Classic French Cinema
by bob998 | created - 28 Apr 2013 | updated - 29 Apr 2013 | PublicFrench films of the 1930's to 1950's that I have seen and loved.
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1. Children of Paradise (1945)
Not Rated | 189 min | Drama, Romance
The theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir
Votes: 21,173
2. Forbidden Games (1952)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Laurence Badie
Votes: 13,108 | Gross: $0.01M
3. Remorques (1941)
91 min | Action, Drama, Romance
The captain of the tugboat Cyclone, André Laurent, rushes off to save the Mirva. He abandons his sick wife Yvonne and the couple celebrating their marriage. In the early morning, the Cyclone tugs the Mirva ashore with Catherine aboard.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud, Michèle Morgan, Charles Blavette
Votes: 1,580
4. Lumière d'été (1943)
112 min | Drama
A shimmering glass hotel at the top of a remote Provençal mountain provides the setting for a tragicomic tapestry about an obsessive love pentangle.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Madeleine Renaud, Pierre Brasseur, Madeleine Robinson, Paul Bernard
Votes: 644
One of the great French classics. Paul Bernard is hiding a sordid secret, which only Madeleine Renaud, his long-time mistress, knows. Pierre Brasseur and Madeleine Robinson erupt into their cozy little world, with predictably disastrous results... See this and you will feel young again.
5. Hotel du Nord (1938)
83 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Annabella, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Louis Jouvet, Arletty
Votes: 3,238
6. Life Dances On (1937)
144 min | Drama
Christine, newly widowed and consumed by the memory of a ball she attended age 16, decides to track down the men she danced with that night and discover their fates.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Marie Bell, Françoise Rosay, Louis Jouvet, Harry Baur
Votes: 925
7. Poil de carotte (1932)
91 min | Drama
A red-haired boy is his mother's punching bag ; only his father's presence is a great comfort to him,but this weak man is under the shrew's thumb. His pain is so great he feels suicidal.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Harry Baur, Robert Lynen, Louis Gauthier, Simone Aubry
Votes: 750
A child is neglected by his parents, his mother is rough with him, his father distant, until the day of reckoning. Duvivier handles the direction very well, and Harry Baur and Robert Lynen as father and son play memorably.
8. Lady Killer (1937)
94 min | Drama, Romance, War
Soldier Lucien meets elegant Madeleine one night in Cannes. Lovestruck, he follows her to Paris after he is discharged. Their love affair begins anew, but eventually runs cold and he returns to Orange in the south of France. She follows.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin, Pierre Etchepare, Henri Poupon
Votes: 686
9. The Strange Monsieur Victor (1938)
103 min | Crime, Drama
An innocent man spends time in prison for murder, then escapes and falls in love with the wife of the real perpetrator.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Raimu, Pierre Blanchar, Madeleine Renaud, Marcelle Géniat
Votes: 347
Victor is a respected businessman who is also corrupt; he is forced to kill an associate who threatened to blackmail him. The story gets more complicated from this point on. Gremillon was such a capable director, easily the equal of Carne and his other contemporaries. He gets great performances from Raimu, Pierre Blanchar and Viviane Romance.
10. Panique (1946)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
After an elderly maid is murdered, opinions are manipulated, evidence is planted, violence erupts, and panic ensues.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Viviane Romance, Michel Simon, Max Dalban, Émile Drain
Votes: 2,570 | Gross: $0.04M
11. L'idiot (1946)
98 min | Drama
Muichkine, a young Russian prince, returns home to St. Petersburg from a mental institution, determined to spread decency and kindness in the harsh and cruel world. He becomes betrothed to ... See full summary »
Director: Georges Lampin | Stars: Edwige Feuillère, Lucien Coëdel, Jean Debucourt, Sylvie
Votes: 250
12. Jenny Lamour (1947)
Not Rated | 106 min | Crime, Drama
A flirtatious wife runs off to meet an older man and the husband closes in with intend to murder him, but finds the deed already done.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Louis Jouvet, Simone Renant, Bernard Blier, Suzy Delair
Votes: 6,414 | Gross: $0.03M
13. Dédée d'Anvers (1948)
95 min | Drama
Dedee is a prostitute who works in Monsieur Rene's nightclub on Antwerp's harbour. The porter is Marco, her pimp. Dedee is not happy until she meets Francesco, an Italian sailor. They fall ... See full summary »
Director: Yves Allégret | Stars: Bernard Blier, Simone Signoret, Marcello Pagliero, Marcel Dalio
Votes: 693
14. Gates of the Night (1946)
100 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
It's Paris in the winter after its liberation. A tramp who may also be Destiny predicts that Jean Diego will fall in love with a beautiful girl. That same evening, Jean meets Malou.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Pierre Brasseur, Serge Reggiani, Yves Montand, Nathalie Nattier
Votes: 1,295
15. La Bête Humaine (1938)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
In this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Julien Carette, Simone Simon, Fernand Ledoux
Votes: 8,424
A Renoir from the late 30's, the period of Grande Illusion and la Regle du jeu, but not as well known. The only Zola adaptation Renoir made, it's lighter than many films made from this writer's works. Gabin and Simone Simon are the lovers.
