French film photo galley for 1950

French films of the 1950s

La Poison (1951)

If you ignore the lengthy and self-indulgent opening sequence (in which Sacha Guitry tells a rather embarrassed Michel Simon what a good actor he is), La Poison is a rather entertaining black comedy. Contrary to what Guitry seems to think, Simon needs no introduction and his performance in this film stands as one of his finest... [More...]

Le Passe-muraille (1951)

A fine example of French comic farce from the 1950s, Jean Boyer’s Le Passe-muraille is best known for effectively launching the film career of its star, Bourvil. Better known as a stage comic and singer at the time, Bourvil demonstrates in this film that he also has a formidable talent as an actor. Although he plays a comic role... [More...]

Ma femme est formidable (1951)

Although this film now feels very dated and just a tad ridiculous (almost the parody of a French bedroom farce), it was hugely popular when it was first released in France, and effectively secured André Hunebelle’s career as a director of popular films. Whilst there are some good jokes, much of the comedy is painfully unsophisticated... [More...]

Tu m'as sauvé la vie (1951)

By the time Sacha Guitry came to make Tu m’as sauvé la vie, a film adaptation of one of his later stage plays, he had become an object of contempt and ridicule in the eyes of many critics. Certainly, some (not all) of Guitry’s work in his later years lacks the sparkle of his earlier successes, but the criticism was often over the top and veered towards personal abuse... [More...]

Casque d'or (1952)

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 the medium of film the essence of human life – the pleasures, the torments, the triumphs, the defeats... [More...]

Coiffeur pour dames (1952)

In this re-make of a popular 1932 French film directed by Réné Guissart, that incomparable "fou de rire" Fernandel regales us with one of his most memorable comic performances. Here he plays an ambitious hairdresser who is prepared to do anything to rise to the top of his profession, including getting entangled with man-hungry society ladies... [More...]

Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)

One of the most popular historical-adventure films made in France, Fanfan la Tulipe is a hugely entertaining melange of swash-buckling adventure, comedy and romance. To watch the recently released re-mastered colour version of the film, it is hard to believe that the film was made in 1952. Not only is the film impeccably made... [More...]

Il est minuit, docteur Schweitzer (1952)

Despite its – ostensibly – impressive cast and substantial budget, this film singularly fails to do any justice whatsoever to the great historical figure it portrays, Albert Schweitzer. Hampered by a mediocre script and some misguided direction (to say nothing of some blatant historical inaccuracies), the film fails to evoke any real sympathy or interest in its subject... [More...]

Jeux interdits (1952)

Jeux interdits is almost unquestionably the most compelling and intensely poignant drama featuring young children ever filmed. The film retains its power to shock and to drive its audience to tears, fifty years after its first release. Few films possess the purity of expression and haunting poetry which this film sustains from start to finish... [More...]

La Vérité sur Bébé Donge (1952)

Although slow moving, La Vérité sur Bébé Donge offers a typically Simenonesque dark study about the tragedy of an unfulfilled love. Whilst the husband, François Donge, regards marriage as little more than yet another business contract, tidy and well formalised, his wife, the beautiful Bébé sees marriage as a step towards spiritual fulfilment... [More...]

Le Fruit défendu (1952)

This early film from Henri Verneuil is one of many fruitful collaborations involving the director and the great French comic actor Fernandel. The film, in many ways a conventional early 1950s melodrama, sees Fernandel playing one of his rare straight roles, on this occasion opposite the up-and-coming starlet Françoise Arnoul... [More...]

Le Petit monde de Don Camillo (1952)

With Le Petit Monde de Don Camillo, the great French comic actor Fernandel assumed his most popular role, that of the charming parish priest Don Camillo, a character with a sardonic sense of humour and a decidedly mischievous streak. This was the first in a series of five films in which Fernandel played the part of Camillo... [More...]

Le Trou normand (1952)

The most notable thing about this low-key comedy is that it marks the film début of Brigitte Bardot. Far from being the sex goddess which she became a few years later, Bardot is cast in the role of a stereotypical nice young woman of her era, although her screen presence is to be noted. The film will appeal most to fans of the popular comic actor... [More...]

Le Plaisir (1952)

Although unmistakably a classic of French cinema, Le plaisir is marginally less satisfying than Ophül’s other attempts at films tableaux (La Ronde and Madame de…) – probably because the theme linking the three segments of the film is somewhat insubstantial. ‘Self-delusion’ would appear to be a better and more accurate linking theme than ‘pleasure’... [More...]

Les Belles de nuit (1952)

Already renowned for his acutely surreal and optimistic view of life, director René Clair surpassed himself with this outlandish romantic fantasy. As French matinee idol Gérard Philipe is propelled through history and cardboard Freudian dreamscapes, into the arms of such beauties as Martine Carol and Gina Lollobrigida... [More...]

Monsieur Leguignon, lampiste (1952)

Based on a celebrated radio play, "Le Tribunal", Monsieur Leguignon, lampiste is a heart-warming mix of comedy and melodrama, presumably intended to help lift the spirits of the working classes in the midst of post-war economic gloom. The film certainly has some bold left-wing undertones, with solidarity of the working classes... [More...]

Monsieur Taxi (1952)

Michel Simon is perfectly cast as a self-effacing taxi driver in this engaging little comedy-drama, which provides a convincing portrait of working class family life in France a few years after WWII. Although a little dated, the films offers a few memorable sequences, such as the one where Michel Simon is debating with his (remarkably well-trained) dog what to do with the money he has found... [More...]

Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)

In Nous sommes tous des assassins, director André Cayatte makes an extraordinarily powerful case for the abolition of the death penalty, and indeed goes some way to condemning the society and legal system which, through hypocrisy or ignorance, believes in the efficacy of such a punishment. Not only does the film show us the terrible inhumanity meted out to condemned criminals... [More...]

La Table aux crevés (1952)

Having made a number of short films in the 1940s, Henri Verneuil began his film-making career proper in 1951 with this, his first full-length film, adapted from a novel by Marcel Aymé. The film stars the iconic comic actor Fernandel, who had appeared in Verneuil’s earlier short film Escale au soleil (1947)... [More...]

Carnaval (1953)

French cinema’s master of film comedy Fernandel is on top form in this outrageous farce, which is based on the popular play by Emile Mazaud. The film also features Jacqueline Bouvier (credited as Jacqueline Pagnol), who was – at the time – married to Marcel Pagnol, the film’s very distinguished screenwriter... [More...]

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