Word: fresnay
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Jacques Offenbach wasn't a funny old gentleman whose feet were "firmly fixed in the clouds," he probably should have been. Pierre Fresnay's screen portrayal of the nearsighted and bewhiskered French composer is delightful. He ambles blithely into a ladies' dressing room, offers a job to a status (Venus), and accidentally challenges a Russian general to a duel--all because he can't see, and doesn't much care...
...royal admirers. As Hortense, Yvonne Printemps doesn't sing very well, which is unfortunate as she sings a lot. But she is properly capricious, and her dresses are by Dior. Though Pierre Dux makes a fine Russian general, the rest of the cast is just adequately funny. Only Fresnay makes a great deal of his part, but the movie needs no more. With lots of music and love (the latter more varied) Paris Waltz is a pleasant time...
...religious films ever give their saints and martyrs more than a light brush-off in technicolor and extravagance. Monsieur Vincent, a French film produced in 1948, is a notable exception. With the subtle acting of Pierre Fresnay and the excellent photography of Claude Renoir, the film pictures the life of Saint Vincent de Paul simply and movingly...
...acting of Pierre Fresnay does much to hold the film together. The task of portraying a saint without priggishness is not easy, especially since de Paul rarely strayed from the realm of good intentions. With flashes of humility and determination, Fresnay creates an idealist who shrewdly understands the poor...
...When Fresnay, the script, and the photography are at their best, some splendid scenes result. A galley episode, in which the priest rushes down to relieve a fainting oarsman, provides the film's most exciting moment. The photography by Renoir, done almost over-zealously in the French style of realism, finds most of the 17th century poor either consumptive or deformed. This grimness underscores the need for a saint, but an occasional glimpse of healthier and happier peasants might have brightened the realism of a vividly performed script...