Movie Listings by Genre

Director: Josef von Sternberg    More Info
Starring: Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Hans Albers, Rosa Valetti, Eduard von Winterstein, Reinhold Bernt, Hans Roth, Rolf Muller, Roland Varno

 Lola-Lola (Marlene Dietrich) is a dancer in a cabaret when the very proper Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) becomes so obsessed with her that he gives up everything to be near her–only to awaken to reality when it is too late.

Director: Augusto Genina    More Info
Starring: Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, Andre Nicolle, Jean Bradin, Gaston Jacquet, H. Bandini, M. Ziboulsky, Yves Glad, Alex Bernard, Raymonde Sonny

 In this early sound movie from France, Louise Brooks is memorable for her performance as the typist who wins a beauty contest, fights for a movie career, and endures tragedy. However, Brooks is the only thing memorable about this film.

Director: Arnold Fanck    More Info
Starring: Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, Ernst Udet, Fredrich Kaybler, Mathias Wieman, Alfred Beierle, Ernst Peterson, Harald Reinl

 Hannes (Sepp Rist) tends an isolated observatory on Mont Blanc, having contact with the outside world only by Morse code or from visits by pilot Ernst (Ernst Udet). Ernst brings Hella (Leni Riefenstahl), who lives at the bottom of the mountain with her astronomer father, and they fall in love. When Hannes loses his gloves in a storm, his hands become frozen and he calls for help via Morse code. Hella heads a rescue team to reach him. But, Ernst flies in and saves Hannes.

Director: Rene Clair    More Info
Starring: Albert Prejean, Pola Illery, Edmond T. Greville, Paul Ollivier, Gaston Modot, Bill Bocker, Jane Pierson, Raymond Aimos, Thomy Bourdelle

 First made as a silent film, music and dialog were then added in this early musical/drama. Best friends Albert and Louis (Albert Prejean and Edmond T. Greville) are street singers, and both vie for another singer, Pola (Pola Illery). When Albert is wrongfully sent to prison, Louis and Pola become lovers. But when Albert gets out of jail, the three come to an agreement.

Director: Rene Clair    More Info
Starring: Henri Marchand, Raymond Cordy, Paul Ollivier, Andre Michaud, Rolla France, Germaine Aussey, Leon Lorin, William Burke, Vincent Hyspa, Alexander D'Arcy

 This famous anti-capitalist statement starts with two prisoners who become friends. Louis (Raymond Cordy) escapes and becomes an executive at a phonograph factory. When his friend, Emile (Henri Marchand), gets out of jail, he ends up as an assembly-line worker at his friend's factory. The de-humanization of the workers is highlighted with comedic interludes. This is the first non-English speaking film to receive an Oscar nomination (Best Art Direction).

Director: Jean Renoir    More Info
Starring: Michel Simon, Janie Mareze, Georges Flamant, Magdeleine Berubet, Roger Gaillard, Jean Gehret, Alexandre Rignault, Lucien Mancini, Romain Bouquet, Max Dalban

 Painfully shy Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon) paints pictures as an escape from his miserable home life with his nagging wife, Adele (Magdeleine Berubet). One night, he meets Lulu (Janie Mareze) and becomes her lover, but Lulu is really a manipulative prostitute working for her pimp, Dede (Georges Flamant). Together, Lulu and Dede contrive to sell Maurice's paintings for their own financial benefit. Finally, Maurice lashes out and kills Lulu. Police question him but believe he does not fit the pattern of a murderer. In an intriguing twist, it is Dede who is charged with, and convicted of, Lulu's murder.

Director: Fritz Lang    More Info
Starring: Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Grundgens, Theodor Loos, Theo Lingen, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Franz Stein, Friedrich Gnab, Fritz Odemar

 In Peter Lorre's first film role, he plays a child killer who is being hunted by both police and the underworld. A chilling Fritz Lang masterpiece.

Director: Rene Clair    More Info
Starring: Annabella, Rene Lefevre, Paul Ollivier, Jean-Louis Allibert, Constantin Siroesco, Odette Talazac, Vanda Greville, Raymond Cordy

 A Parisian artist (Rene Lefevre) is thrilled when he finds that he has won the Dutch lottery–until he discovers that the jacket into which he put his lottery ticket is missing. Now the chase is on to retrieve the missing jacket. One of Rene Clair's best.

Director: Jean Renoir    More Info
Starring: Michel Simon, Charles Granval, Marcelle Hainia, Severine Lerczinska, Jean Daste, Jacques Becker

 Boudu (Michel Simon) is a Parisian tramp who is saved from suicide when he is fished out of the Seine River by Lestingois (Charles Granval). Taken to the Lestingois' home, Boudu proceeds to turn the house upside-down in this hilarious satire about the "joys" of anarchy.

Director: Marc Allegret    More Info
Starring: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis, Fernand Charpin, Auguste Mouries, Robert Vattier, Marcel Maupi, Alida Rouffe, Milly Mathis, Edouard Delmont

 In this second part of Marcel Pagnol's trilogy–"Marius" (1931) preceded it, and "Cesar" (1936) would follow)–Fanny (Orane Demazis) is pregnant by Marius (Pierre Fresnay) who has left for sea duty. So, she marries the elderly Honore Panisse (Fernand Charpin) to give the baby a home and keep his identity secret from Marius.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer    More Info
Starring: Julian West, Henriette Gerard, Jan Hieronimko, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Albert Bras, N. Babanini, Jane Mora

 In this bizarre tale, David Gray (Julian West) visits a European inn in the village of Courtempierre where the Lord of the Manor (Maurice Schutz) gives him a package and tells David to open it if he dies. He does turn up dead, and David meets the Lord's daughters Gisele and Leone (Rena Mandel and Sybille Schmitz). When David opens the package, he finds a copy of "Strange Tales of Vampires," and then he sees a series of eerie sights (presented through trick photography). David is now convinced that there is a vampire in town, and he must save Gisele, Leone, and himself before they also become victims.

Director: Gustav Machaty    More Info
Starring: Hedy Lamarr, Zvonimir Rogoz, Aribert Mog, Leopold Kramer, Jirina Stepnickova, Ladislav Bohac, Emil Jerman, Bedrich Vrbsky

 "The most whispered about picture in the world" was the tagline of the Czech director's sex film starring a young Hedy Lamarr, using her birth name of Hedy (for Hedwig) Kiesler. Hedy is a child bride of an older man who, after being ignored by him on their wedding day, takes off and has sex with another. After that she goes for a nude swim, a horse runs off with her clothes, and the lover retrieves them. The husband ends up committing suicide and she ends up with a child from her affair–and she's content with that.

Director: Jean Renoir    More Info
Starring: Valentine Tessier, Pierre Renoir, Max Dearly, Daniel Lecourtois, Fernand Fabre, Helena Manson, Robert Le Vigan, Alice Tissot, Pierre Larquey, Monette Dinay

 This early film adaptation of Flaubert's classic novel is set in 19th-century France and tells the story of Emma Bovary's (Valentine Tessier) scandalous romantic liaisons. Emma is a country girl who marries Charles Bovary (Pierre Renoir) hoping for romance and excitement in her life. But, the marriage proves tiresome to Emma, and she begins an affair with wealthy Rodolphe Boulanger (Fernand Fabre). After he abandons her, Emma finds another lover (Daniel Lecourtois) to fill her life, and despair takes over.

Director: Boris Barnet    More Info
Starring: Sergei Komarov, Alexandr Chistyakov, Yelena Kuzmina, Nikolai Bogolyubov, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Hans Klering, Mikhail Zharov, Vladimir Uralsky, Robert Erdman, A. Yermakov

 Set in a small, rural Russian town during World War I, this is the story of the people in this area engulfed in war and revolution.

Director: Fritz Lang    More Info
Starring: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi Sr., Karl Meixner, Theodor Loos, Otto Wernicke, Klaus Pohl, Wera Liessem, Gustav Diessl, Paul Bernd, Henry Bless

 In Fritz Lang's 1922 film, "Dr. Mabuse, King of Crimes," Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) hypnotized his patients and told them to commit crimes. By story's end, Mabuse had been confined as a mental patient. Now, after his death, evidence comes to light that Mabuse continues his tricks; it appears that he was able to gain control of Dr. Baum's (Oscar Beregi, Sr.) mind, and he can direct Baum to perform criminal acts.

Director: Jean Vigo    More Info
Starring: Jean Daste, Robert Le Flon, Du Verron, Delphin, Mme. Emile, Leon Larive, Louis Lefebvre, Gilbert Pruchon, Gerard de Bedarieux

 Returning from the holidays, students at a boys' boarding school decide they have had enough, and a full-scale rebellion ensues. A landmark film that inspired the French New Wave Movement.

