The kernel of the film is same as what Machiavelli in his book The Prince seems to say. The book was meant for Lorenzo de Medici, the Magnificent. Of course the Medicis of another age and clime hold parallel to the Corleone family in as far as that they could acquire power and maintain it. As Medicis before them the Corleone family embody the American Dream and in it they didn’t have such taste or luck as the Medicis had. Michaelangelo under the aegis of the Corleone family surely would have churned out kitsch by dozens. The film has no pretensions to art and culture but is a crime drama. In order to ensure success what a bloody trail the Corleones leave in their wake? The Machiavellian methods dictated a course that is violent and amoral. Afterall given the stakes involved, the warring parties cannot then as now afford to let their objectives clouded by fine sensibilities. In this context the film quote "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," has the directness of a thrust from a stilleto or a spray of bullets from a machine gun. The second part of the Godfather is the saga of Vito Corleone from his childhood in Sicily (1901) to his founding of the criminal Corleone Family in New York City while still a young man (1917–1925) and like the Prince is a modern treatise for any one who would want to maintain his position acquired by fair means or foul.
The plot includes two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone following the events of the first movie from 1958 to 1959 and the other his father is a series of flashbacks. In the present, Michael Corleone attempt to steer the family business towards respectability but at great cost to his own relationships. Even his own brother, Freddie (John Cazale) is sacrificed to Michael's grim and ultimately pointless determination. The Godfather Part II became the first sequel ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and garnered and even bigger Oscar haul than The Godfather. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo the film stars Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, and Talia Shire. New cast members include Robert De Niro( who won the Best Supporting Actor) , Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg.
Trivia: Paramount was initially opposed to name the movie The Godfather Part II. According to Coppola, the studio's objection stemmed from the belief that audiences would be reluctant to see a film with such a title. The success of The Godfather Part II began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels.
Cast
Al Pacino as Don Michael Corleone
* Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen
* Robert De Niro as Young Vito Corleone
* Diane Keaton as Kay Corleone
* John Cazale as Fredo Corleone
* Talia Shire as Connie Corleone
* Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth
* Michael V. Gazzo as Frankie Pentangeli
* Morgana King as Mama Carmella Corleone
* G.D. Spradlin as Senator Pat Geary
* Richard Bright as Al Neri
* Marianna Hill as Deanna Corleone
* Gastone Moschin as Don Fanucci
* Troy Donahue as Merle Johnson
The Godfather Part II ranks among the most critically and artistically successful film sequels in movie history, and is the most honored. Many critics praise it as equal, or even superior, to the original film.
...a sumptuous flamboyant entertainment - not a work of art perhaps but a rich, enjoyable wallow of a movie.
~ Barry Norman, 100 Best Films of the Century
benny
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
To Be or Not To Be-1942
The movie chronicles the adventures of a Polish theater company before and during Nazi occupation. The film draws its life from two players of that company: Josef Tura and his wife, Maria. The former is a ham who is fixated to play the soliloquy from Hamlet whenever he could hold the centre stage. Hence the title of the film.
To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch who adapted from the story by Melchior Lengyel. The film stars Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman. Supposedly a comedy film the film fell flat on its release because the general public felt that making fun of such a real threat as the Nazis was revolting. (During the premier, Benny's own father walked out of the theater disgusted to see his son in a Nazi uniform during the first scene.) Worse still the film was released two months after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash.
Plot
The movie chronicles the adventures of a Polish theater company that has also been performing Shakespeare's Hamlet, with Maria as Ophelia and Tura in the title role. Maria is curious to know the handsome young pilot who has been sending her flowers. Lieutenant Stanislav Sobinski sends a note asking for permission to finally meet Maria, and she agrees, telling him to come to her dressing room when her husband begins his "To be or not to be..." speech, so they can be sure of privacy. As a result, the young man walks out (very obviously) just as Tura begins his monologue and it causes the highly-strung actor great distress. Maria is attracted to Sobinski when they meet, and the two arrange to meet again. But then
Germany has declared war on Poland just as Sobinski is beginning to win her heart and news such as this must spell disaster for lovers. He leaves to join the fight and the actors take shelter under the theater as bombs begin to fall. Rest of the proceedings are fairly predictable what with the theater troup trying hard to stay afloat while sinister plots to ferret out Polish resistance are put forward and checkmated. The film bears ‘the Lubitsch touch’ that keeps the film from falling apart. His light touch is evident throughout keeping what could be a mindless farce into a zany but intelligent caper . For an example let me sketch the final scene. Tura and Maria escape into England and the actor is once again on stage as Hamlet and reaches the moment of "To be or not to be." He eyes Sobinski in the audience as he begins the speech, but both of them are struck dumb when a new young man gets up and heads backstage.
Cast
* Carole Lombard as Maria Tura — an actress in Nazi-occupied Poland.
* Jack Benny as Joseph Tura — an actor and Maria's husband.
* Robert Stack as Lt. Stanislav Sobinski — a Polish airman in love with Maria.
* Stanley Ridges as Professor Alexander Siletsky — A Nazi spy masquerading as a Polish resistance worker; tries to seduce Maria in order to persuade her to become a Nazi spy.
The film was remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks.
