Aumont, Jean Pierre

Day for Night

François Truffaut's lavish and fun 1973 comedy-drama about a film production is a clever hall of mirrors, with Truffaut himself playing a director, and his most important actor in real life, Jean-Pierre Léaud (The 400 Blows), portraying Jacqueline Bisset's immature costar. Day for Night is full of tales undoubtedly told out of school and repeated here in camouflage, and one can't help but be impressed with the stylistic and technical means by which Truffaut captures the adventurousness of a full-budget shoot. The cast is very good all around, with actors in some cases playing fictional thespians and in other cases playing members of the crew. A sequence set to thrilling music by Georges Delerue celebrates the whole art of filmmaking as seen from an editor's perspective--it makes one want to drop everything and shoot a film of one's own. --Tom Keogh

The leading lady is recovering from a nervous breakdown, another performer is soused on the set, unions threaten to walk, shooting must finish before the insurance lapses and a cat can't hit its mark. Is this any way to make a film? FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT's sly, humorous OscarO-winning Best Foreign Language Film (1973) that speaks the language of everyone who loves movies. JACQUELINE BISSET, JEAN-PIERRE AUMONT, VALENTINA CORTESE, NATHALIE BAYE and Truffaut star.

A Tale of Two Cities (Masterpiece Theatre, 1989)

Dickens' tale of love, politics, and the aristocracy during the French Revolution.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 2-OCT-2001
Media Type: DVD

F for Fake - Criterion Collection

To call Orson Welles's F For Fake a documentary would be somewhat deceitful, but deceit itself is very much the subject of this curious film essay. Welles ruminates on the nature of artistic fakery through two examples, that of infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory and the writer Clifford Irving, whose bogus autobiography of Howard Hughes set off a minor media flurry in the 1970s. Postmodernist that he is, Wells then proceeds to narrate and edit the film in such a perversely frenetic way as to blur the lines between what is real and what is deception, making for an often confusing but engaging work of art in itself. We even see the footage we've been watching as it's being spliced together in Welles's editing room. The specter of Welles's often maligned later career hangs over the proceedings like a challenge--is he going to actually complete this strange movie about chicanery, or will it become one of the many unfinished experiments of his twilight years? Happily, Welles concludes the proceedings with a delightful sequence about Picasso, lust, and what constitutes real art. F For Fake is a fine example of a master filmmaker who had at least a couple tricks left up his sleeve. --Ryan Boudinot

Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In Orson Welles' free-form documentary, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully engages the central preoccupation of his career-the tenuous line between truth and illusion, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of world-renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles goes on a dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes-not the least of which is Welles himself. Charming and poignant, F for Fake is an inspired prank and a searching examination of the essential duplicity of cinema. Criterion's two-disc DVD edition also features an introduction by Peter Bogdanovich, audio commentary by director of photography Gary Graver, an hour long documentary on Welles' unfinished projects, a documentary on the life and works of de Hory, and the theatrical trailer.

Castle Keep (Widescreen Edition)

Released to mixed reviews in 1969, Castle Keep now qualifies as a potent allegory for the insanity of the Vietnam War. In that respect it belongs in the same category as better-known anti-war films of the period including Little Big Man and The Wild Bunch, and director Sydney Pollack (who scored his breakthrough hit later that year with They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) deftly straddles a stylistic line between old-school Hollywood and the emerging counterculture epitomized by Easy Rider. He also gets a memorably off-kilter performance from Burt Lancaster (who had been instrumental in launching Pollack's directorial career), the young-looking Tony Bill (who later became a successful producer-director), and especially Peter Falk, who would soon gain TV fame as Columbo. As American soldiers occupying a richly-appointed medieval castle in the Ardennes Forest near the end of World War II, they're a M*A*S*H-like bunch of military misfits (including Bruce Dern as a conscientious objector) engaged in a microcosm of occupational warfare as German troops draw closer. The ending is uncompromisingly bleak, reflecting the futility of Vietnam with long-lasting resonance. From a latter-day perspective, Castle Keep is a bold hybrid of large-scale WWII action and political statement, which may explain why such high-profile filmmakers as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese campaigned for this glorious widescreen DVD after the earlier release of an inferior full-screen version. --Jeff Shannon

Near the end of World War II American Major Falconer (Lancaster Academy Award® - winning Best Actor ELMER GANTRY 1960) leads his weary eight-man squadron to a perfectly preserved medieval castle in the Ardennes Forest. CASTLE KEEP's owner the aging Count of Maldorais (Jean-Pierre Aumont) shelters the servicemen in hopes they will defend his fortress and his priceless collection of art masterpieces from the advancing German troops. But the servicemen have plans of their own. Major Falconer begins an illicit affair with the Count's beautiful young wife while Sgt. Rossi (Falk) romances the wife of an absent baker. As the German soldiers push forward a deadly game of possession ensues leading to a spectacular ground battle for keeper of the castle. Shaded with off-beat comic moments - a soldier (IN COLD BLOOD's Scott Wilson) falls in love with a battered Volkswagen and a religions fanatic (Bruce Dern) leads his shell-shocked troops through the bombed-out streets - CASTLE KEEP features a top-notch cast hailed as "excellent" by Vincent Canby The New York Times.System Requirements:Running Time: 107 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396095205 Manufacturer No: 09520

