Lee Mi-Mi’s intoxicating film, which sits in a rich cinematic tradition of all-girls’ schools, with their homoerotic tensions, as social microcosms, earns a rare screening this week
Love is a many-splendoured thing in Lee Mi-Mi’s Girls’ School, a Taiwanese gem from 1982 beautifully restored just in time for its 40th anniversary. Screened in the UK at BFI Southbank as part of Queer East, an LGBTQ+ film festival showcasing lesser-known treasures from east and south-east Asian cinema, Girls’ School is a time capsule of social attitudes towards homosexuality in 1980s Taiwan at the meeting point between commercial and arthouse film-making.
As a site of surveillance, tempestuous impulses and healing camaraderie, all-girls’ schools can double as a microcosm for society and have a psychological intensity that has fascinated generations of film-makers. Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) views such places as a source of horror and mystery while The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie...
Love is a many-splendoured thing in Lee Mi-Mi’s Girls’ School, a Taiwanese gem from 1982 beautifully restored just in time for its 40th anniversary. Screened in the UK at BFI Southbank as part of Queer East, an LGBTQ+ film festival showcasing lesser-known treasures from east and south-east Asian cinema, Girls’ School is a time capsule of social attitudes towards homosexuality in 1980s Taiwan at the meeting point between commercial and arthouse film-making.
As a site of surveillance, tempestuous impulses and healing camaraderie, all-girls’ schools can double as a microcosm for society and have a psychological intensity that has fascinated generations of film-makers. Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) views such places as a source of horror and mystery while The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie...
- 5/23/2022
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
Kinuyo Tanaka on the set of The Moon Has Risen (1955) Directed between 1953 and 1962, six newly restored features by Kinuyo Tanaka are the subject of a historic retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Tanaka was already a preeminent actress of international renown when she turned to directing, a decision that made her Japan’s second female filmmaker and the only woman making pictures during the nation’s postwar era. Tanaka’s relationship with major studios ensured that her directorial works would be mainstream productions with high-profile talent and skilled crews. As Irene González-López and Michael Smith state in Tanaka Kinuyo: Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity, the first English-language book on Tanaka: “Only a few others, including the actress Ida Lupino (1918–95) in America and Jacqueline Audry (1908–77) in France, worked in commercial cinema.” The retrospective, however, calls for a reappraisal of her filmmaking career as much more than the sum of these important but gendered accomplishments,...
- 3/18/2022
- MUBI
The Criterion Channel has unveiled their lineup for next month and it’s another strong slate, featuring retrospectives of Carole Lombard, John Waters, Robert Downey Sr., Luis García Berlanga, Jane Russell, and Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman. Also in the lineup is new additions to their Queersighted series, notably Todd Haynes’ early film Poison (Safe is also premiering in a separate presentation), William Friedkin’s Cruising, and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorama.
The new restorations of Manoel de Oliveira’s stunning Francisca and Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli will join the channel, alongside Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor, Bong Joon Ho’s early short film Incoherence, and Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Rosetta.
See the lineup below and explore more on criterionchannel.com.
#Blackmendream, Shikeith, 2014
12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet, 1957
About Tap, George T. Nierenberg, 1985
The AIDS Show, Peter Adair and Rob Epstein, 1986
The Assignation, Curtis Harrington, 1953
Aya of Yop City,...
The new restorations of Manoel de Oliveira’s stunning Francisca and Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli will join the channel, alongside Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor, Bong Joon Ho’s early short film Incoherence, and Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Rosetta.
See the lineup below and explore more on criterionchannel.com.
#Blackmendream, Shikeith, 2014
12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet, 1957
About Tap, George T. Nierenberg, 1985
The AIDS Show, Peter Adair and Rob Epstein, 1986
The Assignation, Curtis Harrington, 1953
Aya of Yop City,...
- 5/24/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
- 3/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“Americans live on ketchup and milk. I’m a whiz at geography.”
Cinema St. Louis’ 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festivalruns July 17-23, 2020. Individual tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid and current photo IDs. All-access passes are available for $25, $20 for Csl members. Ticket and Pass Purchaseinformation can be found Here. Regrettably, streaming rights to most of the films Cinema St. Louis planned to feature at the 2020 Robert Classic French Film Festival were not available to them. But they are pleased that they’re able to offer a trio of works from the original lineup: Marguerite Duras’ rarely seen “India Song”; a new restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia”; and René Clément’s “Rider on the Rain,” which is part of their year-long Golden Anniversaries programming that features films from 1970. All films are in French with English subtitles.