Trivia: ‘A prescient line was cut out of the film after the death of Carole Lombard: when Lombard is invited by Robert Stack's smitten airman to fly in a plane with him, she says: "What can happen on a plane?" The line has since been restored to available prints of the film’.(ack:wikipedia,all movie guide)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Melchior Lengyel
Edwin Justus Mayer
Music by Werner R. Heymann
Uncredited:
Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography Rudolph Maté
Editing by Dorothy Spencer
Running time 99 minutes
Similar Movies
La Traversée de Paris (1956, Claude Autant-Lara)
The Great Dictator (1940, Charles Chaplin)
La Grande Vadrouille (1966, Gérard Oury)
La Poudre d'escampette (1971, Philippe de Broca)
Novye Pokhozhdeniya Shveyka (1943, Sergei Yutkevich)
Bon Voyage (2003, Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
The Producers (1968, Mel Brooks)
L'As Des As (1982, Gérard Oury)
Senechal the Magnificent (1958)
Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919, F. Richard Jones)
Movies with the Same Personnel
Ninotchka (1939, Ernst Lubitsch)
Heaven Can Wait (1943, Ernst Lubitsch)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch)
Nothing Sacred (1937, William Wellman)
That Uncertain Feeling (1941, Ernst Lubitsch)
Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch)
Wilson (1944, Henry King)
Tarzan Triumphs (1943, William Thiele)
Other Related Movies
is related to: Ay, Carmela! (1990, Carlos Saura)
Mephisto (1981, István Szabó)
has been remade as: To Be or Not to Be (1983, Alan Johnson)
benny
To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch who adapted from the story by Melchior Lengyel. The film stars Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman. Supposedly a comedy film the film fell flat on its release because the general public felt that making fun of such a real threat as the Nazis was revolting. (During the premier, Benny's own father walked out of the theater disgusted to see his son in a Nazi uniform during the first scene.) Worse still the film was released two months after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash.
Plot
The movie chronicles the adventures of a Polish theater company that has also been performing Shakespeare's Hamlet, with Maria as Ophelia and Tura in the title role. Maria is curious to know the handsome young pilot who has been sending her flowers. Lieutenant Stanislav Sobinski sends a note asking for permission to finally meet Maria, and she agrees, telling him to come to her dressing room when her husband begins his "To be or not to be..." speech, so they can be sure of privacy. As a result, the young man walks out (very obviously) just as Tura begins his monologue and it causes the highly-strung actor great distress. Maria is attracted to Sobinski when they meet, and the two arrange to meet again. But then
Germany has declared war on Poland just as Sobinski is beginning to win her heart and news such as this must spell disaster for lovers. He leaves to join the fight and the actors take shelter under the theater as bombs begin to fall. Rest of the proceedings are fairly predictable what with the theater troup trying hard to stay afloat while sinister plots to ferret out Polish resistance are put forward and checkmated. The film bears ‘the Lubitsch touch’ that keeps the film from falling apart. His light touch is evident throughout keeping what could be a mindless farce into a zany but intelligent caper . For an example let me sketch the final scene. Tura and Maria escape into England and the actor is once again on stage as Hamlet and reaches the moment of "To be or not to be." He eyes Sobinski in the audience as he begins the speech, but both of them are struck dumb when a new young man gets up and heads backstage.
Cast
* Carole Lombard as Maria Tura — an actress in Nazi-occupied Poland.
* Jack Benny as Joseph Tura — an actor and Maria's husband.
* Robert Stack as Lt. Stanislav Sobinski — a Polish airman in love with Maria.
* Stanley Ridges as Professor Alexander Siletsky — A Nazi spy masquerading as a Polish resistance worker; tries to seduce Maria in order to persuade her to become a Nazi spy.
The film was remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks.
Trivia: ‘A prescient line was cut out of the film after the death of Carole Lombard: when Lombard is invited by Robert Stack's smitten airman to fly in a plane with him, she says: "What can happen on a plane?" The line has since been restored to available prints of the film’.(ack:wikipedia,all movie guide)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Produced by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Melchior Lengyel
Edwin Justus Mayer
Music by Werner R. Heymann
Uncredited:
Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography Rudolph Maté
Editing by Dorothy Spencer
Running time 99 minutes
Similar Movies
La Traversée de Paris (1956, Claude Autant-Lara)
The Great Dictator (1940, Charles Chaplin)
La Grande Vadrouille (1966, Gérard Oury)
La Poudre d'escampette (1971, Philippe de Broca)
Novye Pokhozhdeniya Shveyka (1943, Sergei Yutkevich)
Bon Voyage (2003, Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
The Producers (1968, Mel Brooks)
L'As Des As (1982, Gérard Oury)
Senechal the Magnificent (1958)
Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919, F. Richard Jones)
Movies with the Same Personnel
Ninotchka (1939, Ernst Lubitsch)
Heaven Can Wait (1943, Ernst Lubitsch)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch)
Nothing Sacred (1937, William Wellman)
That Uncertain Feeling (1941, Ernst Lubitsch)
Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch)
Wilson (1944, Henry King)
Tarzan Triumphs (1943, William Thiele)
Other Related Movies
is related to: Ay, Carmela! (1990, Carlos Saura)
Mephisto (1981, István Szabó)
has been remade as: To Be or Not to Be (1983, Alan Johnson)
benny
The American Friend-1977
(Aka Der Amerikanische Freund)
It was Mark Twain who wrote Innocents Abroad. In that 1869 book he referred to his fellow trvellers as innocents. His fellow pilgrims while visiting the Holy Land were not for freeing their minds but trivializing the past and to be convinced of their set opinions as true. Alas it was then. The American in this film is entirely a mutant of naïve Americans of his age of which Tom Ripley is one. He is the new pilgrim and he is a criminal. He is more of the Harry Lime mold than of Mark Twain’s fellow Americans.
The American Friend is of the neo-noir genre. The film is based on Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley series. The Third book Ripley's Game (of five) is directed by Wim Wenders who also gave us Wings of Desire. (The Talented Mr. Ripley and Purple Noon are both based on the first book.)
Wim Wenders mines Dennis Hopper's real-life experience as a painter and collector in this existential take on the American gangster film. Unlike Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley Dennis Hopper’s role is subservient to that of Zimmermann.
Dennis Hopper stars as the eponymous American, currently a middleman selling the work of American painter Derwatt (Nicholas Ray), who has feigned his own death to increase the value of his paintings. While auctioning this work in Berlin, he meets art restorer Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz), who he learns is suffering from an incurable blood disease. When a shady friend (Gerard Blain) requires Ripley to find a "clean" non-professional to do a contract hit in order to pay off a debt, even he is reluctant. But he quickly realizes that the physically vulnerable Jonathan would be perfect for the job, and tries to get him to accept by employing various subterfuges to persuade him that his condition is even worse than it is. For his part, Blain guarantees the restorer that his family will be financially secure for life, and a deal is struck.
