Checkerboard

Checkerboard 1959

6.00

In a small Gallic village, tourists are regaled by street entertainers and brash prostitutes. One of the tourists, a black girl named Bessie, falls in love with local villager Bob, and he with her. Soon racial tensions erupt volcanically among tourists and townsfolk alike. All is forgiven when the respective parents of the hero and heroine save the village's water supply.

1959

Blood to the Head

Blood to the Head 1956

6.10

François Cardinaud is one of the richest shipowners in the region. But this success arouses resentment and jealousy. When Marthe, his wife, leaves the home without warning, Cardinaud sees her life cracking little by little.

1956

The Light Across the Street

The Light Across the Street 1955

6.50

Tensions mount as the lonely wife of a trucker becomes involved with a gas station attendant.

1955

Time of the Wolves

Time of the Wolves 1970

5.40

Patterning himself after the American gangster John Dillinger, the criminal (Robert Hossein) is tracked by the inspector (Charles Aznavour), a former childhood friend. Plenty of gunplay and psychology is used to trap the killer. His only tender moments are spent with his girlfriend Stella (Virna Lisi). Dillinger is cornered by the police and kills several innocent victims in a crowd during the shootout. The mob decides to take things into their own hands as they approach the doomed man with a noose when he runs out of bullets.

1970

Tower of Lust

Tower of Lust 1955

5.00

France, the beginning of the XIV century. Every night, Queen Margaret of Burgundy and her two sisters arrange orgies, to which beautiful nobles are invited. The young men were brought blindfolded, and after a night of love they were killed and their corpses thrown into the river, because the queen was afraid that her husband would learn about her adventures. One of her lovers managed to escape death. He knows the secrets of the queen, knows that she once gave birth to a son from him, claims that he has evidence that Margarita wanted to kill her father and blackmails her.

1955

Twelve Hours by the Clock

Twelve Hours by the Clock 1959

4.30

Three criminals escape from a French prison and hide in a coastal village where they have to wait for 12 hours until the boat that is supposed to take them to freedom arrives.

1959

It Happened on the 36 Candles

It Happened on the 36 Candles 1957

2.00

Rejecting the union of her daughter Brigitte with a modest worker, Madame Magnin invents an adultery for the lover, then introduces Brigitte to a good-looking man working on the famous RTF entertainment show 36 Chandelles. The show ultimately seals the reunion of the two estranged young lovers. The story features a parade of music-hall stars from the era: Charles Trenet, Charles Aznavour, Georges Guétary, Juliette Gréco, Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault, Fernand Raynaud, Georges Ulmer and many more.

1957

Who Stole the Body?

Who Stole the Body? 1963

6.50

Edouard and Félix work in a real estate agency. One day, they are threatened with dismissal if they don't manage to sell a very isolated house to an elderly, silver and somewhat unusual Englishwoman. In the house, they discover a corpse. The visit is spent dragging the corpse from room to room, cupboard to chest, so as not to frighten the otherwise impressed buyer. But the corpse disappears. He has to be found before the deed can be signed. The two salesmen become detectives, tracking down the dead man's many female acquaintances. All the seducer's conquests are sifted through, to find the one who left her jewels at the scene of the crime.

1963

Paparazzi

Paparazzi 1964

6.80

Paparazzi explores the relationship between Brigitte Bardot and groups of invasive photographers attempting to photograph her while she works on the set of Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (Contempt). Through video footage of Bardot, interviews with the paparazzi, and still photos of Bardot from magazine covers and elsewhere, director Rozier investigates some of the ramifications of international movie stardom, specifically the loss of privacy to the paparazzi. The film explains the shooting of the film on the island of Capri, and the photographers' valiant, even foolishly dangerous, attempts to get a photograph of Bardot.

1964

Salut Berthe !

