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Victor Francen
Victor Francen (born Victor Franssens, 5 August 1888 – 18 November 1977) was a Belgian-born actor with a long career in French cinema and in Hollywood. Biography Francen was born in 1888 in Tienen, the son of a chief of police. According to Russian sources, he attended opera classes in Odessa before 1914. Was already well known in Russian empire before 1914. Postcards with his portraits were printed and sold. He worked in trade in Belgium before settling in Paris where he trained in dramatic art under Paul Mounet. His stage career in the 1920s included appearances in plays by Henri Bernstein, Georges Bataille and Edmond Rostand which took him all over the world. After three appearances in silent films, he played the Prophet in Abel Gance's film '' La Fin du monde'' (''The End of the World'') (1931) and established his career as a leading man in French films. In 1940, he was introduced to American films by Charles Boyer and appeared in ''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941), ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Marquet
Mary Marquet (born Micheline Marguerite Delphine Marquet; 14 April 1895 – 29 August 1979) was a French stage and film actress. Career Marquet came from a family of artists: her parents were actors, an aunt was a star dancer at the Paris Opera, and another was an official at the Comédie-Française. She entered the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Art in 1913 and studied under Paul Mounet. She failed her final exams, but was immediately engaged in the company of Sarah Bernhardt, who was a great friend of the family. She went on play alongside her in The Eugene Morand cathedral. She became established with her role in ''L'Aiglon'' by Edmond Rostand, whose mistress she became from 1915 to his death in 1918. She made her film debut in 1914 in a silent film, ''Les Frères ennemis'', which was never finished. Her first major film role was in ''Sappho'', produced by Léonce Perret in 1932. After World War I, she joined the Comédie-Française in 1923 where she stayed for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tuttles Of Tahiti
''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' is a 1942 American adventure comedy romance film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Charles Laughton and Jon Hall. It was based on the novel ''No More Gas'' by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff. Plot When merchant sailor Chester Tuttle ( Jon Hall) returns home to Tahiti after several years away, his family, headed by Jonas Tuttle (Charles Laughton), welcomes him with open arms. The Tuttles are a happy-go-lucky bunch who give little thought to the future and do as little work as necessary. Jonas often gets loans, which he never gets around to paying back, from Dr. Blondin (Victor Francen). Chester has brought with him a fighting rooster for Jonas's cockfight with the more industrious and prosperous Emily (Florence Bates). Shrewd businessman Jensen (Curt Bois) persuades the doctor to transfer Jonas's debt to him. Jonas is so sure that Chester's rooster will win that he willingly signs a mortgage for the rundown family mansion and bets everything ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night And Day (1946 Film)
''Night and Day'' is a 1946 Technicolor Warner Bros. biographical and musical film starring Cary Grant, in a fictionalized account of the life of American composer and songwriter Cole Porter. The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Arthur Schwartz, with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay was written by Charles Hoffman, Leo Townsend and William Bowers. The music score by Ray Heindorf and Max Steiner was nominated for an Academy Award. The film features several of the best-known Porter songs, including the title song " Night and Day," "Begin the Beguine," and " My Heart Belongs to Daddy." Alexis Smith plays Linda Lee Porter, Porter's wife of 35 years. Monty Woolley and Mary Martin appear as themselves. Production Jack Warner paid $300,000 for the rights to Cole Porter's best known songs, and viewed the film as a "big-budget extravaganza" that would celebrate Warner Brothers' twenty years in sound films. The scriptwriters knew that the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devotion (1946 Film)
''Devotion'' is a 1946 American biographical film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, Olivia de Havilland, and Sydney Greenstreet. Based on a story by Theodore Reeves, the film is a highly fictionalized account of the lives of the Brontë sisters. The movie features Montagu Love's last role; he died almost three years before the film's delayed release. Plot The story takes place in the early 1800s, when the Brontë sisters Charlotte and Anne have made the decision to leave their family – their sister Emily, their brother Branwell, their aunt and their vicar father – to take positions as governesses in other families. The two sisters long to break free from their tedious life and get experiences from the outside world, to prepare for their careers as writers. They have the intention of giving part of their income from the governess positions to their talented brother Branwell, so that he can go to London and study art, to become a great tempera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Antonio (film)
''San Antonio'' is a 1945 American Western film starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. The film was written by W. R. Burnett and Alan Le May, and directed in Technicolor by David Butler as well as uncredited Robert Florey and Raoul Walsh. The film was nominated for 2 Academy Awards; for Best Original Song ("Some Sunday Morning") and Best Art Direction ( Ted Smith, Jack McConaghy). Plot Rustlers are running rampant in Texas, but at least one rancher, Charlie Bell, isn't pulling up stakes yet, particularly with the news that old friend Clay Hardin is en route from Mexico back home to San Antonio. Clay claims to have proof, documented in a book, that Roy Stuart is responsible for the rustling. Clay arrives in town by stagecoach, as does Jeanne Starr, who is taking a job as a singer in Stuart's saloon. Lured backstage by Jeanne, suspicious that she could be in cahoots with her boss, Clay leaves the book in Charlie's care. But a partner of Stuart's, a man named Legare, wants th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confidential Agent