Naturally, complications arise.
In case of Wenders his characteristic ambiguity blurs the difference between Ripley and his victim. A sense of contingency and randomness permeate his work. For the same reason he stops himself from developing the desperation Zimmermann needs to make this story work. The result is a kind of watching the proceedings take their own course than being involved.
The doppelgänger motif, which threads through Highsmith's work is the dominant metaphor of Wenders' film. The cinematography is both bleak and pretty -- bouncing between Paris and postwar Germany. There are cameo roles for directors Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause) and Samuel Fuller (Shock Corridor).
Cast
* Dennis Hopper - Tom Ripley
* Bruno Ganz - Jonathan Zimmermann
* Lisa Kreuzer - Marianne Zimmermann
* Gérard Blain - Raoul Minot
* Nicholas Ray - Derwatt
Run Time: 127 minutes
In A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir, David N. Meyer says, "— The American Friend is worth the effort. Few movies from any era or genre offer such rich characters, realistic human relationships, gripping action sequences, or sly humor."
Similar Movies
Chinese Boxes; The Passenger; Öszi Almanach; Purple Noon; Il Faut Tuer Birgitt Haas; With a Friend Like Harry...; Mafioso
(Ack: wikipedia, Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com)
benny
It was Mark Twain who wrote Innocents Abroad. In that 1869 book he referred to his fellow trvellers as innocents. His fellow pilgrims while visiting the Holy Land were not for freeing their minds but trivializing the past and to be convinced of their set opinions as true. Alas it was then. The American in this film is entirely a mutant of naïve Americans of his age of which Tom Ripley is one. He is the new pilgrim and he is a criminal. He is more of the Harry Lime mold than of Mark Twain’s fellow Americans.
The American Friend is of the neo-noir genre. The film is based on Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley series. The Third book Ripley's Game (of five) is directed by Wim Wenders who also gave us Wings of Desire. (The Talented Mr. Ripley and Purple Noon are both based on the first book.)
Wim Wenders mines Dennis Hopper's real-life experience as a painter and collector in this existential take on the American gangster film. Unlike Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley Dennis Hopper’s role is subservient to that of Zimmermann.
Dennis Hopper stars as the eponymous American, currently a middleman selling the work of American painter Derwatt (Nicholas Ray), who has feigned his own death to increase the value of his paintings. While auctioning this work in Berlin, he meets art restorer Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz), who he learns is suffering from an incurable blood disease. When a shady friend (Gerard Blain) requires Ripley to find a "clean" non-professional to do a contract hit in order to pay off a debt, even he is reluctant. But he quickly realizes that the physically vulnerable Jonathan would be perfect for the job, and tries to get him to accept by employing various subterfuges to persuade him that his condition is even worse than it is. For his part, Blain guarantees the restorer that his family will be financially secure for life, and a deal is struck.
Naturally, complications arise.
In case of Wenders his characteristic ambiguity blurs the difference between Ripley and his victim. A sense of contingency and randomness permeate his work. For the same reason he stops himself from developing the desperation Zimmermann needs to make this story work. The result is a kind of watching the proceedings take their own course than being involved.
The doppelgänger motif, which threads through Highsmith's work is the dominant metaphor of Wenders' film. The cinematography is both bleak and pretty -- bouncing between Paris and postwar Germany. There are cameo roles for directors Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause) and Samuel Fuller (Shock Corridor).
Cast
* Dennis Hopper - Tom Ripley
* Bruno Ganz - Jonathan Zimmermann
* Lisa Kreuzer - Marianne Zimmermann
* Gérard Blain - Raoul Minot
* Nicholas Ray - Derwatt
Run Time: 127 minutes
In A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir, David N. Meyer says, "— The American Friend is worth the effort. Few movies from any era or genre offer such rich characters, realistic human relationships, gripping action sequences, or sly humor."
Similar Movies
Chinese Boxes; The Passenger; Öszi Almanach; Purple Noon; Il Faut Tuer Birgitt Haas; With a Friend Like Harry...; Mafioso
(Ack: wikipedia, Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com)
benny
Monday, 11 January 2010
The 39 Steps-1935
The 39 Steps is a 1935 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the adventure novel The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan. The film stars Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
There have been four major film versions of the book. Hitchcock's original has been the most acclaimed, and remains so today: in 2004 Total Film named it the 21st greatest British movie of all time.
In this nicely paced thriller, Canadian Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is at a London music hall theatre, watching a demonstration of the superlative powers of recall of "Mr. Memory" (Wylie Watson) when shots are fired. ( Shades of The Man Who knew Too Much!) In the ensuing panic, he finds himself holding a frightened Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim), who talks him into taking her back to his flat. There, she tells him that she is a spy, being chased by assassins. She claims to have uncovered a plot to steal vital British military secrets, masterminded by a man with the top joint missing from one of his fingers. She mentions the "thirty-nine steps", but does not explain its meaning. Only Hitchcock can spin a web of intrigue out of some dry as dust ‘steps’ and seem like cotton candy in a child’s hand. Of course in the best Hitchcockian manner she is murdered and the police suspect Hannay.
Alfred Hitchcock directed many memorable movies over his long career, but one of his most charming remains his 1935 film The 39 Steps, and to me Donat’s light touch came as a surprise in comparison with his many other movies. Pity that such a talented actor died so young(at the age of 53).
Hannay decides to travel to Scotland and try to figure out what's going on, and during his journey he learns from newspapers that the police have identified him as the prime suspect in the murder. He also meets a good-looking icy blonde named Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), and she reluctantly becomes his traveling companion. At one point, Hannay and Pamela become handcuffed together and wind up bedding down in a room in a country inn that way!
The film follows Hannay as he goes through a series of dangerous adventures, and at the same time it shows the development of his romantic relationship with Pamela. There's plenty of humor in the movie, too, as when a crass salesman of women's underwear displays and discusses his products on a train. Or when Hannay asks a milkman if he's married and gets the response, "Yes, but don't rub it in."
