French cinema: 1940s
Montmartre-sur-Seine (1941)
Georges Lacombe
In Montmartre, Paris, Michel is in love with Lily, but she only has eyes for Maurice, a handsome shop assistant. Unaware of Lily's interest in him, Maurice loves Juliette, but the arrival of another man, Claude, threatens his budding romance...
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Georges Lacombe
Les Musiciens du ciel (1940)
Georges Lacombe
In Paris, Victor makes a dishonest living as a petty criminal. When his partner in crime is arrested for manufacturing forged coins, Victor begins begging on the street, pretending he is blind...
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Georges Lacombe
Non coupable (1947)
Henri Decoin
Michel Ancelin was once a respected surgeon but now, an embittered alcoholic, he lives out his declining years as a family doctor in a dull provincial town in the company of his mistress, Madeleine...
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Henri Decoin
Nous les gosses (1941)
Louis Daquin
Nicolas is playing football with his classmates in the school playground when he accidentally kicks the ball through a windowpane...
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Louis Daquin
Nuit de décembre (1940)
Curtis Bernhardt
In 1919, Pierre Darmont, a world-class pianist, falls in love with an attractive young woman named Anne, but after a night of passion she mysteriously walks out of his life, never to return...
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Curtis Bernhardt
Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1949)
Claude Autant-Lara
Paris, 1910. Spectators at the Palais Royal watch in anticipation as the curtain rises on a stage production of Georges Feydeau's play Occupe-toi d'Amélie... [More...]
Claude Autant-Lara
Paris, 1910. Spectators at the Palais Royal watch in anticipation as the curtain rises on a stage production of Georges Feydeau's play Occupe-toi d'Amélie... [More...]
Orphée (1949)
Jean Cocteau
Orphée is a poet who arouses anger wherever he goes, even though his work is still greatly admired. At a street café, his most vociferous opponents, a group of young firebrands called the Bacchantes, start a fight... [More...]
Jean Cocteau
Orphée is a poet who arouses anger wherever he goes, even though his work is still greatly admired. At a street café, his most vociferous opponents, a group of young firebrands called the Bacchantes, start a fight... [More...]
Panique (1947)
Julien Duvivier
Recently released from prison, an attractive young woman Alice meets up with her lover Alfred. The latter, a vicious crook, has murdered an old woman at a fairground... [More...]
Julien Duvivier
Recently released from prison, an attractive young woman Alice meets up with her lover Alfred. The latter, a vicious crook, has murdered an old woman at a fairground... [More...]
Les Parents terribles (1948)
Jean Cocteau
Yvonne and Georges consider themselves a perfectly respectable bourgeois couple, although she is virtually a bedridden recluse and he occupies himself with his strange inventions... [More...]
Jean Cocteau
Yvonne and Georges consider themselves a perfectly respectable bourgeois couple, although she is virtually a bedridden recluse and he occupies himself with his strange inventions... [More...]
Paris 1900 (1947)
Nicole Védrès
A vibrant montage of moving image depicting life in Paris in the dying days of the Belle Époque, from the turn of the 20th century to the start of the First World War... [More...]
Nicole Védrès
A vibrant montage of moving image depicting life in Paris in the dying days of the Belle Époque, from the turn of the 20th century to the start of the First World War... [More...]
Patrie (1946)
Louis Daquin
Flanders in the late 16th century. With his country under occupation by the armies of the King of Spain, the nobleman Count Rysoor enters into a pact with William of Orange to lead a revolt that will free his people from Spanish rule... [More...]
Louis Daquin
Flanders in the late 16th century. With his country under occupation by the armies of the King of Spain, the nobleman Count Rysoor enters into a pact with William of Orange to lead a revolt that will free his people from Spanish rule... [More...]
Pattes blanches (1949)
Jean Grémillon
Odette, an attractive young woman, arrives in the fishing town of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany and becomes the mistress of Jock, the owner of the local inn... [More...]
Jean Grémillon
Odette, an attractive young woman, arrives in the fishing town of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany and becomes the mistress of Jock, the owner of the local inn... [More...]
Le Pays sans étoiles (1946)
Georges Lacombe
After an accident in which he suffers a head injury, Simon Legouge, a modest notary's clerk, begins to experience a series of strange visions... [More...]
Georges Lacombe
After an accident in which he suffers a head injury, Simon Legouge, a modest notary's clerk, begins to experience a series of strange visions... [More...]
Le Père Goriot (1945)
Robert Vernay
Eugène de Rastignac, a penniless provincial nobleman, lives at the boarding house of Madame Vauquier in Paris. Armed with a letter of introduction from his mother, he pays a visit to his cousin Madame de Bauseant, who offers him advice on how to make his way in the world... [More...]
Robert Vernay
Eugène de Rastignac, a penniless provincial nobleman, lives at the boarding house of Madame Vauquier in Paris. Armed with a letter of introduction from his mother, he pays a visit to his cousin Madame de Bauseant, who offers him advice on how to make his way in the world... [More...]
Le Père tranquille (1946)
René Clément
Monsieur Martin is a contented man who lives a peaceful existence in the small French town of Moisson with his wife and two children, Monique and Pierre... [More...]
René Clément
Monsieur Martin is a contented man who lives a peaceful existence in the small French town of Moisson with his wife and two children, Monique and Pierre... [More...]
Les Petites du quai aux fleurs (1944)
Marc Allégret
After his wife walked out on him, Frédéric Grimaud was left to bring up his four daughters single-handedly... [More...]
Marc Allégret
After his wife walked out on him, Frédéric Grimaud was left to bring up his four daughters single-handedly... [More...]
