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 and the uncle of the cinematographer Claude 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.
Françoise Rosay was a French opera singer, diseuse, and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figure in French cinema. She went on to appear in over 100 movies in her career.
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.
Marie Glory was a French actress.
Luc Moullet is a French film critic and filmmaker, and a member of the Nouvelle Vague or French New Wave. Moullet's films are known for their humor, anti-authoritarian leanings and rigorously primitive aesthetic, which is heavily influenced by his love of American B-movies.
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.
Gabriel Gabrio was a French stage and film actor whose career began in cinema in the silent film era of the 1920s and spanned more than two decades. Gabrio is possibly best recalled for his roles as Jean Valjean in the 1925 Henri Fescourt-directed adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Cesare Borgia in the 1935 Abel Gance-directed biopic Lucrèce Borgia and as Carlos in the 1937 Julien Duvivier-directed gangster film Pépé le Moko, opposite Jean Gabin.
L'Atlantide is a 1932 German-French adventure and fantasy film directed by G. W. Pabst and starring Brigitte Helm. It is based on the novel L'Atlantide by Pierre Benoît.
Roger Vercel was a French writer.
Entente cordiale is a 1939 French drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Gaby Morlay, Victor Francen and Pierre Richard-Willm. The film depicts events between the Fashoda crisis in 1898 and the 1904 signing of the Entente Cordiale creating an alliance between Britain and France and ending their historic rivalry. It was based on the book King Edward VII and His Times by André Maurois. It was made with an eye to its propaganda value, following the Munich Agreement of September 1938 and in anticipation of the outbreak of a Second World War which would test the bonds between Britain and France in a conflict with Nazi Germany.
Gisèle Casadesus was a French actress, who appeared in numerous theatre and film productions. She was an honorary member of the Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and Grand-Croix of the National Order of Merit. In a career spanning more than 80 years, Casadesus appeared in more than a dozen films after turning 90.
Famous Love Affairs is a 1961 French-Italian anthology film starring Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot and Jean Paul Belmondo.
Happy Days in Aranjuez is a 1933 German comedy film directed by Johannes Meyer and starring Brigitte Helm, Gustaf Gründgens and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. The film focus on a notorious jewel thief operating in high society. The title refers to Aranjuez in Spain.
Dark Eyes is a 1935 French drama film directed by Viktor Tourjansky and starring Harry Baur, Simone Simon and Jean-Pierre Aumont.
Alert in the Mediterranean is a 1938 French thriller film directed by Léo Joannon and starring Pierre Fresnay, Nadine Vogel and Rolf Wanka. It was the fifth most popular film at the French box office in 1938. It also proved a success in Belgium after being released in Brussels in October 1938.
Pierre Labry (1885–1948) was a French stage and film actor. He was active in the French film industry between 1920 and 1948, appearing in more than a hundred films.
Under the Sign of the Bull is a 1969 French drama film directed by Gilles Grangier and starring Jean Gabin, Suzanne Flon and Colette Deréal.
Gloria is a 1931 French-German drama film directed by Hans Behrendt and Yvan Noé and starring Brigitte Helm, André Luguet and Jean Gabin. A co-production between France and Germany, a separate German version Gloria was also made. Such multiple-language versions were common during the early years of sound before dubbing became more widespread.
Gas-Oil is a 1955 French crime drama film directed by Gilles Grangier and starring Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Gaby Basset and Ginette Leclerc. It was shot at the Epinay Studios in Paris and on location at a variety of places. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jacques Colombier. It was one of a number of films portraying tough truck drivers made in the wake of the success of the 1953 film The Wages of Fear. It was the first of many films in which Gabin appeared in written by his fellow Parisian Michel Audiard.