The film departs substantially from Buchan's novel, introducing a love interest. In this film, The 39 Steps refers to the clandestine organisation itself, whereas in the book and in the other film versions, it refers to physical steps, albeit located in different places and with different significances to the plots. When in the film Annabella (who is a man called "Franklin P. Scudder" in the novel) tells Hannay she is travelling to meet a man in Scotland, Hitchcock is avoiding one of Buchan's wild, unexplained implausibilities: the way in which Hannay, with the whole country to hide in, chances to walk into the one house where the spy ringleader lives.
Hitchcockian elements
The 39 Steps is the first in a line of Hitchcock films based upon the idea of an innocent man on the run, including Saboteur (1942) and North by Northwest (1959).
Alfred Hitchcock cameo: A signature occurrence in almost all of Hitchcock's films, he can be seen tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie Mannheim run from the theatre at the beginning of the film.
Run time:86 minutes.
There have been four major film versions of the book. Hitchcock's original has been the most acclaimed, and remains so today: in 2004 Total Film named it the 21st greatest British movie of all time.
In this nicely paced thriller, Canadian Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is at a London music hall theatre, watching a demonstration of the superlative powers of recall of "Mr. Memory" (Wylie Watson) when shots are fired. ( Shades of The Man Who knew Too Much!) In the ensuing panic, he finds himself holding a frightened Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim), who talks him into taking her back to his flat. There, she tells him that she is a spy, being chased by assassins. She claims to have uncovered a plot to steal vital British military secrets, masterminded by a man with the top joint missing from one of his fingers. She mentions the "thirty-nine steps", but does not explain its meaning. Only Hitchcock can spin a web of intrigue out of some dry as dust ‘steps’ and seem like cotton candy in a child’s hand. Of course in the best Hitchcockian manner she is murdered and the police suspect Hannay.
Alfred Hitchcock directed many memorable movies over his long career, but one of his most charming remains his 1935 film The 39 Steps, and to me Donat’s light touch came as a surprise in comparison with his many other movies. Pity that such a talented actor died so young(at the age of 53).
Hannay decides to travel to Scotland and try to figure out what's going on, and during his journey he learns from newspapers that the police have identified him as the prime suspect in the murder. He also meets a good-looking icy blonde named Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), and she reluctantly becomes his traveling companion. At one point, Hannay and Pamela become handcuffed together and wind up bedding down in a room in a country inn that way!
The film follows Hannay as he goes through a series of dangerous adventures, and at the same time it shows the development of his romantic relationship with Pamela. There's plenty of humor in the movie, too, as when a crass salesman of women's underwear displays and discusses his products on a train. Or when Hannay asks a milkman if he's married and gets the response, "Yes, but don't rub it in."
The film departs substantially from Buchan's novel, introducing a love interest. In this film, The 39 Steps refers to the clandestine organisation itself, whereas in the book and in the other film versions, it refers to physical steps, albeit located in different places and with different significances to the plots. When in the film Annabella (who is a man called "Franklin P. Scudder" in the novel) tells Hannay she is travelling to meet a man in Scotland, Hitchcock is avoiding one of Buchan's wild, unexplained implausibilities: the way in which Hannay, with the whole country to hide in, chances to walk into the one house where the spy ringleader lives.
Hitchcockian elements
The 39 Steps is the first in a line of Hitchcock films based upon the idea of an innocent man on the run, including Saboteur (1942) and North by Northwest (1959).
Alfred Hitchcock cameo: A signature occurrence in almost all of Hitchcock's films, he can be seen tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie Mannheim run from the theatre at the beginning of the film.
Run time:86 minutes.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Ivan the Terrible-1944
Ivan The Terrible (written Иван Грозный in Russian, pronounced Ivan Groznyy) is a two-part historical epic film about Ivan IV of Russia. During World War II, with the German army approaching Moscow, Stalin wanted Eisenstein to undertake a film on nationalistic subject. With the success of Alexander Nevsky behind him the subject was in a manner of speaking was chosen for him. Joseph Stalin admired the first Tsar, seeing him as the same kind of brilliant, decisive, successful leader that Stalin aspired to be. Russian director Sergei Eisenstein conceived as a triology, but Eisenstein died before filming of the third part could be finished.
Part 1 was released in 1944 but Part 2 was not released until 1958 due to political censorship.
Part I begins with Ivan's coronation as Tsar of all the Russias, amid grumbling from the boyars. Ivan makes a speech proclaiming his intent to unite and protect Russia against the foreign armies outside her borders and the enemies within. Shortly after, the scene changes to Ivan's wedding celebration in which he marries Anastasia Romanovna. This causes him to lose the friendship of his two best friends, Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Fyodor Kolychev. The latter receives Ivan's permission to retire to a monastery, while Kurbsky attempts to resume his romance with the Tsarina, who repels his advances.
The marriage feast is interrupted by news of the burning of several boyar palaces, carried into the Tsar's palace by a mob of the common people and a war with Kazan.
The city of Kazan falls to the Russian army.
During his return from Kazan, Ivan falls seriously ill and is thought to be on his deathbed; the court intrigue begins to work. Ivan’s aunt Efrosinia Staritska wants the people to swear allegiance to her son, Vladimir the "boyar tsar" instead of the infant Dmitri, Tsar’s choice. Kurbsky is uncertain of his own loyalty, trying to decide between the two sides. However, when the Tsarina says, "Do not bury a man before he is dead," Kurbsky realizes that Ivan is still alive, and hurriedly swears his allegiance to Ivan's infant son, Dmitri.
The Tsarina now falls ill, and while Ivan is receiving bad news from all fronts, the boyars plot to kill her. Efrosinia comes into the palace with a cup of wine hidden in her robes, in which she has put poison. Just as the royal couple receives word that Kurbsky has defected to the Livonians, Efrosinia slips the cup of wine into the room and listens from behind a wall. The Tsarina has a convulsion and Ivan, looking around for a drink to calm her, takes the poisoned wine and gives it to her.
