Come Dance with Me! 1959  N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy / Mystery
Director: Michel Boisrond
Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Henri Vidal, Dawn Addams, Dario Moreno, Georges Descrieres, Serge Gainsbourg, Paul Frankeur, Philippe Nicaud, Joyce Johnson, Maria Pacome
Brigitte Bardot plays a dentist's wife who decides to play detective when her husband (Henri Vidal) is suspected of murdering a dance teacher. A lesser comedy/mystery, but Bardot is fun to watch as the inept sleuth.
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Devil's Daughter 1946  N/R, 98 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Maurice Saurel
Cast: Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Ledoux, Andree Clement, Therese Dorny, Albert Remy, Serge Andrehuy, Albert Glado, Francois Patrice, Felix Claude, Paul Frankeur
Bank robber Saget (Pierre Fresnay) assumes the identity of a dead millionaire and arrives in the dead man's boyhood home to make a killing. But the local doctor knows the truth, and the town's vamp, Isabelle (Andree Clement), complicates matters when she falls for Saget.
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 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 1972  PG, 105 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy / Drama / Fantasy
Director: Luis Bunuel
Cast: Fernando Rey, Stephane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli, Bernard Musson, Paul Frankeur, Julien Bertheau, Milena Vukotic, Maria Gabriella Maione, Claude Pieplu
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this is a satirical look at the bourgeoisie following the activities of upper-middle-class friends. Don Raphael (Fernando Rey), Francois Thevenot (Paul Frankeur), Simone (Delphine Seyrig), Florence (Bulle Ogier), Henri Senechal (Jean-Pierre Cassel), and Alice (Stephane Audran) try, again and again, to spend an evening together. But, no matter how many times they try, and fail, to have dinner together, their plans are frustrated by events over which they have no control. The obstacles are bizarre–ranging from a mixed- up date for the dinner, to army maneuvers, to a dead body, to a stage play in which they are characters. Good entertainment.
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Grisbi 1954  N/R, 94 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action / Drama / Thriller
aka: Don't Touch the Loot
Hands Off the Loot
Touchez Pas au Grisbi
Director: Jacques Becker
Cast: Jean Gabin, Rene Dary, Paul Frankeur, Lino Ventura, Jeanne Moreau, Vittorio Sanipoli, Dora Doll, Denise Clair, Marilyn Buferd, Daniel Cauchy, Jean Riveyre, Gaby Basset, Paul Barge, Alaine Bouvette, Angelo Dessy
"Grisbi" is the French word for "loot," and in this film rival gangs fight over $50 million in grisbi. An elderly thief, Max the Liar (Jean Gabin), leads one gang and is preparing to retire. But, problems rise to the fore when his partner Riton's (Rene Dary) girlfriend (Jeanne Moreau) helps rival gang leader Angelo (Lino Ventura) kidnap Riton and demand a huge ransom. Now the battle of wits ensues leading to inevitable tragedy. Another entertaining film in the French crime genre.
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 The Phantom of Liberty 1974 R, 104 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
aka: The Specter of Freedom
Director: Luis Bunuel
Cast: Jean-Claude Brialy, Monica Vitti, Milena Vukotic, Michael Lonsdale, Anne-Marie Deschott, Michel Piccoli, Claude Pieplu, Paul Frankeur, Julien Bertheau, Adolfo Celi
Talk about bizarre! At age 75, Luis Bunuel still had the knack for innovative filmmaking. This surrealistic comedy is a collection of barely related sketches that include a group of patriots in the Napoleonic era egging on a firing squad to shoot them, a missing girl helping police fill out a missing person report on her, and the well-known scene of an elegantly dressed group sitting on toilets around a dinner table until hunger strikes, when they retire to stalls in a separate room to eat. And that's just a sample.
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Therese Raquin 1953 N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Adultress
Director: Marcel Carne
Cast: Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, Jacques Duby, Roland Lesaffre, Sylvie, Maria-Pia Casilio, Marcel Andre, Martial Rebe, Paul Frankeur, Alain Terrane, Lucien Hubert, Jacques Hilling
In this film adaptation of the Emile Zola story, Therese (Simone Signoret) is bored with husband Camille (Jacques Duby) and begins an affair with trucker Laurent (Raf Vallone). They fall in love, plot to kill Camille, and succeed. There is one problem: there is a witness (Roland Lesaffre) to the murder, and now they must deal with his blackmail efforts.
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| 1. Come Dance with Me! (1959)
2. Devil's Daughter (1946)
3. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
4. Grisbi (1954)
aka: Don't Touch the Loot
aka: Hands Off the Loot
aka: Touchez Pas au Grisbi
5. The Phantom of Liberty (1974)
aka: The Specter of Freedom
6. Therese Raquin (1953)
aka: The Adultress
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