Tom Stockman, editor of...
Cinema St. Louis’ 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festivalruns July 17-23, 2020. Individual tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid and current photo IDs. All-access passes are available for $25, $20 for Csl members. Ticket and Pass Purchaseinformation can be found Here. Regrettably, streaming rights to most of the films Cinema St. Louis planned to feature at the 2020 Robert Classic French Film Festival were not available to them. But they are pleased that they’re able to offer a trio of works from the original lineup: Marguerite Duras’ rarely seen “India Song”; a new restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia”; and René Clément’s “Rider on the Rain,” which is part of their year-long Golden Anniversaries programming that features films from 1970. All films are in French with English subtitles.
Tom Stockman, editor of...
- 7/15/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
” Je t’aime bien, mon enfant… plus que tu ne crois. I love you, my child… more than you believe. “
Cinema St. Louis’ 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival runs July 17-23, 2020. Individual tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid and current photo IDs. All-access passes are available for $25, $20 for Csl members. Ticket and Pass Purchase information can be found Here
The 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE, sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation, and produced by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s extraordinary cinematic legacy.
Because of the Covid-19 health crisis, the fest will be presented virtually this year. Csl is partnering with Eventive, which also handles our ticketing, to present the Virtual Festival. Filmswill be available to view on demand anytime from July 17-23. Access to...
Cinema St. Louis’ 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival runs July 17-23, 2020. Individual tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with valid and current photo IDs. All-access passes are available for $25, $20 for Csl members. Ticket and Pass Purchase information can be found Here
The 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE, sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation, and produced by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s extraordinary cinematic legacy.
Because of the Covid-19 health crisis, the fest will be presented virtually this year. Csl is partnering with Eventive, which also handles our ticketing, to present the Virtual Festival. Filmswill be available to view on demand anytime from July 17-23. Access to...
- 6/17/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The coronavirus pandemic is still going on, and shutdowns are being lifted oh so gently. That generally means two things: go outside with a mask on while strafing away from passersby on the sidewalk, or stay in and watch stuff. Luckily, The Criterion Channel has announced its June 2020 lineup, which is full of things old and new.
June sees the streaming premiere of Bertrand Bonello’s fantasy-horror, Zombi Child, which originally premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The month also brings us the Channel’s addition of Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, which comes with deleted scenes, a making-of documentary, and more. Meanwhile, they will also flesh out the service’s Chantal Akerman selection, adding features such as One Day Pina Asked…, Golden Eighties, and her penultimate feature, Almayer’s Folly. On the other side of the coin comes Jamie Babbit...
June sees the streaming premiere of Bertrand Bonello’s fantasy-horror, Zombi Child, which originally premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The month also brings us the Channel’s addition of Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, which comes with deleted scenes, a making-of documentary, and more. Meanwhile, they will also flesh out the service’s Chantal Akerman selection, adding features such as One Day Pina Asked…, Golden Eighties, and her penultimate feature, Almayer’s Folly. On the other side of the coin comes Jamie Babbit...
- 5/20/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
Cinema St. Louis presents the 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place April 10th – 26th 2020. The location this year are both Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E Lockwood Ave) and Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.
The 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. This year’s featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.
The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features a quartet of such works: Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous,” Joseph Losey’s “Mr. Klein,” Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia,” and the extended director’s cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Betty Blue.”
The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way,...
The 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. This year’s featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.
The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features a quartet of such works: Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous,” Joseph Losey’s “Mr. Klein,” Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia,” and the extended director’s cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Betty Blue.”
The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way,...
- 3/6/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Olivia At The Laemmle Royal | 11523 Santa Monica Blvd.
Already underway and screening daily through Sept. 5 at the Laemmle Royal is a new digital restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s trailblazing 1951 feature Olivia, one of the first films, French or otherwise, to deal with female homosexuality. Set in a 19th-century Parisian finishing school for girls, the film depicts the struggle between two head mistresses (Edwige Feuillere and Simone Simon) for the affection of their students, and how one girl’s (Marie-Claire Olivia) romantic urges stir jealousy in the house. Audry, one of the key female filmmakers of post-World War II France,...
Already underway and screening daily through Sept. 5 at the Laemmle Royal is a new digital restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s trailblazing 1951 feature Olivia, one of the first films, French or otherwise, to deal with female homosexuality. Set in a 19th-century Parisian finishing school for girls, the film depicts the struggle between two head mistresses (Edwige Feuillere and Simone Simon) for the affection of their students, and how one girl’s (Marie-Claire Olivia) romantic urges stir jealousy in the house. Audry, one of the key female filmmakers of post-World War II France,...
Olivia At The Laemmle Royal | 11523 Santa Monica Blvd.
Already underway and screening daily through Sept. 5 at the Laemmle Royal is a new digital restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s trailblazing 1951 feature Olivia, one of the first films, French or otherwise, to deal with female homosexuality. Set in a 19th-century Parisian finishing school for girls, the film depicts the struggle between two head mistresses (Edwige Feuillere and Simone Simon) for the affection of their students, and how one girl’s (Marie-Claire Olivia) romantic urges stir jealousy in the house. Audry, one of the key female filmmakers of post-World War II France,...
Already underway and screening daily through Sept. 5 at the Laemmle Royal is a new digital restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s trailblazing 1951 feature Olivia, one of the first films, French or otherwise, to deal with female homosexuality. Set in a 19th-century Parisian finishing school for girls, the film depicts the struggle between two head mistresses (Edwige Feuillere and Simone Simon) for the affection of their students, and how one girl’s (Marie-Claire Olivia) romantic urges stir jealousy in the house. Audry, one of the key female filmmakers of post-World War II France,...
Teacher Pets: Audry’s Lesbian Melodrama Reclaims the Spotlight in New Restoration
Returning to dispel the historical erasure of queer representation in cinema is Olivia, a restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s 1951 melodrama, adapted from the only novel by Dorothy Bussy, an English teacher and translator responsible for translating all of Andre Gide’s works into English thanks to their decades spanning friendship. Besides a reclamation of early lesbian representation, the restoration is a reminder of the importance of Audry, who worked steadily as a director from 1946 to 1967, often adapting notable novels (including works by Jean-Paul Sartre and Colette) and is perhaps best remembered for first tackling Gigi (1949), which Vincente Minnelli would later churn into an Academy Award winning musical in 1958.…...
Returning to dispel the historical erasure of queer representation in cinema is Olivia, a restoration of Jacqueline Audry’s 1951 melodrama, adapted from the only novel by Dorothy Bussy, an English teacher and translator responsible for translating all of Andre Gide’s works into English thanks to their decades spanning friendship. Besides a reclamation of early lesbian representation, the restoration is a reminder of the importance of Audry, who worked steadily as a director from 1946 to 1967, often adapting notable novels (including works by Jean-Paul Sartre and Colette) and is perhaps best remembered for first tackling Gigi (1949), which Vincente Minnelli would later churn into an Academy Award winning musical in 1958.…...
- 8/20/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
A Vincente Minnelli retrospective is underway.
The Cremator has been restored.
Alphaville and Holy Motors have late-night showings, while The Golden Voyage of Sinbad screens in the morning.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door plays on Sunday.
Film Forum
Martin Scorsese and Jay Cocks have curated a series of two-for one double features.
Metrograph
A Vincente Minnelli retrospective is underway.
The Cremator has been restored.
Alphaville and Holy Motors have late-night showings, while The Golden Voyage of Sinbad screens in the morning.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door plays on Sunday.
Film Forum
Martin Scorsese and Jay Cocks have curated a series of two-for one double features.
- 8/16/2019
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
New York-based Distrib Films Us has acquired three films from Studiocanal, including “One Nation, One King,” Pierre Schoeller’s sprawling movie about the French Revolution, which world premiered out of competition at last year’s Venice Film Festival.
“One Nation, One King” is headlined by a strong French cast, including Gaspard Ulliel, Adele Haenel, Olivier Gourmet, Louis Garrel, Niels Schneider and Denis Lavant. The big-budget film unfolds in 1789 Paris and is told from the perspectives of revolutionaries.
Produced by Denis Freyd at Archipel 35 (“The Kid With a Bike”), “One Nation, One King” follows Françoise, a young washerwoman, and Basile, a drifter, who begin to fulfill a dream of emancipation in the newly formed assembly where they witness the creation of a new political system along with the working-class people of Paris.