The scene changes to show the dead Tsarina lying in state in the cathedral, with Ivan mourning beside her bier. While a monk reads biblical verses over the body, Ivan questions his own justifications and ability to rule, wondering if his wife's death is God's punishment on him. However, he pulls himself out of it, and sends for Kolychev. At this point, Alexei Basmanov arrives, suggesting that Ivan surround himself with men he can trust - "iron men," the Oprichnina - and offers his (rather startled) son, Fyodor, for service. Ivan accepts, and sets about recouping his losses. He abdicates and leaves Moscow, waiting until the people beg him to return, saying that he now rules with absolute power by the will of the people.
Part 2
Part II picks up where Part I left off, at Ivan's return to Moscow. He begins by reforming the land distribution: he takes the boyars' lands, then reinstalls them as managers, increasing his own power at their expense. His friend, Kolychev, arrives, now the monk Philip; after a heated debate, Philip agrees to become metropolitan of Moscow, if Ivan gives him the right to intercede for condemned men. This is mutually agreed upon. But as soon as it is settled, Ivan, propelled by Malyuta, finds a way around this: he executes condemned men quickly, before Philip can use his right. In this way he has three of Philip's kinsmen executed.
Fyodor Basmanov, the first of the Oprichnina, helps Ivan figure out that the Tsarina was poisoned, and both suspect Efrosinia of poisoning the cup of wine. Ivan orders Fyodor not to say anything about it until he (Ivan) is certain beyond doubt of her guilt.
The boyars, close to desperation, plead their case to Philip and eventually win him over. He vows to block Ivan's abuse of power, and confronts him in the cathedral while a miracle play is being presented. As the argument heats up, Ivan, angry, proclaims that he will be exactly what the boyars call him - terrible - and has Philip seized. The boyars now decide that their only option is to assassinate Ivan, and the novice Pyotr is selected to wield the knife.
Ivan, now certain of Efrosinia's guilt, invites Vladimir to a banquet with the Oprichnina. Ivan gets Vladimir drunk while the Oprichnina sing and dance around them; Vladimir mentions that there is a plot to kill Ivan, and he (Vladimir) is to replace him as Tsar. Fyodor Basmanov notices the assassin leaving, and signals Ivan, who, pretending surprise at Vladimir's revelation, suggests Vladimir try being Tsar for a while, and has the Oprichnina bring throne, orb, scepter, crown and royal robes, and they all bow down to "Tsar Vladimir." Then Ivan tells Vladimir to lead them to the cathedral in prayer, as a Tsar should lead. Hesitantly, Vladimir does.
In the cathedral, the assassin runs up and stabs the mock Tsar, and is immediately seized by the Basmanovs. Ivan orders them to release Pyotr, and thanks him for killing the tsar's worst enemy. Efrosinia arrives, jubilant at the apparent death of Ivan, until she sees Ivan alive; rolling the corpse over, she realizes it is her own son. Ivan sentences her and then relaxes, proclaiming that all his enemies within Moscow are vanquished and he can turn to those outside.
Parallels drawn between Stalin and Ivan the terrible agree since struggle for power or establishing central authority over various power centres are as old as the first man who founded a city. Echoes of Tsarist Russia of the sixteenth century and Russia of the 20th century are about the same issues. Kulaks whom Stalin liquidated in the 30s were a thorn on his side as Boyars was to Ivan. Eisenstein may have presented a truthful examination of the life of Ivan the Terrible as cinematic art would allow and it so happened that Stalin found some parallels pleasing while other that he found troublesome. (Eisenstein was forced to offer the most abject of apologies: “The sense of historical truth was betrayed by me in the second part of Ivan.”)
One may either love or hate the film as one may respond to an opera. The style of acting is like that in silent film and, also as in opera gestures and expressions are exaggerated. Prokofiev's music heightens the emotional intensity. Some will find the highly stylized quality of this film annoying. Here we see Eisenstein’s visual vocabulary has come of age that for a student of film something to learn from. Ivan the Terrible has been voted onto several lists of the top ten films ever and at least one list of the worst fifty!
Cast:
Nikolai Cherkasov ... Czar Ivan IV
Lyudmila Tselikovskaya ... Czarina Anastasia Romanovna
Serafima Birman ... Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya
Mikhail Nazvanov ... Prince Andrei Kurbsky
Mikhail Zharov ... Czar's Guard Malyuta Skuratov
Amvrosi Buchma ... Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov
Mikhail Kuznetsov ... Fyodor Basmanov
Pavel Kadochnikov ... Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Andrei Abrikosov ... Boyar Fyodor Kolychev
Aleksandr Mgebrov ... Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen
Maksim Mikhajlov ... Archdeacon
Vsevolod Pudovkin ... Nikola, Simpleton Beggar
benny
Part 1 was released in 1944 but Part 2 was not released until 1958 due to political censorship.
Part I begins with Ivan's coronation as Tsar of all the Russias, amid grumbling from the boyars. Ivan makes a speech proclaiming his intent to unite and protect Russia against the foreign armies outside her borders and the enemies within. Shortly after, the scene changes to Ivan's wedding celebration in which he marries Anastasia Romanovna. This causes him to lose the friendship of his two best friends, Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Fyodor Kolychev. The latter receives Ivan's permission to retire to a monastery, while Kurbsky attempts to resume his romance with the Tsarina, who repels his advances.
The marriage feast is interrupted by news of the burning of several boyar palaces, carried into the Tsar's palace by a mob of the common people and a war with Kazan.
The city of Kazan falls to the Russian army.
During his return from Kazan, Ivan falls seriously ill and is thought to be on his deathbed; the court intrigue begins to work. Ivan’s aunt Efrosinia Staritska wants the people to swear allegiance to her son, Vladimir the "boyar tsar" instead of the infant Dmitri, Tsar’s choice. Kurbsky is uncertain of his own loyalty, trying to decide between the two sides. However, when the Tsarina says, "Do not bury a man before he is dead," Kurbsky realizes that Ivan is still alive, and hurriedly swears his allegiance to Ivan's infant son, Dmitri.