Heartbeat

Castle Keep (Full Screen Edition)

Released to mixed reviews in 1969, Castle Keep now qualifies as a potent allegory for the insanity of the Vietnam War. In that respect it belongs in the same category as better-known anti-war films of the period including Little Big Man and The Wild Bunch, and director Sydney Pollack (who scored his breakthrough hit later that year with They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) deftly straddles a stylistic line between old-school Hollywood and the emerging counterculture epitomized by Easy Rider. He also gets a memorably off-kilter performance from Burt Lancaster (who had been instrumental in launching Pollack's directorial career), the young-looking Tony Bill (who later became a successful producer-director), and especially Peter Falk, who would soon gain TV fame as Columbo. As American soldiers occupying a richly-appointed medieval castle in the Ardennes Forest near the end of World War II, they're a M*A*S*H-like bunch of military misfits (including Bruce Dern as a conscientious objector) engaged in a microcosm of occupational warfare as German troops draw closer. The ending is uncompromisingly bleak, reflecting the futility of Vietnam with long-lasting resonance. From a latter-day perspective, Castle Keep is a bold hybrid of large-scale WWII action and political statement, which may explain why such high-profile filmmakers as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese successfully campaigned for a widescreen DVD after the release of this inferior full-screen version. --Jeff Shannon

Near the end of World War II American Major Falconer (Lancaster Academy Award® - winning Best Actor ELMER GANTRY 1960) leads his weary eight-man squadron to a perfectly preserved medieval castle in the Ardennes Forest. CASTLE KEEP's owner the aging Count of Maldorais (Jean-Pierre Aumont) shelters the servicemen in hopes they will defend his fortress and his priceless collection of art masterpieces from the advancing German troops. But the servicemen have plans of their own. Major Falconer begins an illicit affair with the Count's beautiful young wife while Sgt. Rossi (Falk) romances the wife of an absent baker. As the German soldiers push forward a deadly game of possession ensues leading to a spectacular ground battle for keeper of the castle. Shaded with off-beat comic moments - a soldier (IN COLD BLOOD's Scott Wilson) falls in love with a battered Volkswagen and a religions fanatic (Bruce Dern) leads his shell-shocked troops through the bombed-out streets - CASTLE KEEP features a top-notch cast hailed as "excellent" by Vincent Canby The New York Times.System Requirements:Running Time: 107 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396042032 Manufacturer No: 04203

Two Missionaries

When two missionaries happen to be Terence Hill and Bud Spencer you know it is a comedy unlike any other! Fighting to help the inhabitants of a Caribbean island from the clutches of an exploitive governor somehow our two missionaries, with the help of a p

A Time for Miracles

This is the inspiring story of America's first native-born saint, Mother Seton. Kate Mulgrew gives a moving performance as St. Elizabeth Seton, a convert to Catholicism who overcame the great tragedy of the deaths of her young husband and two children, and went on to found the American Sisters of Charity and the first American Catholic schools. A film of unusual strength and beauty. Also starring Lorne Greene, John Forsythe, and Rossano Brazzi.

Drole de Drame

As its title suggests, Drôle de Drame is a very droll drama indeed. It's a farce, to be specific, deftly handled by director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, eight years before the release of their masterpiece, Children of Paradise. Surprisingly, this was the only box-office flop of Carné's early career, later recognized as a classic ahead of its time, comparable to American screwball comedy but subtler in wit and delivery. Set in Edwardian London and illustrating the absurd lengths that the social elite will go to preserve their privileged status, it follows the exploits of M. Molyneux (Michel Simon), who's accused of murdering his wife by his cousin (Louis Jouvet), a self-righteous bishop who denounces popular crime novels written by... well, it's best not to give too much away. Plot twists, romance, and an elegant parade of comedic circumstances make Drôle de Drame a real treat for Anglophiles, Francophiles, and cinephiles alike. No wonder critic Pauline Kael called it "Dadaist frivolity, with sequences one giggles over happily for years." --Jeff Shannon

From the creators of Children of Paradise comes a screwball comedy about a vegetarian serial killer. When the Archbishop of Bedford suspects his eccentric cousin of poisoning his wife and disposing of the body, he sets off a wild and uproarious series of events spurred on by an upper-class disdain of scandal. A wonderful farce set in Edwardian London, this decidedly French comedy owes more to artifice and comic twists of plot reminiscent of René Clair and films like Le Million than the tragic pessimism found in the later work of Carné and Prévert such as Quai des Brumes or Children of Paradise.

Blackout

During a blackout brought on by an electrical storm four psychotic killers terrorize the inhabitants of a Manhattan high-rise.System Requirements:Running Time: 86 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 880934124092 Manufacturer No: SOM-DV2409