Plot
In Brisbane, Ted Lennard kills a criminal in a struggle and manages to get aboard the Portland, a cargo ship bound for Mexico. On the way the vessel stops at Togobu, an unclaimed coral reef inhabited by a few happy Polynesians and an Englishman who hates civilization. On arrival at Mexico, money is missing from the captain's cabin and Ted is confined in the hold. When the money is found, the ship is back at Brisbane and Ted is released with apologies. He heads up country to avoid arrest, but in a café is seen by Abboy, a dogged police detective. Taking to the wild, he comes across an isolated cabin occupied by a young woman, Lilian. She lets him stay and, as they gradually become fond of each other, he suggests they escape to Togobu. Then one day Abboy appears. He tells Ted that he is no longer wanted for murder, but Lilian is. She runs away to the nearest town, which is in the grip of an influenza epidemic, and falls ill. Ted tracks her down, but so does Abboy. The policeman uses his authority to get her special treatment and she eventually recovers. Ted meanwhile has been working hard and has earned enough for two rail tickets to Brisbane. In the harbour they find the Portland, and ask the captain if he will take them to Togobu. Out of the shadows steps Abboy, who decides that Lilian died in the epidemic and his case is closed.
La Grande Illusion is a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape. The title of the film comes from the 1909 book The Great Illusion by British journalist Norman Angell, which argued that war is futile because of the common economic interests of all European nations. The perspective of the film is generously humanistic to its characters of various nationalities.
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greatest films ever made. He was ranked by the BFI's Sight & Sound poll of critics in 2002 as the fourth greatest director of all time. Among numerous honours accrued during his lifetime, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975 for his contribution to the motion picture industry. Renoir was the son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an auteur.
Jean Gabin 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 (1938), La bête humaine (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Le plaisir (1952). During his career he had twice won both the Silver Bear for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Venice Film Festival respectively. Gabin was made a member of the Légion d'honneur in recognition of the important role he played in French cinema.
Pierre Renoir was a French stage and film actor. He was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and elder brother of the film director Jean Renoir. He is also noted for being the first actor to play Georges Simenon's character Inspector Jules Maigret.
Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. More a tendency than a movement, poetic realism is not strongly unified like Soviet montage or French Impressionism but were individuals who created this lyrical style. Its leading filmmakers were Pierre Chenal, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, Marcel Carné, and, perhaps the movement's most significant director, Jean Renoir. Renoir made a wide variety of films some influenced by the leftist Popular Front group and even a lyrical short feature film. Frequent stars of these films were Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Simone Signoret, and Michèle Morgan.
Julien Duvivier was a French film director and screenwriter. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930–1960. Amongst his most original films, chiefly notable are La Bandera, Pépé le Moko, Little World of Don Camillo, Panique, Voici le temps des assassins and Marianne de ma jeunesse.
Port of Shadows 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 Prévert based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan. The music score was by Maurice Jaubert. The film was the 1939 winner of France's top cinematic prize, the Prix Louis-Delluc.
French Cancan is a 1955 French-Italian musical film written and directed by Jean Renoir and starring Jean Gabin and Francoise Arnoul. Where Renoir's previous film Le Carosse d’or had celebrated the 18th-century Italian commedia dell’arte, this work is a homage to the Parisian café-concert of the 19th century with its popular singers and dancers. Visually, the film evokes the paintings of Edgar Degas and the Impressionists, including his own father, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It also marked his return to France and to French cinema after an exile that began in 1940.
La Bête Humaine is a 1938 French film directed by Jean Renoir, with cinematography by Curt Courant. The picture features Jean Gabin and Simone Simon, and is loosely based on the 1890 novel La Bête humaine by Émile Zola.
Napoléon is a 1955 French historical epic film directed by Sacha Guitry that depicts major events in the life of Napoleon.
Gina Manès was a French film actress and a major star of French silent cinema. After an early appearance in a Louis Feuillade film, she had significant roles in films of Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein, including Cœur fidèle.
Denys de La Patellière was a French film director and scriptwriter. He also directed Television series.
Gaston Modot was a French actor. For more than 50 years he performed for the cinema working with a number of great French directors.
Remorques is a 1941 French drama film directed by Jean Grémillon. The screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert and André Cayatte (adaptation), based on the novel by Roger Vercel. The film stars Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud and Michèle Morgan.
La Minute de vérité is a 1952 French language motion picture drama directed by Jean Delannoy who co-wrote the screenplay with Henri Jeanson, Roland Laudenbach and Robert Thoeren. The film stars Michèle Morgan and Jean Gabin.
Yves Hyacinthe Deniaud was a French comic actor.
Charles Spaak was a Belgian screenwriter who was noted particularly for his work in the French cinema during the 1930s. He was the son of the dramatist and poet Paul Spaak, the brother of the politician Paul-Henri Spaak, and the father of the actresses Catherine Spaak and Agnès Spaak.
Roger Vercel was a French writer.
Pierre Frédéric Magnier 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 1925. He continued acting until the 1950s. He is most remembered for the role of the General in Jean Renoir's La règle du jeu, where he has one of the films more poignant quotes when he praises Marcel Dalio's character as one of "a vanishing breed."
Pierre Prévert was a French film director, screenwriter, and actor.
