Second film in the Renoir documentary trilogy directed by Jacques Rivette, featuring a conversation between Jean Renoir and Michel Simon.
A quote from “Projections of Memory: Romanticism, Modernism, and the Aesthetics of Film” by Richard I. Suchenski:
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Mr. Joly, Doctor Cordelier’s lawyer, is amazed to discover that his client and friend leaves his possessions to a stranger, Opale, a sadistic criminal. He needs this man to prove that people’s behavior can be adjusted at will…Read More »
Richard T. Jameson wrote:
Little known stateside but long esteemed in Europe, The Crime of Monsieur Lange is simply one of the very greatest films directed by Jean Renoir (it was made a few years before Grand Illusion and Rules of the Game). René Lefèvre (Le Million) takes the title role of a nebbish who clerks for a penny-press publisher by day, and by night writes feverish potboilers about a Western hero named “Arizona Jim”. Lange’s encyclopedically venal boss (Jules Berry) discovers his secret and immediately starts exploiting it, as he exploits everybody and everything within range. Life sublimely imitates pulp fiction and vice versa in the brilliant screenplay by Jacques Prévert (who would later write Children of Paradise). The movie blends sociopolitical protest, tender satire, and astonishing poetry without breaking a sweat, and its climax – an amazing synthesis of theme, dramatic, emotion, and inspired camerawork – is one of the transcendent moments in screen history.Read More »
IMDb wrote:
France, 1885. Celestine, a Parisian girl arrives in the rural Lanlaire mansion to work as the chambermaid. Barely alighting from the train, Celestine has already been rebuffed by the haughty valet Joseph (an excellently surly Lederer), and confides to the also newly arrived scullery maid Louise (a mousy and dowdy Irene Ryan) that she will do whatever in her power to advancing her social position and firmly proclaims that love is absolutely off limits, and the film uses the literal diary- writing sequences as a recurrent motif to trace Celestine’s inner thoughts.Read More »
A mild-mannered school teacher in a German-occupied town during World War II finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance.Read More »
In 1932, Michel Simon plays in “Boudu sauvé des eaux” under the direction of Jean Renoir.
Three years later, he was again invited to don the clothes of the famous tramp on the sets of Boulogne.
But it’s to shoot a film for advertising …Read More »
Inspector Maigret investigates the mysterious murder of a Dutch diamond dealer, found dead in a stolen car. The car belongs to an insurance agent, Michonnet, and has been abandoned in the garage belonging to Carl Andersen.Read More »
The story of a frozen girl who tries to sell matches during Christmas and dreams about a toy store. The film is based on the 1845 short story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen.Read More »
PLOT DESCRIPTION
French filmmaker Jean Renoir would later remark that he directed the sensual dance fantasy Charleston because he’d “just discovered American jazz.” He also had some stock footage left over from his previous silent success Nana, and decided it would be provident to fashion a new film from these leavings. Even without the benefit of sound, one can hear the jazzy rhythms of Charleston through the exuberant gyrations of an African-American dancer whom Renoir and his star, actress Catherine Hessling, had discovered for this picture. Originally titled Sur un air de Charleston, the film was also released as Charleston Parade in English-speaking countries. In some areas of the US and Europe, the film was greeted with protests from censorship boards who simply couldn’t appreciate the aesthetic value in Catherine Hessling’s near-nude dance numbers.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »