Jean Gabin News

Of all the wars, the first world war seems the most emblematic, and the one which probably lends itself best to cinematic treatment.

Ida Lupino was born in Brixton, schooled at RADA, but like so many of the elements that fed the best American movies of the 1940s, and film noir especially, her outsider's perspective seemed only to heighten ...

The great French star Jean Gabin, in his first American role, looks distinctly uneasy with his English dialogue; despite his best efforts, he ends up sounding like a caricature of a Frenchman.

Oldies-but-goodies do not need to be classics to be potent, even if they were originally just routine entertainments.

Road House D: Jean Negulesco, w/ Ida Lupino, Richard Widmark. Rating: NNN ; DVD package: NNN Moontide D: Archie Mayo, w/ Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino.

An intensely masculine and unflappably charismatic presence who was completely natural on screen, French actor Jean Gabin is a star for whom there is no exact American equivalent.

"Moontide" has always had a bad reputation - Fritz Lang walked off the picture after a couple of weeks, and was replaced by the journeyman Archie Mayo - so I never made a point of seeing it.

It's hard to imagine how 20th Century Fox topper Darryl F. Zanuck expected 1942's "Moontide" to transform the great Gallic thesp Jean Gabin into an American movie star.

Yes, it's pretty much official: we're on a film noir kick, and we couldn't be happier .

Bruce Goldstein has programmed a fantastic five wee ks of French film noir and thrillers, spanning 1937 to 2000, and playing from now through Sept.

Jean Renoir in 1945. Listing his favorite directors for me one time - 'among them John Ford and Howard Hawks - 'Orson Welles concluded: "... And Jean Renoir! I've loved him most of all.