ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[southendmd]

Plot:  This tragic tale centers around the ill-fated love between Baptiste, a theater mime, and Claire Reine, an actress and otherwise woman-about-town who calls herself Garance. Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: Frederick, a pretentious actor; Lacenaire, a conniving thief; and Count Eduard of Monteray. The story is further complicated by Nathalie, an actress who is in love with Baptiste. Garance and Baptiste meet when Garance is falsely accused of stealing a man's watch. Garance is forced to enter the protection of Count Eduard when she is innocently implicated in a crime committed by Lacenaire. In the intervening years of separation, both Garance and Baptiste become involved in loveless relationships with the Count and Nathalie, respectively. Baptiste is the father of a son. Returning to Paris, Garance finds that Baptiste has become a famous mime actor. Nathalie sends her child to foil their meeting, but Baptiste and Garance manage one night together. Lacenaire murders Edouard. In the last scenes, Garance is returning to Eduard's hotel and disaster as Baptiste struggles after her through crowds of merrymakers, many dressed as his famous character.

[oilgun]

Plot:  Fanfan, a lazy young man from Paris escapes from a forced marriage to the daughter of farmer and joins the army after Adeline promised him a glorious career in the French Army. After singing the contract, he finds out that Adeline is the daughter of his sergant. In spite of this he tries to make the "promised faith" of him true, but he is caught when he tries to intorduce himself to Louis XV's daughter Henriette, who he shall marry due to his promised faith. He is sentenced to death, but Adeline convinces Louis XV that he shall be free. But Louis XV hasn't done this for free. So he tries to kidnapp Adeline. Fanfan chases the kidnappers, but he has no sucess in this, but he captures the military enemies supreme command. For this he receives the thanks of Louis XV. He promotes him and he's allowed to marry one of his daughters, Adeline, who has been adopted by Louis XV.

[Lynne]

From IMDb:

Mouser Jaone Tom and housecat Mewsette are living in the French country side, but Mewsette wants to experience the refinement and excitement of the Paris living. But upon arrival she falls into the clutches of Meowrice. Jaune Tom and his friend Robespierre set off to Paris to find her.  Written by Brian W Martz {[email protected]}

[memento]

IMDB: Hotel Du Nord is a gripping drama of guilt in which Marcel Carne portrayed an entertaining tale of ill-fated love which also functions as a revolt against the cruel world.The film is based entirely on a pair of hapless lovers.Pierre and Renee were mistaken when they believed that suicide would put an end to their misery.Hotel Du Nord has its own inimitable charm as its inhabitants have become an essential part of the establishment.There is an element of togetherness as everyone flocks to Hotel Du Nord to eat,chat etc. Marcel Carne has remained true to the spirit of the films produced in 30s and 40s as Hotel Du Nord has a certain kind of nostalgic feel.Carne,while recreating the life of Parisian roads was able to create a sort of nostalgia for black and white giving a unique genre of poetic realism to his oeuvre.Hotel Du Nord can be termed as a quintessence of cinematographic populism.The 14th July ball scene on the banks of Saint Martin canal remains a magnificent sequence.The film's immense popularity can be judged from the fact that Hotel Du Nord has been declared as a national monument.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  This is one of those typical MGM soap operas from the early 1930s. Greta Garbo is beautiful and intriguing, as usual, although the story is rather sluggish, dated, and dry. She plays a Parisian model who falls in love with a very young Bob Montgomery, but her sordid past stands in their way.

[oilgun]

Plot:  Beautiful Daiga (Katerina Golubeva) has emigrated from Lithuania to Paris and is looking for a place to stay and work. Theo (Alex Descas) is a struggling musician, and his brother Camille (Richard Courcat)- a transvestite dancer. One of these three people might be connected to the serial "Granny Killer" who has been terrorizing Paris for a while. 

[southendmd]