Salut Berthe ! 1968

4.40

Adrien Chautard, a major industrialist from Abidjan, has been chosen to replace an expert on the official Ivory Coast delegation sent to Paris to discuss the country's association with the Common Market. Chautard is delighted at the prospect of this trip, where he will be reunited with the woman of his dreams: Elisabeth. Alas, at Abidjan airport, a nasty surprise awaits him: Berthe, his lawful wife, has decided to leave with him to consult a leading cardiologist in the capital.

1968

La Dame aux camélias

La Dame aux camélias 1934

1

Alexandre Dumas' romantic novel Lady of the Camelias (more popularly known as Camille) was filmed twice in 1953, first in Argentina, then in France. The Argentine film was heavily modernized, while the French version returns to Dumas' 19th-century milieu. Micheline Presle is excellent as Marguerite, the gorgeous courtesan who flits from man to man until she finds true love in the form of the much-younger Armand (Rolande Alexandre). Though he is willing to marry her despite her past, she is persuaded to forsake him, lest his reputation be ruined. The story then wends its way towards its famous tragic finale, as the consumptive Marguerite is permitted a few brief moments of happiness before her flame is permanently extinguished. Advertised as the seventh version of the Dumas classic, La Dame aux Camelias was certainly not the last.

1934

The Cheerful Squadron

The Cheerful Squadron 1954

5.70

The Cheerful Squadron is a 1954 Italian war-comedy film directed by Paolo Moffa and Interpreted by movie stars like Paolo Stoppa, Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Sordi and Silvana Pampanini. Based on the military environment novel The Allegro Squadron by Georges Courteline (1886), this film presents a series of sketches on military life in the late nineteenth century.

1954

The Sad Sack

The Sad Sack 1950

1

Thanks to a bit of string-pulling by his aunt, Jean du Bois d'Ombelles, a young recruit who has blue blood in his veins, hopes to go through a nice and comfortable military service. Unfortunately he becomes Corporal Bourrache's pet aversion. Nevertheless, against all expectations, Jean ends up taking a liking for military life.

1950

L'An 40

L'An 40 1941

1

Félix Raffut, a Périgord squire terrified by the German invasion, carries out the exodus of his family and his furniture towards supposedly hospitable places.

1941

Sacred Youth

Sacred Youth 1958

2.80

Mr. Longué, aged 79, is offered a life annuity on his provincial estate by his nephew. He receives the same, but more advantageous, offer from his insurer, but Mr. Longué has decided to undergo a rejuvenation treatment in Switzerland, at Dr. Koranoff's establishment. The effect was striking, and he was given a new lease on life, leaving his heirs and insurer in complete disarray. His wife, witnessing her husband's metamorphosis, also undergoes the treatment, and off they go on a second honeymoon to Italy.

1958

La Présidente

La Présidente 1938

1

Vérotchka, a vivacious theater actress touring in a provincial town, is turned out of her hotel by orders of Monsieur Tricointe, the stern president of the local law court. In a rage, the actress knocks at Tricointe's door with a view to protesting against the treatment she is given. She goes about it so well that she ends up being accommodated by the president himself. This is the moment Jean-Pierre Gaudet, the Minister of Justice, chooses to pay an unannounced visit to his friend Tricointe. There he mistakes Vérotchka for Madame Tricointe and the president does not dare to contradict Gaudet. A lot of absurd situations ensue.

1938

Sheep

Sheep 1960

4.00

Fernand, a simple employee at the Prefecture of Police, must serve as a "sheep" to extract confessions from a leader of organized crime, who has recently been in prison. But he managed to escape by taking Fernand hostage.

1960

Trial at the Vatican

Trial at the Vatican 1952

6.00

In 19th-century France, a little girl follows her two sisters into a Carmelite monastery with the goal of becoming a saint.

1952

Le club des 400 coups

Le club des 400 coups 1953

1

An orphan's grandmother dies. Alone in the world,he is going to be confided to the health and social security services. His pals decide to kidnap him so that he can stay with them.

1953