Le Point du jour (1949)
Louis Daquin
A mining community in the north of France... A young engineer Larzac begins work at the mine and soon takes objection to the management's authoritarian treatment of the miners... [More...]
Louis Daquin
A mining community in the north of France... A young engineer Larzac begins work at the mine and soon takes objection to the management's authoritarian treatment of the miners... [More...]
Les Portes de la nuit (1946)
Marcel Carné
In February 1945, Jean Diego is tasked with breaking the news to the wife of a friend of his, Pierre, that her husband has been executed by the Nazis... [More...]
Marcel Carné
In February 1945, Jean Diego is tasked with breaking the news to the wife of a friend of his, Pierre, that her husband has been executed by the Nazis... [More...]
Quai des Orfèvres (1947)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Against the wishes of her husband Maurice, music hall singer Jenny Lamour is prepared to do anything to advance her career... [More...]
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Against the wishes of her husband Maurice, music hall singer Jenny Lamour is prepared to do anything to advance her career... [More...]
Remorques (1941)
Jean Grémillon
André Laurent is the captain of a salvage boat and lives in the Brittany port of Brest with his wife Yvonne. Concealing a serious illness, Yvonne pleads with her husband to give up his hazardous job and start a new life with her in another town, but, loyal to his employees, André refuses... [More...]
Jean Grémillon
André Laurent is the captain of a salvage boat and lives in the Brittany port of Brest with his wife Yvonne. Concealing a serious illness, Yvonne pleads with her husband to give up his hazardous job and start a new life with her in another town, but, loyal to his employees, André refuses... [More...]
Rendez-vous de juillet (1949)
Jacques Becker
In his early 20s, Lucien Bonnard has made up his mind to become a celebrated explorer, but his bourgeois parents are insistent that he abandons these wild delusions and instead settle for a more conventional career like banking... [More...]
Jacques Becker
In his early 20s, Lucien Bonnard has made up his mind to become a celebrated explorer, but his bourgeois parents are insistent that he abandons these wild delusions and instead settle for a more conventional career like banking... [More...]
La Revanche de Roger la Honte (1946)
André Cayatte
Twelve years have passed. Under the name Farrell, Laroque has settled in Canada, where he has made a fortune. But Suzanne, now a ravishing young woman, is haunted by the drama that upset her childhood... [More...]
André Cayatte
Twelve years have passed. Under the name Farrell, Laroque has settled in Canada, where he has made a fortune. But Suzanne, now a ravishing young woman, is haunted by the drama that upset her childhood... [More...]
Roger la Honte (1946)
André Cayatte
In 1885, the industrialist Roger Laroque, the owner of a factory in Ville d'Avray, has put all his hopes in his latest invention, the first steam-powered motorcar... [More...]
André Cayatte
In 1885, the industrialist Roger Laroque, the owner of a factory in Ville d'Avray, has put all his hopes in his latest invention, the first steam-powered motorcar... [More...]
Romance de Paris (1941)
Jean Boyer
Georges Gauthier is a young man who dreams of becoming a music hall singer but has to content himself with his humdrum life as an electrician... [More...]
Jean Boyer
Georges Gauthier is a young man who dreams of becoming a music hall singer but has to content himself with his humdrum life as an electrician... [More...]
Les Roquevillard (1943)
Jean Dréville
In 1880s France, François Roquevillard is a highly regarded barrister in the Savoie town of Chambéry in southeast France... [More...]
Jean Dréville
In 1880s France, François Roquevillard is a highly regarded barrister in the Savoie town of Chambéry in southeast France... [More...]
Le Sang des bêtes (1949)
Georges Franju
On the dreary outskirts of Paris, the city's poor live in tall tenement blocks bordered by undeveloped land which is a playground for children and a haven for lovers... [More...]
Georges Franju
On the dreary outskirts of Paris, the city's poor live in tall tenement blocks bordered by undeveloped land which is a playground for children and a haven for lovers... [More...]
Le Secret de Mayerling (1949)
Jean Delannoy
In the early hours of 30th January 1889, the Archduke Rudolph, crown prince of Austria, is found dead in his hunting lodge at Mayerling, lying on his bed beside his 17-year-old lover Marie Vetsera... [More...]
Jean Delannoy
In the early hours of 30th January 1889, the Archduke Rudolph, crown prince of Austria, is found dead in his hunting lodge at Mayerling, lying on his bed beside his 17-year-old lover Marie Vetsera... [More...]
Le Silence de la mer (1949)
Jean-Pierre Melville
In the winter of 1941, a German officer, Werner von Ebrennac, is billeted to a house in a small town in Nazi occupied France... [More...]
Jean-Pierre Melville
In the winter of 1941, a German officer, Werner von Ebrennac, is billeted to a house in a small town in Nazi occupied France... [More...]
Le Silence est d'or (1947)
René Clair
Paris, 1906. Emile Clément is a fifty-something pioneer in the recently born art of cinematography, and he is also an inveterate womaniser... [More...]
René Clair
Paris, 1906. Emile Clément is a fifty-something pioneer in the recently born art of cinematography, and he is also an inveterate womaniser... [More...]
Sylvie et le fantôme (1946)
Claude Autant-Lara
Sylvie is an imaginative 16 year old girl who has fallen in love with a man in an old portrait - Alain de Francigny, her grandmother's lover, who died many years ago in a duel... [More...]
Claude Autant-Lara
Sylvie is an imaginative 16 year old girl who has fallen in love with a man in an old portrait - Alain de Francigny, her grandmother's lover, who died many years ago in a duel... [More...]