French cinema: 1950s
Montparnasse 19 (1958)
Jacques Becker
In the Montparnasse district of Paris in 1919, a young Italian painter, Amedeo Modigliani, struggles to make a living as an artist...
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Jacques Becker
La Mort en ce jardin (1956)
Luis Buñuel
The setting is a small village on the Brazilian border. An adventurous young man named Shark arrives here at the same time as a party of diamond prospectors who are preparing to attack a small government garrison...
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Luis Buñuel
Le Mouton à cinq pattes (1954)
Henri Verneuil
Trézignan is a sleepy little town in the southeast of France. Anxious to raise the profile of the town and draw in more visitors, the mayor decides to hold a celebratory fête in honour of a set of quintuplets who were born in the town exactly forty years ago...
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Henri Verneuil
Le Mystère Picasso (1956)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot is a renowned French film maker, best known for his pessimistic suspense thrillers. At the age of 75, Pablo Picasso is a legendary artist, one of the most celebrated creative talents of the 20th century...
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Henri-Georges Clouzot
Nous irons à Paris (1950)
Jean Boyer
Jacques, Paul and Julien have one ambition: to host a new radio show. Unable to break into national radio, they decide to create their own radio station...
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Jean Boyer
Nous n'irons plus au bois (1955)
Ivan Govar
Leaving a juvenile detention centre after serving a term for the accidental killing of his stepmother, Yan makes his way across country to his home village in Flanders, eager to make a fresh start... [More...]
Ivan Govar
Leaving a juvenile detention centre after serving a term for the accidental killing of his stepmother, Yan makes his way across country to his home village in Flanders, eager to make a fresh start... [More...]
Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)
André Cayatte
During World War II, a series of chance incidents lead an ill-educated young man, René Le Guen, to be recruited by the French Resistance... [More...]
André Cayatte
During World War II, a series of chance incidents lead an ill-educated young man, René Le Guen, to be recruited by the French Resistance... [More...]
Nuit et brouillard (1955)
Alain Resnais
The Holocaust - two words forever etched on the consciousness of mankind. They resound in our minds like an implacable condemnation from a Celestial power, for a crime which rips the heart and soul out of man's moral purpose... [More...]
Alain Resnais
The Holocaust - two words forever etched on the consciousness of mankind. They resound in our minds like an implacable condemnation from a Celestial power, for a crime which rips the heart and soul out of man's moral purpose... [More...]
Olivia (1951)
Jacqueline Audry
Victoire, the cook at a young women's institution, is charged with meeting Olivia, a young English student, at the station... [More...]
Jacqueline Audry
Victoire, the cook at a young women's institution, is charged with meeting Olivia, a young English student, at the station... [More...]
Ombre et lumière (1951)
Henri Calef
Isabelle Leiritz was a world class pianist before a nervous breakdown imposed a temporary break on her career. Leaving the rest home where she has spent the past few years convalescing, Isabelle visits her half-sister Caroline and contemplates her future... [More...]
Henri Calef
Isabelle Leiritz was a world class pianist before a nervous breakdown imposed a temporary break on her career. Leaving the rest home where she has spent the past few years convalescing, Isabelle visits her half-sister Caroline and contemplates her future... [More...]
Les Orgueilleux (1953)
Yves Allégret
In a remote Mexican town, a coach deposits two strangers, an attractive young French woman Nelly and her visibly sick husband Tom... [More...]
Yves Allégret
In a remote Mexican town, a coach deposits two strangers, an attractive young French woman Nelly and her visibly sick husband Tom... [More...]
La P... respectueuse (1952)
Charles Brabant
Whilst taking a train journey in the southern United States, Lizzie McKay, a nightclub hostess, witnesses the killing of a black man by a drunken white man... [More...]
Charles Brabant
Whilst taking a train journey in the southern United States, Lizzie McKay, a nightclub hostess, witnesses the killing of a black man by a drunken white man... [More...]
Patrouille de choc (1957)
Claude Bernard-Aubert
During the Indochina War in the late 1940s, Lieutenant Perrin is in charge of a small battalion of French troops at a remote outpost in Vietnam... [More...]
Claude Bernard-Aubert
During the Indochina War in the late 1940s, Lieutenant Perrin is in charge of a small battalion of French troops at a remote outpost in Vietnam... [More...]
Pickpocket (1959)
Robert Bresson
As he stands in the crowds at a horse race, a solitary young man named Michel yields to an uncontrollable impulse to steal from a woman's handbag... [More...]
Robert Bresson
As he stands in the crowds at a horse race, a solitary young man named Michel yields to an uncontrollable impulse to steal from a woman's handbag... [More...]
Le Plaisir (1952)
Max Ophüls
The writer Guy de Maupassant recounts three of his short stories to show that pleasure should not be confused with happiness... [More...]
Max Ophüls
The writer Guy de Maupassant recounts three of his short stories to show that pleasure should not be confused with happiness... [More...]
La Poison (1951)
Sacha Guitry
After thirty years of married life, Paul and Blandine Braconnier have grown to hate each other so much that each contemplates murdering the other... [More...]
Sacha Guitry
After thirty years of married life, Paul and Blandine Braconnier have grown to hate each other so much that each contemplates murdering the other... [More...]
Le Port du désir (1955)
Edmond T. Gréville
As a sunken ship risks blocking the entrance to the port of Marseille, Captain Le Quévic is instructed by the naval authorities to raise the vessel and tow it away... [More...]
Edmond T. Gréville
As a sunken ship risks blocking the entrance to the port of Marseille, Captain Le Quévic is instructed by the naval authorities to raise the vessel and tow it away... [More...]
