''Lady Killer'' (french: Gueule d'amour) is a 1937 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Jean Grémillon Jean Grémillon (; 3 October 1901 – 25 November 1959)Note that, despite attempts at correction, thIMDb entry on the directorlists his date of birth erroneously as 4 March 1898. The correct date is given in his standard biography, by Geneviève S ...

and starring

Jean Gabin Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976) was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including ''Pépé le Moko'' (1937), ''La grande illusion'' (1937), ''Le Quai des brumes'' ( ...

Mireille Balin Mireille Césarine Balin (born Blanche Mireille Césarine Balin; 20 July 1909, in Monte Carlo – 9 November 1968 in Paris)"Balin, Mireille (1911–1968)." ''Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages'', edited by Anne Commire ...

and

Marguerite Deval Marguerite Deval (19 September 1866 – 18 December 1955) was a French singer and actress. Born Marguerite Hippolyte Juliette Brulfer, she was a comedian, opera chanteuse, and actress of stage and film. She was born in Strasbourg and died in Pa ...

. It has been classified as both a

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

and an entry into the poetic realist group of films of the late 1930s. It was produced by the German company

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

in conjunction with its own French subsidiary ACE. Like ''

Port of Shadows ''Port of Shadows'' (french: Le Quai des brumes , "The dock of mists") is a 1938 French film directed by Marcel Carné. An example of poetic realism, it stars Jean Gabin, Michel Simon and Michèle Morgan. The screenplay was written by Jacques Pr� ...

'' it drew on the tradition of

German expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

in its lighting and set design, although the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

authorities were opposed to the expressionist style. It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and on location around

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Hermann Asmus Hermann Asmus (1887–1968) was a German art director.Giesen p.200 Selected filmography * ''When Women Keep Silent'' (1937) *'' Lady Killer'' (1937) * '' Kora Terry'' (1940) * ''Twilight'' (1940) * ''Andreas Schlüter'' (1942) * '' Sky Hounds'' ( ...

and

Max Mellin Max Mellin (1904–1977) was a German art director.Jacobsen & Prinzler p.275 Selected filmography * ''Happy Days in Aranjuez'' (1933) * ''The Girlfriend of a Big Man'' (1934) * '' Playing with Fire'' (1934) * '' Marriage Strike'' (1935) * ''Fresh ...

. The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

Cast

as Lucien Bourrache, 'Gueule d'Amour' *

as Madeleine *

Pierre Etchepare Pierre Paul Lucien Salvat Etchepare (2 October 1891 – 20 April 1943) was a French actor. Pierre Etchepare was born in Paris and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. Selected filmography * ''Happy Couple'' (1923) * '' My Aunt from H ...

as hotel owner *

Henri Poupon Henri Poupon (1884–1953) was a French stage and film actor.Paietta p.128 He worked a number of times with the write-director Marcel Pagnol. Selected filmography * ''The Fortune'' (1931) * ''To the Polls, Citizens'' (1932) * ''Angèle'' (1934) * ...

as Monsieur Cailloux * as Le valet de chambre *

Pierre Magnier Pierre Frédéric Magnier (February 22, 1869 - October 15, 1959) was a French actor who began on the stage in the 1890s and became a prominent silent film actor in France. He was the second actor to portray ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' in any film in ...

as Commandant *

as Madame Courtois * René Lefèvre as René *

Jane Marken Jane Marken (born Jeanne Berthe Adolphine Crabbe, sometimes credited as Jeanne Marken, 13 January 1895 in Paris 10th arrondissement – 1 December 1976 in Paris 4th arrondissement) was a French actress. She was the first wife of the actor Ju ...

as Madame Cailloux (as Jeanne Marken) *

Paulette Noizeux Paulette Noizeux (born Marie-Paule Cœuré; 30 May 1887 – 9 April 1971) was a French stage and film actress who began her career on the stages of France and New York in the 1910s. Her career spanned sixty years. Noizeux was born in Saint-Ome ...

* as restaurant manager (as Siméon) *

Pierre Labry Pierre Labry (1885–1948) was a French stage and film actor.Capua p.122 He was active in the French film industry between 1920 and 1948, appearing in more than a hundred films. Selected filmography * ''La croisade'' (1920) * ''Gigolette'' (1921 ...

as printer * as client *

Louis Florencie Louis Florencie (4 December 1896 – 4 December 1951) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1927 and 1951. Selected filmography * ''Companion Wanted'' (1932) * ''Beauty Spot (film), Beauty Spot'' (1932) * ''Suza ...

as waiter (as Florencie) * Paul Fournier as client * as Captain *

Maurice Baquet Maurice Louis Baquet (26 May 1911 – 8 July 2005) was a French actor and cellist. He was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône and died in Noisy-le-Grand.Frédéric Mariotti Frédéric Mariotti (1 April 1883 – 22 February 1971) was a French stage and film actor whose career spanned more than four decades through the early silent film era into the early 1950s. Biography Frédéric Mariotti was born in Marseille an ...

as Le cantonnier (as Mariotti)

References

Bibliography

* Driskell, Jonathan . ''The French Screen Goddess: Film Stardom and the Modern Woman in 1930s France''. I.B.Tauris, 2015. * Spicer, Andrew (ed.) ''European Film Noir''. Manchester University Press, 2019. *Walker-Morrison, Deborah. ''Classic French Noir: Gender and the Cinema of Fatal Desire''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. * Williams, Alan Larson. ''Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking''. Harvard University Press, 1992.

External links

* 1937 films 1937 drama films French drama films French black-and-white films Films set in Cannes Films directed by Jean Grémillon 1930s French-language films Films shot in Paris Films shot at Babelsberg Studios UFA GmbH films 1930s French films {{1930s-France-film-stub