Director: Fritz Lang    More Info
Starring: Charles Boyer, Madeleine Ozeray, Florelle, Pierre Alcover, Robert Arnoux, Roland Toutain, Alexandre Rignault, Henri Richard, Barencey, Raoul Marco

 Carousel barker Liliom (Charles Boyer) falls in love with innocent Julie (Madeleine Ozeray), quits his job, and marries her. But he proves to be a terrible husband, and when he learns that Julie is pregnant, he takes part in a robbery during which he kills himself. Liliom waits at Heaven's gates where he is told that he must return to Earth on his daughter's 16th birthday and perform one good deed before he can earn his wings. Rogers & Hammerstein later used this story for their musical, "Carousel."

Director: Jean Vigo    More Info
Starring: Michel Simon, Jean Daste, Dita Parlo, Gilles Margaritis, Louis Lefebvre, Fanny Clar, Raphael Diligent, Maurice Gilles, Rene Bleck, Charles Goldblatt

 French Surrealism combines for the first time with French Poetic Realism in this fantasy about a sea captain, Jean (Jean Daste), and his bride, Juliette (Dita Parlo), who begin married life aboard Jean's ship. They soon find that the close proximity and Juliette's boredom bring out more than a few problems.

Director: Pierre Chenal    More Info
Starring: Harry Baur, Madeleine Ozeray, Marcelle Geniat, Pierre Blanchar, Sylvie, Georges Douking

 This is an excellent rendition of Dostoyevsky's philosophical novel about a young student who plots the murder of a miserly pawnbroker. His reasoning is that murder is acceptable IF good can come from it.

Director: Julien Duvivier    More Info
Starring: Jean Gabin, Annabella, Robert Le Vigan, Raymond Aimos, Pierre Renoir, Gaston Modot, Margo Lion, Reine Paulet, Charles Granval, Viviane Romance

 After committing a murder, Pierre (Jean Gabin) flees France, joins the Spanish Foreign Legion, and ends up in North Africa. Detective Fernando Lucas (Robert Le Vigan) follows. Both fall in love with beautiful Arab Aischa (Annabella) and must eventually join forces to fight off attacking Arabs.

Director: Edmond T. Greville    More Info
Starring: Josephine Baker, Albert Prejean, Robert Arnoux, Germaine Aussey, Georges Peclet, Viviane Romance, Jean Galland, Teddy Michaud, Henri Richard

 French novelist Max de Mirecourt (Albert Prejean) fights with his wife (Germaine Aussey) and travels with his friend, Coton (Robert Arnoux), to North Africa to clear his head. In Africa, he meets a beautiful, talented Bedouin girl, Alwina (Josephine Baker). He educates her, writes a novel about her, and introduces her to Paris society as Princess Tam Tam. Meanwhile, his wife has made him believe that she is having an affair with a Black prince. The possibility of interracial affairs between the two couples caused this film to be banned in the United States at the time of its release.

Director: Gustaf Molander    More Info
Starring: Gosta Ekman, Bjorn Berglund, Hakan Westergren, Tutta Rolf, Ingrid Bergman, Karin Swanstrom, Sigard Wallen, Nils Ericsson, Mona Geijer-Falkner, Sven Jerring

 Scientist Rolf Swedenhielm (Gosta Ekman) strives for the Nobel Prize amidst family trials and tribulations.

Director: Leni Riefenstahl    More Info


 Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the Nazi Party to film their annual party congress in 1934. The result is one of the most famous (or infamous) documentaries ever filmed, and would haunt Leni for the rest of her life. It demonstrates what Nazism was all about under Adolf Hitler.

Director: Marcel Pagnol    More Info
Starring: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Charpin, Orane Demazis, Andre Fouche, Alida Rouffe, Milly Mathis, Robert Vattier, Paul Dullac, Marcel Maupi

 This is the final entry in Marcel Pagnol's trilogy. (It was preceded by "Marius" (1931) and "Fanny" (1932).) Twenty years have passed since Fanny (Orane Demazis) and Honore Panisse (Fernand Charpin) were married. Now, as Panisse lies on his deathbed, he and his friend Cesar (Raimu) reminisce, and Panisse reflects on the fact that he has never told Fanny's son, Cesariot (Andre Fouche), that Marius (Fernand Charpin), not Panisse, is his biological father. After Panisse dies, Fanny tells Cesariot the truth, and, with that knowledge, Cesariot sets out on a search for Marius.

Director: Gustaf Molander    More Info
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Gosta Ekman, Inga Tidblad, Erik "Bullen" Berglund, Britt Hagman, Emma Meissner, Hugo Bjorne, Anders Henrikson, Hasse Ekman

 Ingrid Bergman plays the role of lover and accompanist for a world-famous, but married, violinist (Gosta Ekman) in this tragic love story. Remade in 1939 as "Intermezzo, a Love Story," which is Bergman's first English-language film.