French Movies

Wooden Crosses (French: Les Croix de Bois) is a 1932 French anti-war film by Raymond Bernard based upon the autobiography of the same name written by Roland Dorgelès. Audio in French with English subtitles (click on CC for the subtitles). The film is set some time after the Great Retreat, where the British Expeditionary Force and the French 5th Army fought a fighting retreat to the Marne. The events follow Gilbert Demachy, a young French law student, who enlisted in the French army some time after 2 August 1914, and the infantry squad he joins. The producer, Bernard Natan, himself a veteran of the First World War and a Croix de Guerre recipient, wished to make those watching the film "hate and despise war". He was given free rein to use Pathé's new sound department to create recordings of explosions and gunshots, something he referred to as "the reconstitution of the sonic ambience of the battles". A large amount of the film was filmed in Mont Cornillet on the outskirts of Reims in Champagne, where Raymond Bernard said they "simply had to redig the trenches, traces of which were still in evidence." He used detectors from the army to search for and remove unexploded munitions due to the risk of the fake shells used in filming setting them off. They were then detonated in specially dug pits behind the cameras while lines were being delivered. The battles were described as "vibrant and convincing", with Bernard insisting that every actor have some form of combat experience. One such example is Pierre Blanchar, who was a victim of a gas attack in Verdun in 1916. Although Wooden Crosses was well received in France, it did not receive much attention outside of Europe aside from an American film named The Road to Glory, which was a loose remake of Wooden Crosses released in 1936. There were reports that Wooden Crosses caused veterans to commit suicide due to its accuracy, with one such report occurring as late as 1962 after its first TV screening. Cast & Characters: Pierre Blanchar as Gilbert Demachy Gabriel Gabrio as Sulphart Charles Vanel as Caporal Breval Raymond Aimos as Soldat Fouillard Antonin Artaud as Vieublé Paul Azaïs as Broucke René Bergeron as Hamel Raymond Cordy as Vairon Marcel Delaitre as Sergent Berthier Jean Galland as Capitaine Cruchet Pierre Labry as Bouffioux Geo Laby as Belin Jean-François Martial as Lemoine René Montis as Lieutenant Morache Marc Valbel as Maroux

The Supper (French: Le Souper) is a 1992 French period drama film directed by Édouard Molinaro. Audio in French with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). Based on a stage play by Jean-Claude Brisville, the film imagines the negotiations over supper about a new government for France after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and who will get the top jobs. After the abdication and exile of Napoléon Bonaparte following the Battle of Waterloo, Paris is occupied by English and Prussian troops and the people are restless. On 6 July 1815 Joseph Fouché, head of the provisional government, is invited to a late night supper at the town house of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, former minister of foreign affairs. Cast & Characters: Claude Brasseur - Fouché Claude Rich - Talleyrand Michel Piccoli – the voice of Chateaubriand Alexandra Vandernoot - Duchess of Dino Stéphane Jobert - Carême Ticky Holgado – Jacques, a servant Yann Collette – Jean, a servant

Saint-Just et la Force des choses (Saint-Just and the Force of Circumstances, or Saint-Just and the Power of Things) is a French two-part dramatic television film (La Victoire and La Mort, both combined in one file) directed by Pierre Cardinal in 1974, broadcast in 1975, based on the eponymous historical work by Albert Ollivier. Audio in French with English subtitles. One of the most intriguing and influential figures of the French Revolution, Saint-Just, a powerful figure in Robespierre's government, whom he greatly admired, was nicknamed the Archangel of Terror. From 1790 to 1794, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just reigned supreme, but in those turbulent times, the guillotine was never far away. The film opens in 1790 in Blérancourt, a small village in Picardy, where the young and ardent Saint-Just dreams of going to Paris, to the heart of the revolutionary events, to continue his fight for the new ideas, alongside Robespierre, whom he admires. Elected in August 1792, at the Convention, he meets Robespierre and the Montagnards, and his talents as an orator and politician are quickly noticed by both the left and the right. In a feverish succession of events, we witness the meteoric rise of Saint-Just to the pinnacle of power and his tragic fall. A strongman of the revolutionary government, a victorious commissioner to the armies, and a theorist of terror, author of the infamous Ventôse Decrees, but also of the indictments against the Hébertists and the Dantonists, Saint-Just died by guillotine on July 28, 1794, caught up in the fall of Robespierre. Cast & Characters: Patrice Alexsandre: Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Pierre Vaneck: Maximilien de Robespierre Hervé Sand: Georges Jacques Danton Vicky Messica: Jean-Paul Marat Fred Personne: Georges Couthon Henri Marteau: Lazare Carnot Jean-Pierre Bernard: Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac André Dumas: Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne Henri Czarniak: Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Jacques Faber: Camille Desmoulins Raymond Jourdan: Jacques-René Hébert Jacques Lalande: Pierre Vergniaud Maurice Vallier: Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux Gérald Denizot: Marc-Guillaume-Alexis Vadier Patrice Melennec: Officer

Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle) is a 1970 French crime film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. It stars Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, François Périer and Yves Montand. Audio in French with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). After leaving prison, master thief Corey encounters a notorious escapee and an alcoholic ex-cop. The trio plots an elaborate heist. The film is known for its climactic heist sequence which is about half an hour in length and has almost no dialogue. The film's title means "The Red Circle" and refers to an epigraph which translates as: Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, drew a circle with a piece of red chalk and said: "When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle." Melville made up the quote, just as he did with the epigraph in Le Samouraï. It was the fifth most popular film of the year in France. Cast & Characters: Alain Delon as Corey André Bourvil as Inspector Mattei Gian Maria Volonté as Vogel Yves Montand as Jansen Paul Crauchet as the receiver Paul Amiot as Chief of Police Pierre Collet as prison guard André Ekyan as Rico Jean-Pierre Posier as Mattei's assistant François Périer as Santi (as François Perier) Yves Arcanel as committing magistrate René Berthier as Judiciary Police Director Jean-Marc Boris as Jean-Marc Santi Jean Champion as level-crossing guard Yvan Chiffre as a policeman Anna Douking as Corey's old girlfriend (as Ana Douking) Mireille Darc as the flower girl in Santi's night club Stéphanie Fugain as the cigarette girl in Santi's night club Robert Favart as Mauboussin's clerk Roger Fradet as a policeman Édouard Francomme as billiard hall watchman (as Edouard Francomme) Jean Franval as hotel receptionist Jacques Galland as train conductor Jean-Pierre Janic as Paul, Rico's henchman Pierre Lecomte as Internal Affairs Deputy Jacques Léonard as a policeman Jacques Leroy as a policeman Jean Pignol as court registry clerk Robert Rondo as a policeman

Le vieux fusil (English title: The Old Gun or Vengeance One by One) is a 1975 French-West German war drama film directed by Robert Enrico, and starring Philippe Noiret, Romy Schneider and Jean Bouise. Audio in French with English subtitles. The film is based on the Massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane in 1944. It won the 1976 César Award for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Music, and was nominated for best director, supporting actor, Screenplay, Dialogue or Adaptation, cinematography, editing and sound. In Montauban in 1944, during the Invasion of Normandy, Julien Dandieu a pacifist surgeon and convinced humanist, leads a comfortable middle class life with his wife Clara and his daughter Florence, born from a previous union. As a member of the French Resistance, he provides treatment to the maquisards in his hospital and is regularly threatened by the French Milice. Worried about the advances of German troops entering Montauban, Dandieu asks his friend Francois to drive his wife and his daughter to the remote village where he owns a château. One week later, Dandieu sets off to meet them for the weekend, but the Germans have now occupied the village. Cast & Characters: Philippe Noiret as Julien Dandieu Romy Schneider as Clara Dandieu Jean Bouise as François Joachim Hansen as SS Officer Robert Hoffmann as SS Lieutenant Karl Michael Vogler as Dr. Müller Madeleine Ozeray as Julien's Mother

