WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

[JackFavell]

Oh, my gosh, I have to go re-watch now!

I know we discussed it in the Boyer thread.

[charliechaplinfan]

I don't think she was pregnant, I think she had a frail heart, or at least that was my interpretation and I've seen it a handful of times or perhaps tubercular. She might have been pregnant by Vittorio De Sica although I can't remember whether I thought their's a consummated relationship. My feelings about the marriage was that Monsieur De had to go elsewhere for any shenanigans.

[knitwit45]

She says she knows they are guilty in THOUGHT only. And Boyer is going to 'snap her out of it' (or words to that effect) as he puts down his cane and cape and shuts all the windows, and pulls all the curtains shut. h'mmmmm. His character probably thought making love to his WIFE was 'shenanigans'...

[Mr. Arkadin]

I recently saw a brand new widescreen print of Tinto Brass' Deadly Sweet (1967), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Ewa Aulin. Although Brass is best known for erotic drama, this giallo/noir/mystery has more of an Antonioni feel, with comic strip style presentation:

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Both actors would return in the giallo landmark (and currently OOP) Death Laid an Egg (1968) (Yes, that's Gina Lollobrigida in the trailer!) :

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[charliechaplinfan]

She says she knows they are guilty in THOUGHT only. And Boyer is going to 'snap her out of it' (or words to that effect) as he puts down his cane and cape and shuts all the windows, and pulls all the curtains shut. h'mmmmm. His character probably thought making love to his WIFE was 'shenanigans'...

Your comments make me laugh. Now I'm going to have to watch it again, ever a problem when Boyer is involved even if it isn't one of his most romantic roles.

[charliechaplinfan]

I enjoyed Maria Chapdelaine (1934), although this is centered around Madeleine Renaud, with Jean Gabin as one of her three suitors. Maria is a young woman whose family lives in such a remote area of Quebec that in winter they are cut off from the nearest village, Peribonka. Her mother suffers from this isolation, although she loves her husband and family. Maria has three suitors: the fur trapper Francois Paradis (love that name!), played by Gabin; a young Belgian, Lorenzo, who wants her to take her to Montreal; and Eutrope (love that name, too), a big lug who wants to give her the same life that her father has given her mother. By the way, there's also a boy in the story named Tit-Be.

Some of the location shots are as scary as they are beautiful, to a city boy like me. Julien Duvivier directs skillfully, although the ending is abrupt. When Gabin becomes feverish during a long winter trek, the background spins around. Unfortunately, the print TCM showed is not in good condition, especially in one reel where vertical lines on the screen made it appear that several filmstrips had been pieced together. Madeleine Renaud is a decade or so too old to play Maria, but she's a capable actress (best-known as one of the great stage actresses in France). Gabin is the man she truly loves, and no wonder.

Maria Chapdelaine makes me want to see more of Duvivier's work, and thanks again to our own AnnHarding for recommending it. She also recommended Remorques, which I liked as much as CCFan did.

I really coludn't add anymore to Maria Chapdelaine, although I did wonder where it had been filmed as the landscape was both breathtaking and scary. I'm looking forward to Guelles D A'mour next.

[Ann Harding]

Maria Chapdelaine makes me want to see more of Duvivier's work, and thanks again to our own AnnHarding for recommending it. She also recommended Remorques, which I liked as much as CCFan did.

My pleasure! I'm really glad TCM showed all those Gabin features from the 30s. It was the best part of his career, when he got his best parts. BTW Remorques means 'Tug Boat' and Gueule d'amour means 'Love Mug', it's Gabin's nickname in the film as he is a heart-throb with ladies (that is until he meets Mireille Balin, the femme fatale par excellence!).

If you want some anecdotes, Gabin had an affair with the beautiful Balin in the 30s. Later, during the war, Mireille Balin became the mistress of a German officer. When the war was over, she was arrested and raped because of it. It was a nasty period called 'épuration' (purification) when 'last-minute resistants' saw fit to make justice themselves. She died destitute and forgotten in 1968. A very tragic ending.

[feaito]

Thanks for sharing those pieces of info Christine. How sad about Mlle. Balin!

