des cieux (1949)
Julien Duvivier
Flanked by policemen, Maria Lambert, a 17-year-old orphan, arrives at Haute-Mère, a secure educational establishment located in an austere region of France that is at risk of flooding... [More...]
Julien Duvivier
Flanked by policemen, Maria Lambert, a 17-year-old orphan, arrives at Haute-Mère, a secure educational establishment located in an austere region of France that is at risk of flooding... [More...]
Au-delà des grilles (1949)
René Clément
Pierre is on the run from the police, careful to evade capture after murdering the mistress who dared to be unfaithful to him... [More...]
René Clément
Pierre is on the run from the police, careful to evade capture after murdering the mistress who dared to be unfaithful to him... [More...]
L'Aventure commence demain (1948)
Richard Pottier
Clarence has everything she needs to be a successful adventuress - beauty, charm, cunning. Men are putty in her hands and yet Lady Luck never seems to be on her side - until the happy day when her path crosses that of Claude, a more enterprising con artist... [More...]
Richard Pottier
Clarence has everything she needs to be a successful adventuress - beauty, charm, cunning. Men are putty in her hands and yet Lady Luck never seems to be on her side - until the happy day when her path crosses that of Claude, a more enterprising con artist... [More...]
La Bataille de l'eau lourde (1948)
Jean Dréville
Not long after Norway comes under Nazi Occupation at the start of World War II, the Germans commandeer a hydroelectric power plant in the mountains outside Rjukan... [More...]
Jean Dréville
Not long after Norway comes under Nazi Occupation at the start of World War II, the Germans commandeer a hydroelectric power plant in the mountains outside Rjukan... [More...]
La Bataille du rail (1946)
René Clément
This episodic film recounts the exploits of French railway workers supporting the activities of the French Resistance during the Second World War... [More...]
René Clément
This episodic film recounts the exploits of French railway workers supporting the activities of the French Resistance during the Second World War... [More...]
Le Bataillon du ciel (1947)
Alexander Esway
Spring, 1944: a decisive moment in the Second World War. Colonel Rouvier, a respected soldier who lost an arm in combat in Tunisia, is put in charge of training a parachute regiment of the French Free Forces in England... [More...]
Alexander Esway
Spring, 1944: a decisive moment in the Second World War. Colonel Rouvier, a respected soldier who lost an arm in combat in Tunisia, is put in charge of training a parachute regiment of the French Free Forces in England... [More...]
Battement de coeur (1940)
Henri Decoin
On leaving a reformatory, Arlette finds herself alone and penniless in Paris. An orphan, she has no one to stay with and nowhere to go... [More...]
Henri Decoin
On leaving a reformatory, Arlette finds herself alone and penniless in Paris. An orphan, she has no one to stay with and nowhere to go... [More...]
La Belle et la bête (1946)
Jean Cocteau
Once upon a time, there was an old merchant who, having fallen on hard times, lives with his three daughters and his son at their modest house in the country... [More...]
Jean Cocteau
Once upon a time, there was an old merchant who, having fallen on hard times, lives with his three daughters and his son at their modest house in the country... [More...]
La Belle meunière (1948)
Marcel Pagnol
Tired of Vienna and his lack of success as a composer, Franz Schubert goes in search of inspiration by taking a walking holiday in the countryside around Salzburg... [More...]
Marcel Pagnol
Tired of Vienna and his lack of success as a composer, Franz Schubert goes in search of inspiration by taking a walking holiday in the countryside around Salzburg... [More...]
Le Bienfaiteur (1942)
Henri Decoin
Monsieur Moulinet has earned the respect and admiration of all the good people of Barfleur-sur-Oron. Nicknamed “the benefactor”, he is renowned for his generosity... [More...]
Henri Decoin
Monsieur Moulinet has earned the respect and admiration of all the good people of Barfleur-sur-Oron. Nicknamed “the benefactor”, he is renowned for his generosity... [More...]
Boléro (1942)
Jean Boyer
Afflicted with a severe throat infection, Rémi Courmont finds himself confined to his Parisian apartment but his hopes of a peaceful recuperation are dashed by his downstairs neighbour, Anne-Marie Houillier... [More...]
Jean Boyer
Afflicted with a severe throat infection, Rémi Courmont finds himself confined to his Parisian apartment but his hopes of a peaceful recuperation are dashed by his downstairs neighbour, Anne-Marie Houillier... [More...]
Boule de suif (1945)
Christian-Jaque
Normandy, 1870. With Rouen occupied by the Prussian army, a prostitute named Élisabeth Rousset decides to leave the town in a stage coach bound for Le Havre... [More...]
Christian-Jaque
Normandy, 1870. With Rouen occupied by the Prussian army, a prostitute named Élisabeth Rousset decides to leave the town in a stage coach bound for Le Havre... [More...]
Le Café du cadran (1947)
Jean Gehret
Julien Couturier and his wife Louise give up their peaceful life in the Auvergne to run a small bar-café in the thriving heart of Paris... [More...]
Jean Gehret
Julien Couturier and his wife Louise give up their peaceful life in the Auvergne to run a small bar-café in the thriving heart of Paris... [More...]
La Cage aux rossignols (1945)
Jean Dréville
Clément Mathieu has written a book, La Cage aux Rossignols, which recounts his recent experiences as a teacher in a typical French boys' school... [More...]
Jean Dréville
Clément Mathieu has written a book, La Cage aux Rossignols, which recounts his recent experiences as a teacher in a typical French boys' school... [More...]
Le Carrefour des enfants perdus (1944)
Léo Joannon
Marseille, 1940. In the chaotic aftermath of France's capitulation to Nazi Germany, three former inmates of a reform school meet up by chance... [More...]
Léo Joannon
Marseille, 1940. In the chaotic aftermath of France's capitulation to Nazi Germany, three former inmates of a reform school meet up by chance... [More...]
Cavalcade d'amour (1940)
Raymond Bernard
For hundreds of years, the château de Maupré has brought misfortune to its inhabitants, as those who choose to wed within its walls are destined to wed unhappily... [More...]
Raymond Bernard
For hundreds of years, the château de Maupré has brought misfortune to its inhabitants, as those who choose to wed within its walls are destined to wed unhappily... [More...]