16. La Chienne (1931)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama
Maurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Michel Simon, Janie Marèse, Georges Flamant, Roger Gaillard
Votes: 4,839
17. The Rules of the Game (1939)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély
Votes: 31,336
18. The Grand Illusion (1937)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, War
During WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
Votes: 38,869 | Gross: $0.17M
19. Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy
A bookseller saves a tramp from drowning and shelters him, but the tramp's odd behavior starts to wear everyone down.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Michel Simon, Marcelle Hainia, Sévérine Lerczinska, Jean Gehret
Votes: 6,209
20. L'Atalante (1934)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
Director: Jean Vigo | Stars: Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Gilles Margaritis, Louis Lefebvre
Votes: 17,476
21. Zero for Conduct (1933)
Not Rated | 47 min | Drama
In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.
Director: Jean Vigo | Stars: Jean Dasté, Robert le Flon, Louis Lefebvre, Du Verron
Votes: 9,365
22. It Happened at the Inn (1943)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
In a lost French village, an old woman is killed and her savings stolen. Several members of her family, all called "Goupi", are suspected.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Fernand Ledoux, Georges Rollin, Blanchette Brunoy, Arthur Devère
Votes: 1,079
23. Casque d'Or (1952)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin, Raymond Bussières
Votes: 6,220
24. Rendezvous in July (1949)
112 min | Comedy, Drama
Hopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Daniel Gélin, Brigitte Auber, Nicole Courcel, Pierre Trabaud
Votes: 455 | Gross: $0.01M
25. Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama
An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll, Vittorio Sanipoli
Votes: 8,547 | Gross: $0.13M
26. The Hole (1960)
Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Distrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: André Bervil, Jean Keraudy, Michel Constantin, Philippe Leroy
Votes: 20,379 | Gross: $0.03M
27. Inspector Maigret (1958)
119 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A serial killer is targeting women in the seedy district of Le Marais.
Director: Jean Delannoy | Stars: Jean Gabin, Annie Girardot, Olivier Hussenot, Jeanne Boitel
Votes: 2,084 | Gross: $0.01M
A classic Maigret story. A district of Paris is terrorized by a killer of women. Maigret sets up an elaborate trap, which eventually yields a suspect, and then... There is a shock ending. The acting is amazing: Gabin, Desailly, Sety, Bogaert, Girardot and more.
28. Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (1959)
101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The Countess de Saint-Fiacre, having received a terrible anonymous letter predicting her imminent death, summons Commissioner Maigret in the hope that he can protect her and save her from a secret ill-wisher.
Director: Jean Delannoy | Stars: Jean Gabin, Michel Auclair, Valentine Tessier, Jacques Morel
Votes: 1,509
29. Pastoral Symphony (1946)
Approved | 110 min | Drama
A minister falls in love with a blind young woman he sheltered, but so does his son.
Director: Jean Delannoy | Stars: Pierre Blanchar, Michèle Morgan, Line Noro, Jean Desailly
Votes: 609
30. L'éternel retour (1943)
107 min | Drama, Romance
This is a retelling of Tristan and Isolde, set in 1940s France. The script was written by Jean Cocteau.
Director: Jean Delannoy | Stars: Madeleine Sologne, Jean Marais, Jean Murat, Junie Astor
Votes: 619
During the war, directors like Carne, Becker and Delannoy remained in France and tried to make films that would appeal to the public while escaping the German censors. Delannoy has retold the Tristan story, using Bedier's translation of the 11th century saga. Jean Marais and Madeleine Sologne have the beauty of statues; no doubt Cocteau, the script writer intended this. Can be seen as companion piece to Les visiteurs du soir.
31. Pépé le Moko (1937)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A wanted gangster is both king and prisoner of the Casbah. He is protected from arrest by his friends, but is torn by his desire for freedom outside. A visiting Parisian beauty may just tempt his fate.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Jean Gabin, Gabriel Gabrio, Saturnin Fabre, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 8,075 | Gross: $0.15M
32. Devil in the Flesh (1947)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama, Romance
During World War I, the star-crossed affair of an underage French student with a woman engaged to a soldier.
Director: Claude Autant-Lara | Stars: Micheline Presle, Gérard Philipe, Denise Grey, Jean Debucourt
Votes: 898
33. The Charterhouse of Parma (1948)
170 min | Drama, Romance
Fabrice del Dongo, a young archbishop, gives his all to romance rather than to the Church, creating complications for everyone around. The Countess of San Severina, is but one of the women ... See full summary »
Director: Christian-Jaque | Stars: Renée Faure, Lucien Coëdel, Louis Salou, María Casares
Votes: 531
34. Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
Directors: Jean Cocteau, René Clément | Stars: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon
Votes: 28,091 | Gross: $0.30M
35. Orpheus (1950)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.
Director: Jean Cocteau | Stars: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares, Marie Déa
Votes: 13,413
36. The Terrible Children (1950)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The dangerously obsessive relationship between a psychologically manipulative brother and sister who isolate themselves and draw others into their mind games.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Nicole Stéphane, Edouard Dermithe, Renée Cosima, Jacques Bernard
Votes: 4,331
37. The Terrible Parents (1948)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
Michel is in love with Madeleine, so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough; his engagement, however, threatens to reveal dark secrets lurking within his family's home.