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks for the extra information Christine. The translation on the TCM copy is Ladykiller rather than Lovemug which in English gives it a different complextion, he is one for whom the ladies swoon and he's not denying it, his heart belongs to no one until Madeleine walks into his life. I really enjoyed Guelle D'Amour, I think Mirelle Balin was excellent as the femme fatale and Gabin turns from carefree to obsessed, the ending is well done, I didn't feel an inch of sympathy for Madeleine although I kept hoping she'd be redeemed. I still have Bandera to watch. In later movies Gabin can look a little careworn, here he looks fresher faced, he never, at least for me, looks innocent or niave, he always looks like he was born with an old soul.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched La Bandera a Jean Gabin film from 1935 with the lovely Annabella as his love interest. After committing a murder, Gabin joins the foreign legion but comes up across an enemy straight away who tries to make his life a misery, what he discovers eventually is that his enemy is a covert police officer trying to track him down. Gabin meets and marries Aischa who loves and waits for him, the ending is powerful, the mens names being called out and the same response coming back to each name. The scenes with Annabella are lovely, very sexy, especially with all that draped lace.

The I watched the 1949 version of Gigi, which wasn't very different from the musical version, frustratingly, whoever had done the subtitles had subtitled white on white so it wasn't always easy to read what was said. Gaby Morlay was a good Aunt Alicia, the other characters didn't quite measure up to the more famous version, however it is a real pleasure to see another version of the Colette story.

[Fossy]

Ballerina (1937) aka La Mort du Cygne ( The Death Of The Swan)

This movie is set in the high art world of ballet. In fact, it is the first full length motion picture set in this world. It is about a young dance student, Rose Souris, who nourishes an impassioned admiration for a star of the ballet, Mlle Beaupre, and consequently will do anything to help her further her. It follows that, when rival ballerina, the Russian Nathalie Karine, lands a much-coveted role, that Rose would then arrange an accident. Rose comes to regret her rash behavior when it appears as though Karine will never be able to dance again.

Despite being in French with English sub-titles I feel that this is far superior to the American remake The Unfinished Dance (1947).

[Jezebel38]

Ballerina (1937) aka La Mort du Cygne ( The Death Of The Swan)
Despite being in French with English sub-titles I feel that this is far superior to the American remake The Unfinished Dance (1947).

Fossy - I agree that this version is way better than the MGM film. The main draw for me in seeing this version, was to catch the performance of Mia Slavenska as La Karine. I had not known of her until I saw the fabulous documentary Ballet Russes (2005), where she makes one of the most unforgettable appearances of all the retired ballet stars. I was quite impressed with her dancing in Ballerina, as well as her acting and screen presence.

[MikeBSG]

Watched a very interesting documentary this morning, "the Unknown Soldier" (2006) directed by Michael Verhoeven. (I had seen his previous fiction films, "The White Rose" (1983) and "The Nasty Girl" (1990) before.)

The film looks at the controversy in German caused by a museum exhibition that showed the Wehrmacht was complicit in genocide on the Eastern Front in WWII. But it also looks into some side topics as well, topics that don't usually get covered in American films, such as progroms in Ukraine in 1941 as the Soviets pulled out and Germans invaded and the starvation of Soviet POWs in German hands in 1941-2.

As I watched, I wondered if there were any American directors who would make a documentary about the flap about the Smithsonian's Enola Gay exhibit or any other "big" topic. (And I know Scorsese does a lot of documentaries, but mostly about music. Not to say that music isn't "big" but...)

[MikeBSG]

Watched an early Fassbinder film yesterday. "the Nichalhausen Journey" dates from 1970, with the emphasis on "dates." Supposedly about a peasant revolt caused by a man having a vision of the Virgin Mary, it is largely an excuse to declaim revolutionary propaganda to the camera. The film ends with the praises of Fidel Castro.

Very different from other Fassbinder films I've seen. I noticed a co-director was credited. Maybe that is why this one was so ideologically pure.

The best performance was by Margrit Carstensen, as an aristocratic woman who supports the rebels because she is sexually obsessed with their leader. That was the only part of the film that felt like Fassbinder.

Basically, I'm coming to the conclusion that most pre-"Merchant of the Four Seasons" Fassbinder films aren't worth looking up.

[MichiganJ]

Basically, I'm coming to the conclusion that most pre-"Merchant of the Four Seasons" Fassbinder films aren't worth looking up.

The American Soldier is very good and I also like Gods of the Plague and Beware of a Holy Whore. I've not seen The Niklashausen Journey.