Marie-Octobre is a 1959 French drama mystery film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Danielle Darrieux, Bernard Blier and Robert Dalban. It is based on the eponymous novel by Jacques Robert. The entire action takes place in real time over 99 minutes. It was shot at the Boulogne Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Georges Wakhévitch. It is also known by the alternative title Secret Meeting. Audio in French with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). A group of ex-resistance fighters are brought together by Marie-Octobre, the code name of Marie-Helene Dumoulin (Danielle Darrieux). The former members of the network have carried on with their lives after the war, but this evening they are going to have to live again a fateful night – the night their leader was killed. He had been betrayed, his name given to the Germans. The search for the traitor puts each personality in the spotlight – and also that of the killed leader, Castille. Cast & Characters: Danielle Darrieux as Marie-Helene Dumoulin Bernard Blier as Julien Simoneau, a lawyer Robert Dalban as Leon Blanchet, a locksmith Paul Frankeur as Lucien Marinval, a sales agent in Les Halles Daniel Ivernel as Robert Thibaud, a doctor Paul Meurisse as Francois Renaud-Picart, an industrialist Serge Reggiani as Antoine Rougier, a printer Jeanne Fusier-Gir as Victorine, governess Paul Guers as Père Yves Le Guen, a priest Noel Roquevert as Etienne Vandamme, a tax inspector Lino Ventura as Carlo Bernardi, a night club owner

Richelieu: The Purple and the Blood (French title: Richelieu, la Pourpre et le Sang) is a 2014 French TV film directed by Henri Helman. Audio in French with subtitles in; English, Russian and French (click on CC for subtitles). In 1640, Cardinal Richelieu, powerful Prime Minister of Louis XIII, was a tired and sick man. These are the last years of his life. He is faced with the machinations of his tipped designated successor, the Marquis de Cinq-Mars. Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars (1620 – 12 September 1642) was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France, who led the last and most nearly successful of many conspiracies against the Cardinal Richelieu, the king's powerful first minister. Cinq-Mars was the son of Marshal Antoine Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis d'Effiat, a close friend of Cardinal Richelieu, who took the boy under his protection on his father's death in 1632. In 1641, Cinq-Mars was active in the Comte de Soissons' rebellion, but the effort failed. The next year, he conspired again with the king's brother, Gaston, Duke of Orleans, to try to get support for the rebellion from Philip IV, the king of Spain; Richelieu's spy service caught him doing so. Consequently, Richelieu had Cinq-Mars imprisoned and beheaded in the Place des Terreaux in Lyon, along with his accomplice, François Auguste de Thou. The Marquis of Cinq-Mars' last words were, "Mon Dieu! Qu’est-ce que ce monde". Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, commonly referred to as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, whose career he had fostered. Cardinal de Richelieu was often known by the title of the king's "Chief Minister" or "First Minister". He sought to consolidate royal power and crush domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strong, centralized state. His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty, and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years' War that engulfed Europe. Cast & Characters: Jacques Perrin as cardinal de Richelieu Pierre Boulanger as Marquis de Cinq-Mars Stéphan Guérin-Tillié as Louis XIII Hélène Seuzaret as Marie Gonzague Gaëlle Bona as Melle de Chemerault Cécile Bois as Anne d'Autriche https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3156284/