Director: Jean Cocteau | Stars: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Yvonne de Bray, Marcel André
Votes: 982 | Gross: $0.01M
38. The Eagle with Two Heads (1948)
93 min | Drama
A poet plans to assassinate an unpopular queen but falls in love with her instead.
Director: Jean Cocteau | Stars: Edwige Feuillère, Jean Marais, Silvia Monfort, Jacques Varennes
Votes: 683
39. The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Paul Bernard, María Casares, Elina Labourdette, Lucienne Bogaert
Votes: 4,840
40. A Man Escaped (1956)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod
Votes: 25,012
41. Le Jour Se Leve (1939)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty, Jules Berry
Votes: 8,275 | Gross: $0.03M
42. Port of Shadows (1938)
Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michèle Morgan, Pierre Brasseur
Votes: 9,966 | Gross: $0.03M
43. The Lower Depths (1936)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A charismatic thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron who comes to live in the thief's slum. Meanwhile the thief seeks the love of a young woman, who is held emotionally captive by her slumlord family.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Suzy Prim, Louis Jouvet, Jany Holt
Votes: 3,678
This is the Renoir film, not the Kurosawa that's shown on the box. Gabin, le Vigan, Jouvet, Junie Astor--all wonderful. Look for the great scene between Gabin and Jouvet; so sardonic and well played.
44. Razzia (1955)
105 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Henri, the Man from Nantes, comes back to his country after a successful stay in the United States, where he was working for Liski, the drug dealer. With the fame of being a tough guy ... See full summary »
Director: Henri Decoin | Stars: Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio, Lino Ventura, Albert Rémy
Votes: 1,313
45. French Cancan (1955)
Not Rated | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
This comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Françoise Arnoul, María Félix, Anna Amendola
Votes: 4,456
46. Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949)
91 min | Drama
During the cold and rainy off-season a man arrives in a seaside town and, giving his name only as Pierre, checks into the only hotel which remains open. His arrival arouses curiosity and a ... See full summary »
Director: Yves Allégret | Stars: Madeleine Robinson, Gérard Philipe, Jean Servais, André Valmy
Votes: 859
Gerard Philipe as an orphan who grew up on public assistance and is trying to cope with the world. Madeleine Robinson plays the girl.
47. Devil in the Flesh (1947)
Not Rated | 122 min | Drama, Romance
During World War I, the star-crossed affair of an underage French student with a woman engaged to a soldier.
Director: Claude Autant-Lara | Stars: Micheline Presle, Gérard Philipe, Denise Grey, Jean Debucourt
Votes: 898
48. La Ronde (1950)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Romance
Soldiers, chambermaids, poets, prostitutes, aristocrats-all are on equal footing in this multi-character merry-go-round of love and infidelity.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon
Votes: 5,961
49. Fanfan la Tulipe (1952)
Not Rated | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Swashbuckling adventures of young army recruit Fanfan la Tulipe during the reign of King Louis XV in 18th Century France.
Director: Christian-Jaque | Stars: Gérard Philipe, Gina Lollobrigida, Marcel Herrand, Olivier Hussenot
Votes: 3,436
50. Beauties of the Night (1952)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
A young composer has vivid dreams of the past that reflect, yet conflict with his waking life.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Gérard Philipe, Martine Carol, Gina Lollobrigida, Magali Vendeuil
Votes: 809
51. The Proud and the Beautiful (1953)
103 min | Drama, Romance
Life in a small Mexican village where joy and misery, hope and pain, passion and guilt, love and decay, life and death are mixed in the peasants life and two French citizens who end up stranded in there, during a typhoid epidemic.
Directors: Yves Allégret, Rafael E. Portas | Stars: Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philipe, Víctor Manuel Mendoza, Carlos López Moctezuma
Votes: 905
52. Knave of Hearts (1954)
Approved | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A philanderer fakes suicide with unexpected consequences.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Gérard Philipe, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Margaret Johnston
Votes: 509
53. The Grand Maneuver (1955)
106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A French lieutenant makes a bet that he can seduce any woman in town in the two weeks before his regiment leaves for maneuvers, but his chosen target (a Parisian divorcée) isn't like other girls he's known.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philipe, Jean Desailly, Pierre Dux
Votes: 1,115
Gerard Philipe is a dashing heel of an army officer, Michele Morgan is a boutique owner who has been hurt by men... Rene Clair made a great picture.
54. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
Not Rated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A self-assured businessman murders his employer, the husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin
Votes: 28,654 | Gross: $0.11M
55. The Lovers (1958)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
Saddled with a dull husband and a foolish lover, a woman has an affair with a stranger.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny, Jean-Marc Bory, Judith Magre
Votes: 5,923
56. The Cousins (1959)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama
A pair of cousins share a flat, but animosity begins to build between the two when a woman gets involved.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy, Juliette Mayniel, Guy Decomble
Votes: 3,247
Young people behaving very badly in the Paris of the 50's. Superb performances by Brialy, Blain and Mayniel.
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