The Tsarina now falls ill, and while Ivan is receiving bad news from all fronts, the boyars plot to kill her. Efrosinia comes into the palace with a cup of wine hidden in her robes, in which she has put poison. Just as the royal couple receives word that Kurbsky has defected to the Livonians, Efrosinia slips the cup of wine into the room and listens from behind a wall. The Tsarina has a convulsion and Ivan, looking around for a drink to calm her, takes the poisoned wine and gives it to her.
The scene changes to show the dead Tsarina lying in state in the cathedral, with Ivan mourning beside her bier. While a monk reads biblical verses over the body, Ivan questions his own justifications and ability to rule, wondering if his wife's death is God's punishment on him. However, he pulls himself out of it, and sends for Kolychev. At this point, Alexei Basmanov arrives, suggesting that Ivan surround himself with men he can trust - "iron men," the Oprichnina - and offers his (rather startled) son, Fyodor, for service. Ivan accepts, and sets about recouping his losses. He abdicates and leaves Moscow, waiting until the people beg him to return, saying that he now rules with absolute power by the will of the people.
Part 2
Part II picks up where Part I left off, at Ivan's return to Moscow. He begins by reforming the land distribution: he takes the boyars' lands, then reinstalls them as managers, increasing his own power at their expense. His friend, Kolychev, arrives, now the monk Philip; after a heated debate, Philip agrees to become metropolitan of Moscow, if Ivan gives him the right to intercede for condemned men. This is mutually agreed upon. But as soon as it is settled, Ivan, propelled by Malyuta, finds a way around this: he executes condemned men quickly, before Philip can use his right. In this way he has three of Philip's kinsmen executed.
Fyodor Basmanov, the first of the Oprichnina, helps Ivan figure out that the Tsarina was poisoned, and both suspect Efrosinia of poisoning the cup of wine. Ivan orders Fyodor not to say anything about it until he (Ivan) is certain beyond doubt of her guilt.
The boyars, close to desperation, plead their case to Philip and eventually win him over. He vows to block Ivan's abuse of power, and confronts him in the cathedral while a miracle play is being presented. As the argument heats up, Ivan, angry, proclaims that he will be exactly what the boyars call him - terrible - and has Philip seized. The boyars now decide that their only option is to assassinate Ivan, and the novice Pyotr is selected to wield the knife.
Ivan, now certain of Efrosinia's guilt, invites Vladimir to a banquet with the Oprichnina. Ivan gets Vladimir drunk while the Oprichnina sing and dance around them; Vladimir mentions that there is a plot to kill Ivan, and he (Vladimir) is to replace him as Tsar. Fyodor Basmanov notices the assassin leaving, and signals Ivan, who, pretending surprise at Vladimir's revelation, suggests Vladimir try being Tsar for a while, and has the Oprichnina bring throne, orb, scepter, crown and royal robes, and they all bow down to "Tsar Vladimir." Then Ivan tells Vladimir to lead them to the cathedral in prayer, as a Tsar should lead. Hesitantly, Vladimir does.
In the cathedral, the assassin runs up and stabs the mock Tsar, and is immediately seized by the Basmanovs. Ivan orders them to release Pyotr, and thanks him for killing the tsar's worst enemy. Efrosinia arrives, jubilant at the apparent death of Ivan, until she sees Ivan alive; rolling the corpse over, she realizes it is her own son. Ivan sentences her and then relaxes, proclaiming that all his enemies within Moscow are vanquished and he can turn to those outside.
Parallels drawn between Stalin and Ivan the terrible agree since struggle for power or establishing central authority over various power centres are as old as the first man who founded a city. Echoes of Tsarist Russia of the sixteenth century and Russia of the 20th century are about the same issues. Kulaks whom Stalin liquidated in the 30s were a thorn on his side as Boyars was to Ivan. Eisenstein may have presented a truthful examination of the life of Ivan the Terrible as cinematic art would allow and it so happened that Stalin found some parallels pleasing while other that he found troublesome. (Eisenstein was forced to offer the most abject of apologies: “The sense of historical truth was betrayed by me in the second part of Ivan.”)
One may either love or hate the film as one may respond to an opera. The style of acting is like that in silent film and, also as in opera gestures and expressions are exaggerated. Prokofiev's music heightens the emotional intensity. Some will find the highly stylized quality of this film annoying. Here we see Eisenstein’s visual vocabulary has come of age that for a student of film something to learn from. Ivan the Terrible has been voted onto several lists of the top ten films ever and at least one list of the worst fifty!
Cast:
Nikolai Cherkasov ... Czar Ivan IV
Lyudmila Tselikovskaya ... Czarina Anastasia Romanovna
Serafima Birman ... Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya
Mikhail Nazvanov ... Prince Andrei Kurbsky
Mikhail Zharov ... Czar's Guard Malyuta Skuratov
Amvrosi Buchma ... Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov
Mikhail Kuznetsov ... Fyodor Basmanov
Pavel Kadochnikov ... Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Andrei Abrikosov ... Boyar Fyodor Kolychev
Aleksandr Mgebrov ... Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen
Maksim Mikhajlov ... Archdeacon
Vsevolod Pudovkin ... Nikola, Simpleton Beggar
benny
Friday, 8 January 2010
A Double Life-1947
This film tells the story of an actor whose mind becomes affected by the character he portrays. The role of Othello is not what every actor can bring off so easily knowing he is only play-acting. Much less can, however talented put on the role of the Moor night and after night without paying the price. It is like going through the revolving doors so often and and not knowing at a given point of time if he is coming or going. Anthony John (Colman) is a successful actor who has a problem, an occupational hazard, and becomes increasingly out of touch with reality. He has so convincingly got inside his role so much so he cannot distinguish the role with the real. Originally written for Laurence Olivier, A Double Life ultimately served as the vehicle, which brought Ronald Colman his only Oscar.
The award was a well deserved one, and his voice one of his chief assets is described as "a bewitching, finely-modulated, resonant voice." The descending madness like the avenging angel tips the thespian over the edge in the very success (in movie, Anthony John stars in a Broadway production of Othello, that plays more than 300 performances and runs over a year.) and as we see his personal life is in doldrums and must cope with his sanity even as he speaks set speeches so convincingly. The shadow of madness, the frenzy, the fight for sanity are all portrayed in an electrifying manner. Colman makes this man both monstrous and appealing.