IMDb user:  The last silent film of the 20s is a perfect showcase to reveal succinctly and gloriously exactly why this cinematic form was a genuine work of living breathing visual art. Basically a 64 minute glamorous murder mystery of love gone wrong and love misinterpreted THE KISS was Garbo's silent farewell to the 20s too, before "just gimme a scotch baby" or whatever slutty thing she mumbled in 1930 set the tone for talkies. I saw this on a double feature with the astonishing and romantic 1929 talkie drama The Divorcée which I also heartily seriously recommend for students of the age and genre. SO modern! Anyway, THE KISS has committed to everlasting celluloid imagery of one of the most perfect moments in film history...and this is not a spoiler, in fact a great reason for you to find and enjoy this gorgeous film: teenager Lew Ayres has fallen in love with Greta; it is his besotted first time and she is exquisite anyway...so imagine the focus and impact for this charming boy. His tennis match with her at her home has her playfully leaping about laughing and being his friend too. At the end of the game, as they leave the court, she is delighted to be with him and playfully kisses him. So stunned at this impromptu expression of affection, he returns the kiss, and lets his emotions escape. She realises and for a brief moment has THE KISS before stopping it short. Estranged husband has seen all from the drawing room. But the focus here is also on Lew actually unexpectedly getting what he has only dreamed about. She turns away to go to the house and the camera lingers on Lew. So overwhelmed, he privately begins to cry at the enormity and perfection of what has just happened. There isn't a person on the planet who would not have had the same reaction..and this wise and almost perfect film clearly includes us all in on this act and reaction. Sooo genuinely beautiful. Find it. Love it. Kiss it even.... A murder mystery ensues....

Keyword:  Paris

[Fran]

From IMDb:  In a lucrative and highly successful career that saw him play everyone from Spanish savior Juarez to a cutthroat gangster in "Scarface," character chameleon Paul Muni became French novelist Emile Zola in "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937). This is perhaps the most legitimate and faithful -- certainly, the most serious and stirring -- biographical film to emerge from a major Hollywood studio and so quite unlike anything that had ever been seen on the screen until that time.

Warner spared no expense in retelling Zola's early and lingering success as an author and tragic death in a house fire. Embarking in idyllic 1862's Paris with Zola's initial fame, the film delves compassionately into the morbid curiosity and infamous trial known as the Dreyfus Affair. Encouraged by confidant and contemporary, painter Paul Cezanne (Vladamir Sokoloff) to dispel his own comfortable success and, to stand up for truth and justice, Zola decides to take on the case of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut), a war hero unjustly accused of disclosing military secrets and imprisoned on Devil's Island. There are so many powerful and haunting moments in this bio that it's hard to pinpoint exactly where its greatness derives. But it is perhaps best exemplified by the dynamic interactions between Zola and Cezanne. These lead into the beautifully realized and justly celebrated courtroom summation that, once seen, is not to be forgotten.

[memento]

From IMDB: Victor Hugo's enormous output is unique in French literature... He was described as 'The most powerful mind of the romantic movement' and his novel, published in 1862, continued to be widely read...

The plot - that of a detective - is as well the epic of the people of Paris... Its author claimed it as a 'religious' work, and indeed by means of its characters, sometimes a little larger than life, yet always vital and engaging, and by its re-creation of the swarming Parisian underworld, the main theme of man's ceaseless combat with evil clearly emerges while the whole gives a faithful picture of the declines and flow of life...

Hugo relives his youth in this vast novel, the culmination of 14 years work... He and Valjean share their most outstanding characteristic: their charitable heart...

The story contains glimpses of Hugo's disgust towards 'the treatment of the lower class French citizens by the government: Valjean, an ex-convict recently released from prison, but he is not given the opportunity to make a good living for himself; Fantine forced into prostitution due to the lack of money to pay her illegitimate child...

And towards the 'general injustice of the law enforcement system: Valjean sentenced to prison for stealing a loaf of bread; Fantine arrested for hitting a man of a higher class...

The symbol of France's greed that Hugo despises is Thenardier - the man that Fantine entrusts Cosette to - who betrays the trust by essentially making Cosette his personal slave...

The strongest emotions of "Les Misérables are love and hate...

Javert and Valjean are both extremes, with a conscience incredibly strict...

Liam Neeson is cast as the gentle Valjean who takes the twist of fate parlaying it into personal success and moral rehabilitation... He changes his ways to become years later the much-loved mayor of Vigau, and as a caring businessman he struggles to forget the past and manages to redeem his soul becoming benevolent, giving manual and financial help to the weak, sick and poor...

After nine years, Valjean was horrified to discover that Javert - a former guard of the Quarries of Toulon, where he served almost 20 years - has arrived to be the head of Vigau's police force...

Valjean's desire to protect the employees from bad influences leads him to fire (indirectly) one of his workers Fantine - turned prostitute... He assumes responsibility for raising her daughter Cosette... He becomes a father figure and soon forces the choice of sacrificing his own freedom for her happiness...

Geoffrey Rush plays the icy chief inspector Javert, the man who tries "to live his life without breaking a single rule." When he is given the job of spying in the barricades and Valjean gives him his freedom instead of shooting him, things begin to fall apart for him...

The action of mercy of Jean Valjean causes him to doubt the solid base of his existence... He is in emotional agony unable to betray his convictions... He sees too late the truth...

[oilgun]

Plot:   The timeless tale of the seductive gypsy Esmeralda and the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.