Distrib Films Us will release “One Nation, One King” in the U.S., along with two more Studiocanal films,...
“One Nation, One King” is headlined by a strong French cast, including Gaspard Ulliel, Adele Haenel, Olivier Gourmet, Louis Garrel, Niels Schneider and Denis Lavant. The big-budget film unfolds in 1789 Paris and is told from the perspectives of revolutionaries.
Produced by Denis Freyd at Archipel 35 (“The Kid With a Bike”), “One Nation, One King” follows Françoise, a young washerwoman, and Basile, a drifter, who begin to fulfill a dream of emancipation in the newly formed assembly where they witness the creation of a new political system along with the working-class people of Paris.
Distrib Films Us will release “One Nation, One King” in the U.S., along with two more Studiocanal films,...
- 2/15/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
'Ben-Hur' 1959 with Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston: TCM's '31 Days of Oscar.' '31 Days of Oscar': 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Ben-Hur' are in, Paramount stars are out Today, Feb. 1, '16, Turner Classic Movies is kicking off the 21st edition of its “31 Days of Oscar.” While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being vociferously reviled for its “lack of diversity” – more on that appallingly myopic, self-serving, and double-standard-embracing furore in an upcoming post – TCM is celebrating nearly nine decades of the Academy Awards. That's the good news. The disappointing news is that if you're expecting to find rare Paramount, Universal, or Fox/20th Century Fox entries in the mix, you're out of luck. So, missing from the TCM schedule are, among others: Best Actress nominees Ruth Chatterton in Sarah and Son, Nancy Carroll in The Devil's Holiday, Claudette Colbert in Private Worlds. Unofficial Best Actor...
- 2/2/2016
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Danièle Delorme and Jean Gabin in 'Deadlier Than the Male.' Danièle Delorme movies (See previous post: “Danièle Delorme: 'Gigi' 1949 Actress Became Rare Woman Director's Muse.”) “Every actor would like to make a movie with Charles Chaplin or René Clair,” Danièle Delorme explains in the filmed interview (ca. 1960) embedded further below, adding that oftentimes it wasn't up to them to decide with whom they would get to work. Yet, although frequently beyond her control, Delorme managed to collaborate with a number of major (mostly French) filmmakers throughout her six-decade movie career. Aside from her Jacqueline Audry films discussed in the previous Danièle Delorme article, below are a few of her most notable efforts – usually playing naive-looking young women of modest means and deceptively inconspicuous sexuality, whose inner character may or may not match their external appearance. Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire (“Open for Inventory Causes,” 1946), an unreleased, no-budget comedy notable...
- 12/18/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Danièle Delorme: 'Gigi' 1949 actress and pioneering female film producer. Danièle Delorme: 'Gigi' 1949 actress was pioneering woman producer, politically minded 'femme engagée' Danièle Delorme, who died on Oct. 17, '15, at the age of 89 in Paris, is best remembered as the first actress to incarnate Colette's teenage courtesan-to-be Gigi and for playing Jean Rochefort's about-to-be-cuckolded wife in the international box office hit Pardon Mon Affaire. Yet few are aware that Delorme was featured in nearly 60 films – three of which, including Gigi, directed by France's sole major woman filmmaker of the '40s and '50s – in addition to more than 20 stage plays and a dozen television productions in a show business career spanning seven decades. Even fewer realize that Delorme was also a pioneering woman film producer, working in that capacity for more than half a century. Or that she was what in French is called a femme engagée...
- 12/5/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Constance Cummings: Stage and film actress ca. early 1940s. Constance Cummings on stage: From Sacha Guitry to Clifford Odets (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Flawless 'Blithe Spirit,' Supporter of Political Refugees.”) In the post-World War II years, Constance Cummings' stage reputation continued to grow on the English stage, in plays as diverse as: Stephen Powys (pseudonym for P.G. Wodehouse) and Guy Bolton's English-language adaptation of Sacha Guitry's Don't Listen, Ladies! (1948), with Cummings as one of shop clerk Denholm Elliott's mistresses (the other one was Betty Marsden). “Miss Cummings and Miss Marsden act as fetchingly as they look,” commented The Spectator. Rodney Ackland's Before the Party (1949), delivering “a superb performance of controlled hysteria” according to theater director and Michael Redgrave biographer Alan Strachan, writing for The Independent at the time of Cummings' death. Clifford Odets' Winter Journey / The Country Girl (1952), as...
