Best French Film 1940-1949
Seven best French films by year (1940-1949)
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- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsDanielle DarrieuxClaude DauphinAndré LuguetDanielle Darrieux plays an impoverished reform-school escapee who finds a new lease on life when she enrolls in a school for pickpockets run by Fagin-like Saturnin-Fabre.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsPierre FresnayMarie BellMicheline FranceyA nun suffering from TB is desperately trying to save an alcoholic tramp and to bring him back to his wife and kids.He has a friend who died last year and became the coachman of the "Ghost Wagon" .Release in France: 1940
- DirectorAlbert ValentinStarsMichèle MorganGilbert GilAndrexThe young Suzy is a nightclub hostess in a cabaret in which Frehel is the star. Because one night she gets propositions from a rich widower who would like to have her as his girlfriend, Suzy wishes to leave this place, where she has no future, for a better one. Abandoned by her protector, a young hoodlum named Robert, she gets the occasion to get away from it. She decides to go on vacation on the Riviera and stay at the Chateau des Cedres, the former residence of a noble family that has been transformed into a bourgeois guest house by the baroness Saint-Leu. Shy and elegant, in her modest suit, Suzy stays there under the name of Suzanne Michelet and soon makes new friends among the young people of very wealthy families.Release in France: 1940
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsRaimuFernandelJosette DayA rural maiden's two suitors go off to war, leaving her pregnant.Best French Film of the year 1940
- DirectorEdmond T. GrévilleStarsMireille BalinJohn LoderGinette LeclercThe months before World War II. The fear of the impending war never leaves the guests of an hotel in Paris.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsFernand GraveyElvire PopescoAndré AlermeBefore World War I in Paris, a budding artist, Pierre Leblanc, falls in love and marries Janine, a dressmaker's assistant. Pierre has a flair for designing clothes, and he and his bride live in a blissful paradise, until war breaks out and he becomes a soldier. Janine dies in childbirth and, no longer desiring to live, Pierre volunteers for a dangerous patrol behind German lines. While recuperating in the hospital from a wound he received on the mission, Pierre spends his time drawing sketches of dresses. He becomes rich and famous after the war. Years later, after devoting himself to his daughter, Pierre seeks a marriage with a girl no older than his daughter. A conflict develops and to ensure his daughter's happiness, Pierre sacrifices his own plans.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsEdwige FeuillèreJorge RigaudDaniel LecourtoisAfter an unhappy marriage, a woman of the world is forced to become a dancer in a cabaret in order to raise her young son.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsLouise CarlettiJean ClaudioSerge GraveAbandoned children, left to their own devices and a life of danger, are adopted by a kind man.
- DirectorLouis DaquinStarsLouise CarlettiGilbert GilAndré BrunotA student from an elementary school accidentally breaks the glass roof of his school. His comrades decide to support it by working during the summer holidays in order to pay for reconstruction.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsDanielle DarrieuxRosine LuguetGabrielle DorziatMicheline Chevassu is a naive young woman living in an orphanage. Through classified ads, she makes a date with an unknown man. She escapes from the orphanage to meet him, dreaming of her Prince Charming, but waiting for her is unattractive, middle-aged Nicolas Rougemont. He pretends not to be the author of the letters, who could not come.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsJean GabinMadeleine RenaudMichèle MorganThe captain of the tugboat Cyclone, André Laurent, rushes off to save the Mirva. He abandons his sick wife Yvonne and the couple celebrating their marriage. In the early morning, the Cyclone tugs the Mirva ashore with Catherine aboard.
- DirectorIrene StarewiczWladyslaw StarewiczStarsClaude DauphinRomain BouquetSylvain ItkineWhen Renard the Fox's mischievous pranks go too far, King Lion is forced to attempt to bring the trickster to justice.Release in France: 1941
Best French Film of the year 1941 - DirectorAbel GanceStarsViviane RomanceGeorges FlamantLucienne Le MarchandThe imaginary voyage of a woman gone blind on her former lover's boat.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurJacques de BaroncelliStarsHarry BaurLouis JouvetCharles DullinVolpone, an elderly Venetian, connives with his money-crazed servant to convince his greedy friends that he is dying, knowing that each will try to curry favor with him in order to be named his heir. He is inundated with valuable gifts, and soon finds himself entangled deeper and deeper in a web of lies.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPierre FresnaySuzy DelairJean TissierInspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
- DirectorJacques de BaroncelliStarsEdwige FeuillèrePierre Richard-WillmAimé ClariondThe Duchess of Langeais, as beautiful as she is brilliant, is a woman who likes to seduce but who does not give in. Until the day when she falls in love with General de Montriveau, a cabal goes up against her.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsRaimuJuliette FaberGabrielle FontanLoursat, a lawyer, lives with his daughter Nicole. Abandoned by his wife about 20 years ago, he has sunk into alcoholism. One day, the corpse of a stranger is discovered in the attic of his residence.
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsFernand GraveyMicheline PresleSaturnin FabreDenis is distracted: he's studying all day for philosophy exams and working all night at the flower market; plus, whenever he closes his eyes, he dreams of a mysterious woman in white. His girlfriend Nina is annoyed at him for his inattention, so she steps out behind his back with a friend of his. One night, while napping at the flower mart, he pursues the mystery woman in what he thinks is a dream, and finds himself with her in a restaurant with her father and her fiancé, then on to a magic shop, the Louvre, a nightclub, and a mental asylum. During the night, he discovers a plot against her, and still believing it's a dream, goes to great lengths to try to save her.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsPierre BlancharAnnie DucauxSuzy CarrierFor 15 years after Waterloo, a baron refuses to accept the defeat. He reluctantly marries one of 2 Bourbon sisters but lands up dueling with the wife's former lover. Finally he gets a chance to prove himself again in battle.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsRenée Saint-CyrLise DelamareJean-Louis BarraultBiographical romance about the great composer Hector Berlioz, someone whom the French, during their WWII occupation by the Nazis, could look back proudly on.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyMarie DéaFernand LedouxIn medieval France, the Devil intervenes when one of his two envoys, sent to seduce and deceive mortals, falls instead for a victim.Best French Film of the year 1942
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsRenée FaureJany HoltSylvieAnne-Marie joins a Dominican convent as a novice where she knows Therese. After shooting a man for which she was imprisoned, Therese protests her innocence, reluctant to tell her secret.
- DirectorRobert VernayStarsPierre Richard-WillmMichèle AlfaAimé ClariondEdmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The Abbe tells Edmond of a fantastic treasure hidden away on a tiny island, that only he knows the location of. After many years in prison, the old Abbe dies, and Edmond escapes disguised as the dead body. Now free, Edmond must find the treasure the Abbe told him of, so he can use the new-found wealth to exact revenge on those who have wronged him.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPierre FresnayGinette LeclercMicheline FranceyA French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.Best French Film of the year 1943
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsOdette JoyeuxMadeleine RobinsonMarguerite MorenoIn Paris in 1887, Irène works as a governess to Douce, the grand-daughter of the dowager Countess de Bonafé. Douce believes she is in love with Fabien, the handsome manager of the estate. However she cannot hope to marry him because of their class difference. Douce's widowed father, the Count de Bonafé, has a wooden leg, and is infatuated with Irène. Douce discovers that Fabien is planning to flee to Quebec with Irène, and also finds out that the Count has asked Irène to marry him. So Douce tells Fabien this and convinces him to run away with her, causing consternation in the family.