Army of Shadows (French: L'Armée des ombres; Italian: L'armata degli eroi) is a 1969 Franco-Italian World War II suspense-drama film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, and starring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Simone Signoret. Audio in French with English subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). It is an adaptation of Joseph Kessel's 1943 book of the same name, which mixes Kessel's experiences as a member of the French Resistance with fictional versions of other Resistance members. The film follows a small group of Resistance fighters as they move between safe houses, work with the Allied militaries, kill informers, and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate. While portraying its characters as heroic, the film presents a bleak, unromantic view of the Resistance. Cast & Characters: Lino Ventura as Philippe Gerbier, a civil engineer who leads a French Resistance cell based in Lyon Paul Meurisse as "Saint" Luc Jardie, who, unknown to his brother Jean-François, is a senior member of the Resistance. This character is partly based on the philosopher and Resistance leader Jean Cavaillès. Jean-Pierre Cassel as Jean-François Jardie, Luc's younger brother, who joins Gerbier's Resistance cell through his friendship with Félix Simone Signoret as Mathilde, who becomes Gerbier's assistant Claude Mann as Claude "Le Masque" Ullmann, the youngest member of Gerbier's Resistance cell Paul Crauchet as Félix Lepercq, a member of Gerbier's Resistance cell Christian Barbier as Guillaume "Le Bison" Vermersch, a member of Gerbier's Resistance cell Serge Reggiani as the barber who gives Gerbier a shave and a jacket André "Colonel Passy" Dewavrin as himself, an official of the Free France intelligence services based in London Alain Dekok as Legrain, the young Communist who works at the power plant of the internment camp to which Gerbier is sent Alain Mottet as the commander of the internment camp to which Gerbier is sent Alain Libolt as Paul Dounat, the young member of Gerbier's Resistance cell who is killed by for informing on his associates Jean-Marie Robain as Baron de Ferté-Talloire, who lets Gerbier use his estate for Resistance activities Albert Michel as the gendarme who escorts Gerbier to the internment camp Denis Sadier as the doctor at the Gestapo headquarters in Lyon Georges Sellier as Colonel Jarret du Plessis, who is held in the same building as Gerbier at the internment camp Marco Perrin as Octave Bonnafous, a traveling salesman who is held in the same building as Gerbier at the internment camp Hubert de Lapparent as Aubert, a pharmacist who is held in the same building as Gerbier at the internment camp Colin Mann as the RAF soldier who rides in the plane with Gerbier Anthony Stuart as the RAF Major who teaches Gerbier about his parachuting equipment Michel Fretault as the "anonymous patriot" who escapes with Gerbier in Paris Michel Dacquin as one of Gerbier's cellmates after he is apprehended in the restaurant Jeanne Pérez as Marie, Luc's maid Pierre Vaudier as the man at the antique shop Jacques Marbeuf as the German officer and lead interrogator at the Gestapo headquarters in Lyon. Marcel Bernier as the customs agent who comes across Jean-François on the beach at night (uncredited) Nathalie Delon, who had made her big-screen debut in Melville's previous film, Le Samouraï (1967), has a cameo appearance in Army of Shadows as the woman with Jean-François at the bar in Marseille. The film's editor, Françoise Bonnot, plays the secretary at the talent agency in Lyon.

La Révolution française is a two-part 1989 film, co-produced by France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Audio in French with English subtitles. Translation is missing in the first 20 seconds of the movie, only. Part 2 - The Years of Terror: https://rumble.com/v2ayni8-the-french-revolution-film-1989-the-years-of-terror-part-ii.html When Louis XVI summoned the Etats-Generaux, he unleashes a revolution that would change his country and cost his life. This is the story of one of the crucial points in the history of France, and Europe, divided into two parts. The first part, titled La Révolution française: les Années lumière (The French Revolution: The Years of Light) was directed by Robert Enrico. The second part, La Révolution française: les Années terribles (The French Revolution: The Years of Terror), was directed by Richard T. Heffron. The first part "Les annees lumieres", focuses more on the privileged classes describing the political changes taking place in France as the revolution approaches. We also get acquainted with the three main revolutionaries, Desmoulins, Danton and Robespierre. Cast & Characters: Klaus Maria Brandauer as Georges Danton† Andrzej Seweryn as Maximilien de Robespierre† Jean-François Balmer as King Louis XVI of France† Jane Seymour as Queen Marie-Antoinette† Peter Ustinov as Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau† François Cluzet as Camille Desmoulins† Vittorio Mezzogiorno as Jean-Paul Marat† Claudia Cardinale as Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac Sam Neill as Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette Christopher Thompson as Louis de Saint-Just† Klaus Maria Brandauer as Georges Danton† Andrzej Seweryn as Maximilien de Robespierre† Jean-François Balmer as King Louis XVI of France† Jane Seymour as Queen Marie-Antoinette† Peter Ustinov as Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau† François Cluzet as Camille Desmoulins† Vittorio Mezzogiorno as Jean-Paul Marat† Claudia Cardinale as Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac Sam Neill as Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette Christopher Thompson as Louis de Saint-Just†

The second part, La Révolution française: les Années terribles (The French Revolution: The Years of Terror) directed by Richard T. Heffron. Audio French with English subtitles. The second part focuses on the triumvirate of power centered around the main characters and how their ideologies distance them from one another. Part 1 - The Years of Light: https://rumble.com/v2aydo6-the-french-revolution-film-1989-the-years-of-light-part-i.html