- 11/10/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Grande dame of French film whose career spanned more than a half-century
Danièle Delorme, who has died aged 89, began acting professionally in 1942 and continued until the end of the century in films, television and theatre. But the earliest part of her long and prestigious career is most remembered internationally.
Delorme started in films as a fragile and elegant, slightly coquettish ingenue, notably in three pictures directed by Jacqueline Audry, based on novels by Colette: Gigi (1949), Minne, l’Ingénue Libertine (1950) and Mitsou (1956). She was described by her first husband, the actor Daniel Gélin, as having “the face of a little girl, an upturned nose with passionate nostrils, the lips of a child, the body of a woman and a certain way about her that turns heads”.
Continue reading...
Danièle Delorme, who has died aged 89, began acting professionally in 1942 and continued until the end of the century in films, television and theatre. But the earliest part of her long and prestigious career is most remembered internationally.
Delorme started in films as a fragile and elegant, slightly coquettish ingenue, notably in three pictures directed by Jacqueline Audry, based on novels by Colette: Gigi (1949), Minne, l’Ingénue Libertine (1950) and Mitsou (1956). She was described by her first husband, the actor Daniel Gélin, as having “the face of a little girl, an upturned nose with passionate nostrils, the lips of a child, the body of a woman and a certain way about her that turns heads”.
Continue reading...
- 10/23/2015
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Simone Simon: Remembering the 'Cat People' and 'La Bête Humaine' star (photo: Simone Simon 'Cat People' publicity) Pert, pretty, pouty, and fiery-tempered Simone Simon – who died at age 94 ten years ago, on Feb. 22, 2005 – is best known for her starring role in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic Cat People (1942). Those aware of the existence of film industries outside Hollywood will also remember Simon for her button-nosed femme fatale in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938).[1] In fact, long before Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroyberg, Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, and Barbarella's Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm – with a tad of puppy dog wistfulness – in a film career that spanned two continents and a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both...
- 2/20/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Cat People' 1942 actress Simone Simon Remembered: Starred in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie classic (photo: Simone Simon in 'Cat People') Pert, pouty, pretty Simone Simon is best remembered for her starring roles in Jacques Tourneur's cult horror movie Cat People (1942) and in Jean Renoir's French film noir La Bête Humaine (1938). Long before Brigitte Bardot, Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, and (for a few years) Jane Fonda became known as cinema's Sex Kittens, Simone Simon exuded feline charm in a film career that spanned a quarter of a century. From the early '30s to the mid-'50s, she seduced men young and old on both sides of the Atlantic – at times, with fatal results. During that period, Simon was featured in nearly 40 movies in France, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Hollywood. Besides Jean Renoir, in her native country she worked for the likes of Jacqueline Audry...
- 2/6/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Odd List Aliya Whiteley Feb 19, 2013
Covering 85 years of cinema, Aliya provides her pick of 25 stylish, must-see French movies...
I’m going to kick this off in best New-Wave style by pointing out that we should be praising each great director’s body of work rather than showcasing favourite movies in a list format; after all, France came up with the concept of the auteur filmmaker, stamping their personality on a film, using the camera to portray their version of the world.
Yeah, well, personality is everything. So here’s a highly personal choice, arranged in chronological order, of 25 of the most individualistic French films. They may be long or short, old or new, but they all have one thing in common – they’ve got directorial style. And by that I don’t mean their shoes match their handbags.
The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (1928)
There are no stirring battle scenes,...
Covering 85 years of cinema, Aliya provides her pick of 25 stylish, must-see French movies...
I’m going to kick this off in best New-Wave style by pointing out that we should be praising each great director’s body of work rather than showcasing favourite movies in a list format; after all, France came up with the concept of the auteur filmmaker, stamping their personality on a film, using the camera to portray their version of the world.
Yeah, well, personality is everything. So here’s a highly personal choice, arranged in chronological order, of 25 of the most individualistic French films. They may be long or short, old or new, but they all have one thing in common – they’ve got directorial style. And by that I don’t mean their shoes match their handbags.
The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (1928)
There are no stirring battle scenes,...
- 2/18/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
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