In a fit of delirium, he strangles his casual mistress, Pat (Shelley Winters), but retains no memory of the awful crime. Press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien), unaware that Anthony is the killer, uses Pat's murder as publicity for Othello. Anthony becomes enraged at this cheap ploy, and attacks Friend. At this point, Anthony realizes that he has been living "a double life" and is in fact Pat's murderer. This duality of the central character is visually impacted in the viewers mind by mirrors and reflection, somewhat remniscent of films as diverse as M or The Servant.
A Double Life was written for the screen by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin.
Directed by George Cukor the film brings out creditable performance from all and especially a convincing and vulnerable performance from Shelley Winters. (Hal Erickson, Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Cast
* Whit Bissell - Dr. Stauffer
* Ronald Colman - Anthony John
* Betsy Blair - Girl in Wig Shop
* Signe Hasso - Brita
* Edmond O'Brien - Bill Friend
* David Bond - ["othello" Sequence]
* Harlan Briggs - Oscar Bemard
* Shelley Winters - Pat Kroll
* Georgia Caine - [A Gentleman's Gentleman Sequence]
* Ray Collins - Victor Donlan
Julie Kirgo wrote that A Double Life is truly a picture of opposing forces, mirror images and deadly doubles: "Anthony John is at war with Othello, the elegant world of the theater is opposed to the squalid existence of Shelley Winters' Pat Kroll, and illusion versus reality are all conveyed in opposing lights and darks of Krasner's luminous photography."
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography Milton R. Krasner
Similar Movies
Carnival (1931, Herbert Wilcox)
The Glass Web (1953, Jack Arnold)
The Gang of Four (1988, Jacques Rivette)
Carmen (1983, Carlos Saura)
Curtains (1983, Richard Ciupka, Jonathan Stryker)
Perfect Strangers (2003, Gaylene Preston)
Movies with the Same Personnel
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, John Cromwell, George Cukor, W.S. Van Dyke)
The Seventh Cross (1944, Fred Zinnemann)
The Racket (1951, John Cromwell, Nicholas Ray)
Winchester '73 (1950, Anthony Mann)
The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947, George S. Kaufman)
The Gangster (1947, Gordon Wiles)
Fear in the Night (1947, Maxwell Shane)
Pat and Mike (1952, George Cukor)
Other Related Movies
is related to: Othello (1952, Orson Welles)
Who Am I This Time? (1982, Jonathan Demme)
I Love a Man in Uniform (1993, David Wellington)
* Run Time: 103 minutes
benny
The award was a well deserved one, and his voice one of his chief assets is described as "a bewitching, finely-modulated, resonant voice." The descending madness like the avenging angel tips the thespian over the edge in the very success (in movie, Anthony John stars in a Broadway production of Othello, that plays more than 300 performances and runs over a year.) and as we see his personal life is in doldrums and must cope with his sanity even as he speaks set speeches so convincingly. The shadow of madness, the frenzy, the fight for sanity are all portrayed in an electrifying manner. Colman makes this man both monstrous and appealing.
In a fit of delirium, he strangles his casual mistress, Pat (Shelley Winters), but retains no memory of the awful crime. Press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien), unaware that Anthony is the killer, uses Pat's murder as publicity for Othello. Anthony becomes enraged at this cheap ploy, and attacks Friend. At this point, Anthony realizes that he has been living "a double life" and is in fact Pat's murderer. This duality of the central character is visually impacted in the viewers mind by mirrors and reflection, somewhat remniscent of films as diverse as M or The Servant.
A Double Life was written for the screen by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin.
Directed by George Cukor the film brings out creditable performance from all and especially a convincing and vulnerable performance from Shelley Winters. (Hal Erickson, Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Cast
* Whit Bissell - Dr. Stauffer
* Ronald Colman - Anthony John
* Betsy Blair - Girl in Wig Shop
* Signe Hasso - Brita
* Edmond O'Brien - Bill Friend
* David Bond - ["othello" Sequence]
* Harlan Briggs - Oscar Bemard
* Shelley Winters - Pat Kroll
* Georgia Caine - [A Gentleman's Gentleman Sequence]
* Ray Collins - Victor Donlan
Julie Kirgo wrote that A Double Life is truly a picture of opposing forces, mirror images and deadly doubles: "Anthony John is at war with Othello, the elegant world of the theater is opposed to the squalid existence of Shelley Winters' Pat Kroll, and illusion versus reality are all conveyed in opposing lights and darks of Krasner's luminous photography."
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography Milton R. Krasner
Similar Movies
Carnival (1931, Herbert Wilcox)
The Glass Web (1953, Jack Arnold)
The Gang of Four (1988, Jacques Rivette)
Carmen (1983, Carlos Saura)
Curtains (1983, Richard Ciupka, Jonathan Stryker)
Perfect Strangers (2003, Gaylene Preston)
Movies with the Same Personnel
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937, John Cromwell, George Cukor, W.S. Van Dyke)
The Seventh Cross (1944, Fred Zinnemann)
The Racket (1951, John Cromwell, Nicholas Ray)
Winchester '73 (1950, Anthony Mann)
The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947, George S. Kaufman)
The Gangster (1947, Gordon Wiles)
Fear in the Night (1947, Maxwell Shane)
Pat and Mike (1952, George Cukor)
Other Related Movies
is related to: Othello (1952, Orson Welles)
Who Am I This Time? (1982, Jonathan Demme)
I Love a Man in Uniform (1993, David Wellington)
* Run Time: 103 minutes
benny
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Les Visiteurs du Soir-1942
The film (aka: The Devil's Envoys)
is unquestionably a masterpiece that came out of France under the most trying conditions. Despite the Nazi Occupation with the restrictions on materials and media we have two films that have achieved high watermark in the history of French cinema. Les vistieurs is one film and Les Enfants du Paradis is another (1945). Both are backward looking in the sense one appears to be a simple romantic fable set in a fairy tale castle with demons, knights and princesses while the 1945 film deals with the theatrical world of a century before. Both came out of the fruitful collaboration between director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert. The film was hailed as a major cinematographic achievement upon its release in 1942 and remained one of the most popular films made under the Nazi Occupation.