Pot-Bouille (1957)
Julien Duvivier
Paris, 1865. Octave Mouret is a young man filled with great ambitions. He is also a consummate Don Juan and it his talent for seducing members of the opposite sex which he intends using to make a rapid ascent of the social scale... [More...]
Julien Duvivier
Paris, 1865. Octave Mouret is a young man filled with great ambitions. He is also a consummate Don Juan and it his talent for seducing members of the opposite sex which he intends using to make a rapid ascent of the social scale... [More...]
La Première nuit (1958)
Georges Franju
One evening, a ten year old boy follows a little girl home from school and loses himself in the Paris Métro. The crowds gradually disperse and eventually the boy finds himself alone in the seemingly endless subterranean tunnels... [More...]
Georges Franju
One evening, a ten year old boy follows a little girl home from school and loses himself in the Paris Métro. The crowds gradually disperse and eventually the boy finds himself alone in the seemingly endless subterranean tunnels... [More...]
Les Premiers outrages (1955)
Jean Gourguet
In her exercise book, Bichette, a girl in her mid-teens, records her first amorous experience. The object of her juvenile infatuation was a handsome lad named Kiki, the son of the innkeeper in the little village where she spent her summer holidays... [More...]
Jean Gourguet
In her exercise book, Bichette, a girl in her mid-teens, records her first amorous experience. The object of her juvenile infatuation was a handsome lad named Kiki, the son of the innkeeper in the little village where she spent her summer holidays... [More...]
Quai de Grenelle (1950)
Emil E. Reinert
Jean-Louis Cavalade is an impetuous young man who likes nothing better than to hunt snakes in the Forest of Fontainebleau... [More...]
Emil E. Reinert
Jean-Louis Cavalade is an impetuous young man who likes nothing better than to hunt snakes in the Forest of Fontainebleau... [More...]
Les Quatre cents coups (1959)
François Truffaut
Antoine Doinel is a 13-year-old boy who lives with his parents in a cramped apartment in Paris. Neglected by his mother, misunderstood by his father, he starts to rebel against authority... [More...]
François Truffaut
Antoine Doinel is a 13-year-old boy who lives with his parents in a cramped apartment in Paris. Neglected by his mother, misunderstood by his father, he starts to rebel against authority... [More...]
Rafles sur la ville (1958)
Pierre Chenal
The Parisian police are pleased with themselves when they manage to arrest the notorious gangster Le Fondu. But the crook has no intention of being brought to justice... [More...]
Pierre Chenal
The Parisian police are pleased with themselves when they manage to arrest the notorious gangster Le Fondu. But the crook has no intention of being brought to justice... [More...]
Razzia sur la Chnouf (1955)
Henri Decoin
Paul Liski runs the biggest drugs trafficking operation in France but things are not going well. He needs someone he can trust to restructure his entire organisation so that it can expand its reach whilst evading the forces of law and order... [More...]
Henri Decoin
Paul Liski runs the biggest drugs trafficking operation in France but things are not going well. He needs someone he can trust to restructure his entire organisation so that it can expand its reach whilst evading the forces of law and order... [More...]
Le Rendez-vous des quais (1955)
Paul Carpita
Marseilles, 1953. Robert Fournier is a young dock worker who wants to marry Marcelle, an employee in a biscuit factory. But times are hard and the couple are unable to afford an apartment, so they have no choice but to go on living with their parents... [More...]
Paul Carpita
Marseilles, 1953. Robert Fournier is a young dock worker who wants to marry Marcelle, an employee in a biscuit factory. But times are hard and the couple are unable to afford an apartment, so they have no choice but to go on living with their parents... [More...]
La Ronde (1950)
Max Ophüls
An all-knowing master of ceremonies guides us through a series of brief love affairs that take place in Vienna of 1900, using a carousel as a metaphor for the revolving series of liaisons which he nudges along... [More...]
Max Ophüls
An all-knowing master of ceremonies guides us through a series of brief love affairs that take place in Vienna of 1900, using a carousel as a metaphor for the revolving series of liaisons which he nudges along... [More...]
Le Rouge et le noir (1954)
Claude Autant-Lara
Before a court of law, Julien Sorel confesses to the attempted murder of the woman he loved and asks that he be condemned to death... [More...]
Claude Autant-Lara
Before a court of law, Julien Sorel confesses to the attempted murder of the woman he loved and asks that he be condemned to death... [More...]
Le Salaire de la peur (1953)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
In a dusty, hot South American mining town, European immigrants eke out a meagre existence, struggling to find work in an area of high unemployment... [More...]
Henri-Georges Clouzot
In a dusty, hot South American mining town, European immigrants eke out a meagre existence, struggling to find work in an area of high unemployment... [More...]
Le Sang à la tête (1956)
Gilles Grangier
When he started out as a modest dockworker thirty years ago, François Cardinaud could not have imagined that he would become one of the most powerful men in the port of La Rochelle... [More...]
Gilles Grangier
When he started out as a modest dockworker thirty years ago, François Cardinaud could not have imagined that he would become one of the most powerful men in the port of La Rochelle... [More...]
Sans laisser d'adresse (1951)
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Emile Gauthier is a Parisian taxi driver. One day, at the Gare de Lyon, he picks up a young woman named Thérèse and her baby... [More...]
Jean-Paul Le Chanois
Emile Gauthier is a Parisian taxi driver. One day, at the Gare de Lyon, he picks up a young woman named Thérèse and her baby... [More...]