French cinema: 1940s
Cécile est morte (1944)
Maurice Tourneur
For six months, Cécile has been hounding the police for protection, so convinced is she that her life is in danger...
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Maurice Tourneur
Ces dames aux chapeaux verts (1949)
Fernand Rivers
With her brother away working in Cameroon, Arlette, a sporty young Parisian, has no option but to stay with her four spinster cousins at their house in the country...
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Fernand Rivers
La Chartreuse de Parme (1948)
Christian-Jaque
At the beginning of the 19th Century, the Marquis Fabrice del Dongo returns to Parma, his home town, after having completed his studies in Naples...
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Christian-Jaque
Chemins sans loi (1947)
Guillaume Radot
Inès, a young gypsy girl, is abandoned by her lover, a rich landowner, and must fend for herself when she learns she is pregnant with his child...
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Guillaume Radot
Le Ciel est à vous (1944)
Jean Grémillon
Pierre Gauthier is proud of the fact that, during WWI, he was employed as a mechanic to the celebrated aviator Georges Guynemer...
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Jean Grémillon
Cinq tulipes rouges (1949)
Jean Stelli
The 1948 Tour de France gets off to an ominous start when one of the competitors is killed in a road accident even before the competition gets under way... [More...]
Jean Stelli
The 1948 Tour de France gets off to an ominous start when one of the competitors is killed in a road accident even before the competition gets under way... [More...]
Clochemerle (1948)
Pierre Chenal
On the face of it Clochemerle-en-Beaujolais would seem to be the idyllic French village, but this apparent haven of tranquillity harbours a divided community... [More...]
Pierre Chenal
On the face of it Clochemerle-en-Beaujolais would seem to be the idyllic French village, but this apparent haven of tranquillity harbours a divided community... [More...]
Le Club des soupirants (1941)
Maurice Gleize
In a last-ditch attempt to save themselves from financial ruin a consortium of investors agree to form a club with the intention that one of them will secure a huge dowry by marrying the daughter of a fantastically wealthy banker, Cabarrus... [More...]
Maurice Gleize
In a last-ditch attempt to save themselves from financial ruin a consortium of investors agree to form a club with the intention that one of them will secure a huge dowry by marrying the daughter of a fantastically wealthy banker, Cabarrus... [More...]
Le Coeur sur la main (1949)
André Berthomieu
Léon Ménard is a church warden in a small Normandy village who is renowned locally as an accordionist. One evening, a famous singer, Mary Pinson, turns up in the region and before he knows it Léon is coerced into backing her at a concert... [More...]
André Berthomieu
Léon Ménard is a church warden in a small Normandy village who is renowned locally as an accordionist. One evening, a famous singer, Mary Pinson, turns up in the region and before he knows it Léon is coerced into backing her at a concert... [More...]
Le Colonel Chabert (1943)
René Le Hénaff
Paris, 1817. The wealthy Countess Ferraud is distressed when she begins to receive letters from her husband, Colonel Chabert, who was reported to have died during the Napoleonic wars ten years before... [More...]
René Le Hénaff
Paris, 1817. The wealthy Countess Ferraud is distressed when she begins to receive letters from her husband, Colonel Chabert, who was reported to have died during the Napoleonic wars ten years before... [More...]
La Comédie du bonheur (1942)
Marcel L'Herbier
When the wealthy banker François Jourdain acquires a taste for spendthrift philanthropy, his relatives have him committed to a psychiatric clinic, in the hope of saving what remains of their inheritance... [More...]
Marcel L'Herbier
When the wealthy banker François Jourdain acquires a taste for spendthrift philanthropy, his relatives have him committed to a psychiatric clinic, in the hope of saving what remains of their inheritance... [More...]
Le Comédien (1948)
Sacha Guitry
At the age of eight, Lucien Guitry has already made up his mind to become an actor. The son of a shopkeeper, he plays truant from school so that he can memorise the great classics of the French stage... [More...]
Sacha Guitry
At the age of eight, Lucien Guitry has already made up his mind to become an actor. The son of a shopkeeper, he plays truant from school so that he can memorise the great classics of the French stage... [More...]