The film begins with the title: in this lovely month of May 1485 Messire Satan on earth sent two of his creatures to despair men ..."
Summary
In the 15th Century, two traveling musicians named Gilles and Dominique arrive at the castle of Baron Hugues, amid celebrations for the impending marriage between Hugues’ daughter Anne and a knight Renaud. The two musicians are in truth emissaries of the Devil, sent to disrupt the wedding for their own amusement. Whilst Dominique seduces Renaud, Gilles makes an easy conquest of Anne. However, Anne’s purity overwhelms Gilles and he in turn falls in love with her. This unexpected turn of events forces the Devil into making a personal appearance...
On the surface, the film appears to be a simple romantic fable but there is clearly more to this film than first meets the eye. Many have seen an allegorical sub-text in this seemingly innocuous romantic fable. The reluctance of the two lovers Gilles and Anne to separate in the second half of the film, despite the best efforts of man and Devil, can be understood as a covert message to the French nation to hold out against the German overlords. Historically we may see the parable as apt. The Third Republic may be an edifice in stone stripped of marble and gold by the fall of France but there shall still beat the Gallic spirit as the pair of lovers in the film.
One feature from the film that stands out even after so many decades is its cinematography. Not content with conventional photographic techniques, Carné developed some new methods for creating just the effect he was after as In Les Enfants. (In the latter Carné was particular of giving the shirt front of the notorious thief and murderer Lacenaire an unnatural luminosity contrasted with Baptiste the man in white.) In Les Visiteurs he makes the dance scene memorable, where the film is slowed to give the impression of time coming to a halt, allowing the two Devil’s emissaries to commence their evil machinations. Later on, a similar trick allows Carné to transport his fated lovers to a dreamlike garden. The arrival of the Devil in the second half of the film is no less impressive, using a combination of noise and lighting to conjure up an instant sense of drama and anticipation.
A combination of an excellent script, creditable acting from Jules Berry and Arletty sets this film apart from many other of the 40s French films. Berry is at his best playing the role of the Devil with a burlesque relish, and with villainous charm.
* Director: Marcel Carné
* Script: Jacques Prévert, Pierre Laroche
* Music: Maurice Thiriet
* Cast: Arletty (Dominique), Marie Déa (Anne), Fernand Ledoux (Le baron Hugues), Alain Cuny (Gilles), Pierre Labry (Le seigneur), Jean d'Yd (Le baladin), Roger Blin (Le montreur de monstres), Gabriel Gabrio (Le bourreau), Marcel Herrand (Le baron Renaud), Jules Berry (Le diable)
* Runtime: 120 min; B&W
benny
is unquestionably a masterpiece that came out of France under the most trying conditions. Despite the Nazi Occupation with the restrictions on materials and media we have two films that have achieved high watermark in the history of French cinema. Les vistieurs is one film and Les Enfants du Paradis is another (1945). Both are backward looking in the sense one appears to be a simple romantic fable set in a fairy tale castle with demons, knights and princesses while the 1945 film deals with the theatrical world of a century before. Both came out of the fruitful collaboration between director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert. The film was hailed as a major cinematographic achievement upon its release in 1942 and remained one of the most popular films made under the Nazi Occupation.
The film begins with the title: in this lovely month of May 1485 Messire Satan on earth sent two of his creatures to despair men ..."
Summary
In the 15th Century, two traveling musicians named Gilles and Dominique arrive at the castle of Baron Hugues, amid celebrations for the impending marriage between Hugues’ daughter Anne and a knight Renaud. The two musicians are in truth emissaries of the Devil, sent to disrupt the wedding for their own amusement. Whilst Dominique seduces Renaud, Gilles makes an easy conquest of Anne. However, Anne’s purity overwhelms Gilles and he in turn falls in love with her. This unexpected turn of events forces the Devil into making a personal appearance...
On the surface, the film appears to be a simple romantic fable but there is clearly more to this film than first meets the eye. Many have seen an allegorical sub-text in this seemingly innocuous romantic fable. The reluctance of the two lovers Gilles and Anne to separate in the second half of the film, despite the best efforts of man and Devil, can be understood as a covert message to the French nation to hold out against the German overlords. Historically we may see the parable as apt. The Third Republic may be an edifice in stone stripped of marble and gold by the fall of France but there shall still beat the Gallic spirit as the pair of lovers in the film.
One feature from the film that stands out even after so many decades is its cinematography. Not content with conventional photographic techniques, Carné developed some new methods for creating just the effect he was after as In Les Enfants. (In the latter Carné was particular of giving the shirt front of the notorious thief and murderer Lacenaire an unnatural luminosity contrasted with Baptiste the man in white.) In Les Visiteurs he makes the dance scene memorable, where the film is slowed to give the impression of time coming to a halt, allowing the two Devil’s emissaries to commence their evil machinations. Later on, a similar trick allows Carné to transport his fated lovers to a dreamlike garden. The arrival of the Devil in the second half of the film is no less impressive, using a combination of noise and lighting to conjure up an instant sense of drama and anticipation.
A combination of an excellent script, creditable acting from Jules Berry and Arletty sets this film apart from many other of the 40s French films. Berry is at his best playing the role of the Devil with a burlesque relish, and with villainous charm.
* Director: Marcel Carné
* Script: Jacques Prévert, Pierre Laroche
* Music: Maurice Thiriet
* Cast: Arletty (Dominique), Marie Déa (Anne), Fernand Ledoux (Le baron Hugues), Alain Cuny (Gilles), Pierre Labry (Le seigneur), Jean d'Yd (Le baladin), Roger Blin (Le montreur de monstres), Gabriel Gabrio (Le bourreau), Marcel Herrand (Le baron Renaud), Jules Berry (Le diable)
* Runtime: 120 min; B&W
benny
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