French cinema: 1940s
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...
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Louis Daquin
Port d'attache (1943)
Jean Choux
After the armistice, a young sailor named René sets out to find work in France. Passing through the countryside, he meets an old farmer, Garda, who struggles to keep his farm going after being deserted by his son and daughter...
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Jean Choux
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...
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Marcel Carné
Portrait d'un assassin (1949)
Bernard-Roland
Jean, nicknamed Fabius the Foolhardy, is a circus acrobat whose act involves driving a motorcycle up a near-vertical incline, the Wall of Death...
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Bernard-Roland
Premier de cordée (1944)
Louis Daquin
For many years, Jean Servettaz has worked as a mountain guide in Chamonix but, too aware of the risks of his profession, he gives this up so that he can run a guest house for tourists...
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Louis Daquin
Premier rendez-vous (1941)
Henri Decoin
After growing up in an orphanage, Micheline Chevassu dreams of nothing but falling in love with a handsome young man and beginning a new life far, far away... [More...]
Henri Decoin
After growing up in an orphanage, Micheline Chevassu dreams of nothing but falling in love with a handsome young man and beginning a new life far, far away... [More...]
Le Président Haudecoeur (1940)
Jean Dréville
President Haudecoeur is a public prosecutor with a reputation for being strict and inflexible, both in his professional and private life... [More...]
Jean Dréville
President Haudecoeur is a public prosecutor with a reputation for being strict and inflexible, both in his professional and private life... [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...]
Rocambole (1948)
Jacques de Baroncelli
The likeable rogue Joseph Fippart, nicknamed Rocambole, is hired by Andréa, the head of a gang called the Jack of Hearts, to impersonate Arnaud, the young Count de Chamery... [More...]
Jacques de Baroncelli
The likeable rogue Joseph Fippart, nicknamed Rocambole, is hired by Andréa, the head of a gang called the Jack of Hearts, to impersonate Arnaud, the young Count de Chamery... [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...]
Sérénade (1940)
Jean Boyer
In Vienna of the 1810s, an unknown young composer, Franz Schubert, is struggling against self-doubt and his modest circumstances to make a success of his career... [More...]
Jean Boyer
In Vienna of the 1810s, an unknown young composer, Franz Schubert, is struggling against self-doubt and his modest circumstances to make a success of his career... [More...]
Sérénade aux nuages (1946)
André Cayatte
Sylvio is an incredibly successful singer who has become weary of being recognised wherever he goes. Desperately in need of a change, he goes off for a quiet holiday, assuming the identity of his faithful valet... [More...]
André Cayatte
Sylvio is an incredibly successful singer who has become weary of being recognised wherever he goes. Desperately in need of a change, he goes off for a quiet holiday, assuming the identity of his faithful valet... [More...]
Service de nuit (1944)
Jean Faurez
Suzanne works as a telephone operator in a small village in the Savoie region of France. It is a privileged position and Suzanne finds herself privy to all the secrets and intrigues that go on in her close-knit community... [More...]
Jean Faurez
Suzanne works as a telephone operator in a small village in the Savoie region of France. It is a privileged position and Suzanne finds herself privy to all the secrets and intrigues that go on in her close-knit community... [More...]
Si ça peut vous faire plaisir (1948)
Jacques Daniel-Norman
In the shop where they sell funeral wreaths, Monsieur Viala and his wife are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary... [More...]
Jacques Daniel-Norman
In the shop where they sell funeral wreaths, Monsieur Viala and his wife are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary... [More...]
Le Signal rouge (1949)
Ernst Neubach
Dr Berthold is a respectable doctor and family man who is profoundly affected when his wife is killed in a train accident... [More...]
Ernst Neubach
Dr Berthold is a respectable doctor and family man who is profoundly affected when his wife is killed in a train accident... [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...]
Simplet (1942)
Fernandel
Miéjour and Rocamour are two neighbouring villages in Provence that have been separated by mutual loathing for longer than anyone can remember... [More...]
Fernandel
Miéjour and Rocamour are two neighbouring villages in Provence that have been separated by mutual loathing for longer than anyone can remember... [More...]
Six heures à perdre (1947)
Alex Joffé
Breaking his long train journey in Paris, a traveller finds he has six hours at his disposal so he decides to wander around the city... [More...]
Alex Joffé
Breaking his long train journey in Paris, a traveller finds he has six hours at his disposal so he decides to wander around the city... [More...]
Le Sorcier du ciel (1949)
Marcel Blistène
One day in 1818, a humble village priest in his early thirties is making his way down a country road to his new parish, in the town of Ars... [More...]
Marcel Blistène
One day in 1818, a humble village priest in his early thirties is making his way down a country road to his new parish, in the town of Ars... [More...]
Sur le plancher des vaches (1940)
Pierre-Jean Ducis
Jean Durand is a modest office clerk who is tired of being treated as an object of ridicule by his boss and colleagues. He cannot believe his good fortune when he wins a lottery prize, but is less heartened when he discovers that his prize in an aeroplane... [More...]
Pierre-Jean Ducis
Jean Durand is a modest office clerk who is tired of being treated as an object of ridicule by his boss and colleagues. He cannot believe his good fortune when he wins a lottery prize, but is less heartened when he discovers that his prize in an aeroplane... [More...]
Les Surprises de la radio (1940)
Marcel Aboulker
The Bontemps are an ordinary French family who, like all of the other residents in the peaceful little village of Coussy la Chapelle, are chronically addicted to the radio... [More...]
Marcel Aboulker
The Bontemps are an ordinary French family who, like all of the other residents in the peaceful little village of Coussy la Chapelle, are chronically addicted to the radio... [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...]