Le Comte de Monte Cristo (1943)
Robert Vernay
On the day of his engagement to his beloved Mecédès the mariner Edmond Dantès is arrested for treason and sent to the Château d'If, an island prison... [More...]
Robert Vernay
On the day of his engagement to his beloved Mecédès the mariner Edmond Dantès is arrested for treason and sent to the Château d'If, an island prison... [More...]
Les Condamnés (1948)
Georges Lacombe
Dr Jean Severac and his wife Hélène are celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary. Outwardly, they appear to be a perfectly happy married couple, but in reality Hélène has a lover, the younger Dr Bernard Aubertin... [More...]
Georges Lacombe
Dr Jean Severac and his wife Hélène are celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary. Outwardly, they appear to be a perfectly happy married couple, but in reality Hélène has a lover, the younger Dr Bernard Aubertin... [More...]
Copie conforme (1947)
Jean Dréville
No one would think that Manuel Ismora, an esteemed society photographer, is an audacious thief and con artist. The newspapers are filled with accounts of Ismora's criminal exploits, which involve the fraudulent sale of a château and the theft of some valuable jewels, but the police are slow in bringing him to justice... [More...]
Jean Dréville
No one would think that Manuel Ismora, an esteemed society photographer, is an audacious thief and con artist. The newspapers are filled with accounts of Ismora's criminal exploits, which involve the fraudulent sale of a château and the theft of some valuable jewels, but the police are slow in bringing him to justice... [More...]
Le Corbeau (1943)
Henri-Georges Clouzot
The peace of the small French town of Saint-Robin is disturbed by a sudden outbreak of poison pen letters, which cast vile aspersions on prominent members of the community... [More...]
Henri-Georges Clouzot
The peace of the small French town of Saint-Robin is disturbed by a sudden outbreak of poison pen letters, which cast vile aspersions on prominent members of the community... [More...]
Croisières sidérales (1942)
André Zwoboda
Scientists Françoise and Robert Monier plan to spend their honeymoon in a space-pod high up in the stratosphere. What was to be the culmination of years of research suffers a major setback when Robert sustains a serious injury... [More...]
André Zwoboda
Scientists Françoise and Robert Monier plan to spend their honeymoon in a space-pod high up in the stratosphere. What was to be the culmination of years of research suffers a major setback when Robert sustains a serious injury... [More...]
D'homme à hommes (1948)
Christian-Jaque
In 1858, the Swiss-born Henri Dunant is having difficulties managing a colony in Algeria. He decides to visit the Emperor Napoléon III, who is currently in the middle of a campaign in Italy, to ask for support to build a system of irrigation... [More...]
Christian-Jaque
In 1858, the Swiss-born Henri Dunant is having difficulties managing a colony in Algeria. He decides to visit the Emperor Napoléon III, who is currently in the middle of a campaign in Italy, to ask for support to build a system of irrigation... [More...]
La Dame d'onze heures (1948)
Jean-Devaivre
On his return from Africa, Stanislas Octave Seminario, who likes to be referred to by his initials S.O.S., visits his friends, the Pescaras, at their grand house in the country... [More...]
Jean-Devaivre
On his return from Africa, Stanislas Octave Seminario, who likes to be referred to by his initials S.O.S., visits his friends, the Pescaras, at their grand house in the country... [More...]
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Robert Bresson
Having tricked her lover Jean into admitting that he no longer loves her, society lady Helène is inwardly consumed by anger and plots a cruel vengeance... [More...]
Robert Bresson
Having tricked her lover Jean into admitting that he no longer loves her, society lady Helène is inwardly consumed by anger and plots a cruel vengeance... [More...]
La Danse de mort (1948)
Marcel Cravenne
A proud military man, Edgar is now the director of a prison fortress located on a small island in the Adriatic. He runs the prison with an iron hand and is prepared to shoot dead any prisoner who attempts to escape... [More...]
Marcel Cravenne
A proud military man, Edgar is now the director of a prison fortress located on a small island in the Adriatic. He runs the prison with an iron hand and is prepared to shoot dead any prisoner who attempts to escape... [More...]