''Confidential Agent'' is a 1945 American spy film starring Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall which was a Warner Brothers production. The movie was directed by Herman Shumlin and produced by Robert Buckner with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay was by Robert Buckner, based on the 1939 novel '' The Confidential Agent'' by Graham Greene. The music score was by Franz Waxman and the cinematography by James Wong Howe. The supporting cast includes George Coulouris and Peter Lorre. Plot In the midst of the Spanish Civil War, Luis Denard (Charles Boyer), a former concert pianist and composer, travels to England as a confidential agent of the Republican government. His mission is to buy coal or to deny it to the Fascist rebels. On the ship, he meets bored rich girl Rose Cullen ( Lauren Bacall), whose father, Lord Benditch (Holmes Herbert), heads the firm with which Denard will negotiate. On the road to London, he is beaten and robbed by Fascist agents, who do not find ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Conspirators (1944 Film)
''The Conspirators'' (or ''Give Me This Woman'') is a 1944 American film noir, World War II, drama, spy, and thriller film directed by Jean Negulesco. It stars Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid, features Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in supporting roles, and has a cameo of Aurora Miranda singing a Fado. ''The Conspirators'' reunites several performers who appeared in ''Casablanca'' (1942). Plot During World War II, a schoolteacher, Vincent Van Der Lyn (Paul Henreid), who becomes a Dutch resistance fighter, causes so much trouble for the Nazis that they place a bounty on his head. As a result, he is ordered by his superiors to travel to England via neutral Lisbon. On Van Der Lyn's arrival, Police Captain Pereira (Joseph Calleia) notes that his passport has no exit stamp on it, indicating that he sneaked across the border, but reassures the traveler that all that matters is that the Portuguese visa is in order. The German agent Otto Lutzke (Kurt Katch) becomes suspicious, informs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mask Of Dimitrios
''The Mask of Dimitrios'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same title written by Eric Ambler (in the United States, it was published as ''A Coffin for Dimitrios''). The film features Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott (as Dimitrios Makropoulos), Faye Emerson and Peter Lorre. This was the first film for Scott after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Pictures. Plot In 1938, the Dutch mystery writer Cornelius Leyden is visiting Istanbul. A fan, Colonel Haki of the Turkish police, believes that Leyden would be interested in the story of Dimitrios Makropoulos, whose body was just washed up on the beach. Leyden is so fascinated by what Haki tells of the dead criminal that he becomes determined to learn more. He seeks out Dimitrios' associates all over Europe, none of whom has a kind word for the deceased. They reveal more of the man's sordid life. His ex-lover, Irana Preveza, tells of his failed assa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passage To Marseille
''Passage to Marseille'', also known as ''Message to Marseille'', is a 1944 American war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel ''Sans Patrie'' (''Men Without Country'') by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography was by James Wong Howe. ''Passage to Marseille'' is one of the few films to use a flashback within a flashback, within a flashback, following the narrative structure of the novel on which it is based. The film opens at an airbase in England during World War II. Free French Captain Freycinet tells a journalist the story of the French pilots stationed there. The second flashback is at the French prison colony at Cayenne in French Guiana while the third flashback sets the scene where the lead character, Matrac, a newspaper publisher, is framed for a murder to silence him. Plot In 1942, journalist Manning arrives at an English a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Our Time (1944 Film)
''In Our Time'' is a 1944 American romantic drama film set in the days leading up to World War II. It stars Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid. Plot In March 1939, English antiques dealer Mrs. Bromley and her assistant Jennifer "Jenny" Whittredge travel through Poland making purchases. In Warsaw, Jenny meets Count Stefan Orwid and, after a whirlwind courtship, he asks her to marry him. However, Stefan's aristocratic family is less than welcoming to the English commoner, particularly his sister Janina and his wealthy, diplomat uncle Count Pawel Orwid. His mother Zofyia merely wants to keep peace in the family. Only his other uncle, ineffectual Leopold Baruta, welcomes her. Nonetheless, the wedding takes place. Afterwards, Jenny encourages Stefan to break his family's dependence on Count Pawel's financial aid by persuading his peasant tenants to adopt more modern and efficient farming methods. It works; the harvest is bountiful, and Stefan accepts Jenny's suggestion that they invite the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Desert Song (1943 Film)
''The Desert Song'' is a 1943 American musical film. It was directed by Robert Florey and starred Dennis Morgan, Irene Manning and Bruce Cabot. It is based on the 1926 operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction ( Charles Novi, Jack McConaghy). This film version of the operetta was, like the 1929 film version, almost never seen after its original release due to content and copyright issues, which made the film hard to find or view. In 2014, it was remastered, restored and released on DVD by Warner Brothers. The film is more sophisticated technically than the earlier film due to its large budget and advances in both sound and color. This is the first film version to be made in full three-strip Technicolor. It tries to make the operetta topical in terms of World War II, by having the outlaw hero with a dual identity fight the Nazis as well as the Riffs. As in the 1953 film, the hero's name is changed to El Khobar, rath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madame Curie (film)
''Madame Curie'' is a 1943 American biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin from a screenplay by Paul Osborn, Paul H. Rameau, and Aldous Huxley (uncredited), adapted from the biography by Ève Curie. It stars Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, with supporting performances by Robert Walker, Henry Travers, and Albert Bassermann. The film tells the story of Polish-French physicist Marie Curie in 1890s Paris as she begins to share a laboratory with her future husband, Pierre Curie. This was the fourth of nine onscreen pairings between Pidgeon and Garson."Madame Curie" . Retrieved January 20, 2014. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
