Category: Directed by Jean Renoir
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De facto physical comedy showcase for Michel Simon, something director Renoir isn’t anywhere near as interested in as trying for a social commentary. Based on the René Fauchois play, the limited cast (four principals) and location (a book shop and attached apartment), it is stagy without necessarily feeling stagy, a success for Renoir. Unfortunately, it’s…
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There are two big sequences in Rules of the Game. There’s the hunting sequence, which concentrates on the rabbits and pheasants before–and as–they are killed for sport. The animals are hunted without motive or enjoyment. Until a line in the third act connects events, the hunt is mostly just a way to inform Nora Gregor…
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I can’t figure out who Renoir had in mind when he made Grand Illusion. It goes without saying he placed incredible trust in his audience, but his expectations are somewhat beyond anything else I’ve seen. Grand Illusion is a film with events–momentous, important events–but they pass without comment, without any recognition or identification. The events…
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In its opening, Toni is established as an immigrant’s story. Foreign workers (Spanish and Italian) go to the south of France to work the quarries. The opening “prologue”–it’s never announced as a prologue, but there’s an “end of prologue” card–shows the workers’ arrival. The end also shows workers arriving, three years later, after the title…
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Profoundly boring story of the creation and opening of the Moulin Rouge. Well-acted, with Jean Gabin in the lead, just completely pointless. The film’s a series of conflicts and resolutions without any rising action, the opening as a backdrop–no idea if it’s historically accurate, but it would be nice to have some drama. Or a…
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Beyond tedious story of traveling actress Anna Magnani getting into romance and intrigue in colonial Central America. Boring direction, poorly drawn characters. Plus Renoir’s got the international cast speaking English (for unity?), which brings in a bunch of other problems, particularly with Magnani’s performance and what Renoir does with it. DVD, Streaming.Continue reading →
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Problematic, reductive adaptation of Maxim Gorky play about residents of Russian flophouse and their successes and failures trying to get out of poverty. Great performances from Jean Gabin and Louis Jouvet, but director Renoir loses track of the film when away from them. DVD.Continue reading →
The Stop Button 