Dédée d'Anvers (1948)
Yves Allégret
The busy Belgian port of Antwerp is a haven for gangsters, pimps and traffickers. Sailors, tired after their long stretch at sea, come ashore in search of liquor and female company, both of which Monsieur René generously supplies at his popular bar... [More...]
Yves Allégret
The busy Belgian port of Antwerp is a haven for gangsters, pimps and traffickers. Sailors, tired after their long stretch at sea, come ashore in search of liquor and female company, both of which Monsieur René generously supplies at his popular bar... [More...]
Dernier amour (1949)
Jean Stelli
Hélène and Alain would seem to be the model of a happily married couple. Ten years ago, they were madly in love, but Hélène was then the wife of a wealthy man who would never agree to a divorce... [More...]
Jean Stelli
Hélène and Alain would seem to be the model of a happily married couple. Ten years ago, they were madly in love, but Hélène was then the wife of a wealthy man who would never agree to a divorce... [More...]
Dernier atout (1942)
Jacques Becker
In Calcaras, the capital of a South American country, two young police cadets, Clarence and Montès, are competing against one another for a coveted promotion... [More...]
Jacques Becker
In Calcaras, the capital of a South American country, two young police cadets, Clarence and Montès, are competing against one another for a coveted promotion... [More...]
Le Dernier des six (1941)
Georges Lacombe
Santerre and his five friends - Gribbe, Gernicot, Namotte, Perlonjour and Tignol - enter into a strange pact after they win a tidy little windfall in a bet... [More...]
Georges Lacombe
Santerre and his five friends - Gribbe, Gernicot, Namotte, Perlonjour and Tignol - enter into a strange pact after they win a tidy little windfall in a bet... [More...]
Le Dernier sou (1946)
André Cayatte
Pierre Durban, a journalist on a Parisian newspaper, needs some money so that he can marry his girlfriend Jacqueline Dejouvre and start a family... [More...]
André Cayatte
Pierre Durban, a journalist on a Parisian newspaper, needs some money so that he can marry his girlfriend Jacqueline Dejouvre and start a family... [More...]
Dernière heure, édition spéciale (1949)
Maurice de Canonge
Dominique Coche is an ambitious young journalist who edits a column on the newspaper Le Cri du monde. When a world famous pianist, Emmanuel Costa, is found dead in his bath, Dominique sees an opportunity to advance his career and boost his paper's circulation... [More...]
Maurice de Canonge
Dominique Coche is an ambitious young journalist who edits a column on the newspaper Le Cri du monde. When a world famous pianist, Emmanuel Costa, is found dead in his bath, Dominique sees an opportunity to advance his career and boost his paper's circulation... [More...]
Les Dernières vacances (1948)
Roger Leenhardt
For generations, the Torrignes family have lived in a splendid old house in the south of France. By the early 1930s, the family's fortune has dried up and there is no other recourse than to sell the house... [More...]
Roger Leenhardt
For generations, the Torrignes family have lived in a splendid old house in the south of France. By the early 1930s, the family's fortune has dried up and there is no other recourse than to sell the house... [More...]
Désarroi (1946)
Robert-Paul Dagan
Pierre, 20, is in love with Martine, and the two plan to marry as soon as the latter has come of age. Pierre's mother, Madame Meillan, becomes opposed to the marriage when she discovers that Martine's mother is an adventurer who lives a dissolute life with her gambler partner... [More...]
Robert-Paul Dagan
Pierre, 20, is in love with Martine, and the two plan to marry as soon as the latter has come of age. Pierre's mother, Madame Meillan, becomes opposed to the marriage when she discovers that Martine's mother is an adventurer who lives a dissolute life with her gambler partner... [More...]
Le Dessous des cartes (1948)
André Cayatte
His criminal activities exposed, a crooked financier named Géraudy takes flight and intends to make his escape across the alpine border with the help of a young smuggler, Manu... [More...]
André Cayatte
His criminal activities exposed, a crooked financier named Géraudy takes flight and intends to make his escape across the alpine border with the help of a young smuggler, Manu... [More...]