Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as Jean Gabin (17 May 1904 – 15 November 1976), 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),... Read full bio →
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Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Le livre d'image
Nothing but silence. Nothing but a revolutionary song. A story in five chapters like the five fingers of a hand.
Mon oncle d'Amérique
The didactic film is built around the ideas of French physician, writer and philosopher Henri Laborit, who plays himself in the film. It uses the stories of three people to illustrate Laborit's theories on evolutionary psychology regarding the relationship of self and society.
L'affaire Dominici
In August 1952, a family of British tourists is found by the roadside in Haute Provence, brutally murdered. In the ensuing, very public, investigation a local landowner, 75 year old Gaston Dominici, is arrested for the murders, having been denounced by his sons.
Deux hommes dans la ville
A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past.
Le tueur
Whilst being transferred to a psychiatric hospital, a ruthless serial killer Gassot makes a break and goes on the run. He arrives in Marseilles, intending to escape abroad. Here, he falls for a young prostitute, Gerda.
Le chat
Courbevoie (France), 1971. Julien Bouin, a former typographist, and his wife Clemence, who used to perform in a circus, hardly talk to each other in their small house, soon to be demolished. His cat Greffier being the only one he still gives affection to, he becomes the object of Clemence's anger.
La horse
Near the Baie de la Seine swamps, opposite the Port of Le Havre, Auguste Maroilleur, an elderly farmer, exploits 400 hectares of crop land with the help of his family, over which he rules with an iron hand. Things go awry the day he discovers one of his grandsons is involved in drug traffic.
Sous le signe du taureau
In this film, Albert is an eccentric inventor of missiles who comes under fire from his investors when his first prototype explodes. Even his sympathetic mistress has her doubts, as Albert lashes out in a verbal tirade condemning those of little faith in his genius.
Le clan des Siciliens
An ambitious mobster plans an elaborate diamond heist while seducing the daughter-in-law of a ruthless mob patriarch as a determined police commissioner closes in on all of them.
Le tatoué
An art dealer wants to buy a Modigliani, which is tattooed on the back of an old soldier.
Le pacha
Six months before his retirement from the criminal police, inspector Joss finds his colleague Gouvion dead, in a poorly faked suicide attempt. Joss loses his temper, and investigates on his own, which leads him through the bas-fond of Paris...
Le soleil des voyous
An American (Robert Stack) talks a retired French crook (Jean Gabin) into robbing a bank, but kidnappers demand the loot as ransom.
Le jardinier d'Argenteuil
Under his daring look of flower lover and naive painter, Father Tulipe is a counterfeiter who only makes small cuts to improve his ordinary.
Du rififi à Paname
In Paris, a gold smuggler is at war with other local gangsters who want piece of the action. Then the mob shows up and makes things worse. And an undercover US Treasury Department agent is trying to infiltrate the smuggle business.
Le tonnerre de Dieu
Léandre Brassac is a misanthrope and alcoholic, who lives on a large remote county estate with his wife, Marie. Brassac has a reputation as a violent and unpredictable man, but who has a love for animals, particularly dogs.
L'âge ingrat
Antoine and Marie decided to introduce their parents before the wedding. Summer vacation looks like a good time, so the Lartigue family prepares to host Malhouin family. But it turns out that the harsh Emil Malhouin is not too happy to get acquainted with his future relatives...
Mélodie en sous-sol
Charles, fresh out of jail, rejects his wife's plan for a quiet life of bourgeois respectability. He enlists a former cell mate, Francis, to assist him in pulling off one final score, a carefully planned assault on the vault of a Cannes casino.
Maigret voit rouge
Gangsters from the United States try to kill a key government witness whose testimony could help land an influential mobster in jail. It's up to detective Maigret to deal with the FBI and a series of underworld figures to save the life of the witness...
Un singe en hiver
The story of a man who has stopped drinking- and then dreaming- and who thanks to a young man who tries to forget a lost love in alcohol will turn drunk again during an exciting night.
Le gentleman d'Epsom
The story takes place in the racecourses around Paris. A so-called major sells his tips to naive characters.
Le président
Agé de 73 ans, l'ex président français Emile Beaufort joue toujours un rôle central dans la vie politique du pays. La rédaction de ses mémoires lui permet de revenir sur son parcours et d'évoquer ses relations avec Philippe Chamalont, sur le point de devenir président du conseil.
Le cave se rebiffe
Pour Charles, Lucas et Eric monter une affaire de fausse monnaie avec le "Dabe", c'est encore mieux que de s'associer avec la Banque de France. Tout est en place quand "le Dabe" apprend avec surprise que le graveur est un "cave".
Les vieux de la vieille
Three friends leave their village for a retirement home travelling the countryside
Le baron de l'écluse
The lucky Baron wins a boat in a card game and takes off with his former lover to find new adventures. Adverse circumstances land them in a small town, where the Baron's seafaring companion leaves for more attractive scenery offered by a wealthy local man.
Rue des Prairies
While Henri was a POW during the war, his wife passed away and he returned to face the challenges of bringing up three children alone. Henri may get drunk and angry at times but he also has a better side that will not stay buried.
Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre
Police Commissioner Jules Maigret returns to the small village where he spent his childhood at the request of the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, who has received a disturbing anonymous letter.
Maigret tend un piège
Four women were murdered, each was knifed and, though they had their clothes torn, they weren't molested. As the famed police inspector Jules Maigret pieces the clues together, he comes to realize that for the elusive man that he suspects to be unmasked, he has to set him a trap.
Les misérables
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Les grandes familles
Noël Schoudler is the head of a wealthy and powerful family in France. He manages his financial and commercial concerns with an iron grip, leaving little room for his son François to prove himself.
Le désordre et la nuit
Vallois, a vice inspector for the Paris police, takes special interest in the plight of drug-addicted Lucky (Najda Tiller), whom he considers to be more victim than criminal. Taking it upon himself to wean Lucky away from narcotics, Vallois also wins her love -- and, incidentally, smashes the dope ring responsible for her addiction
En cas de malheur
In Case of Adversity (En cas de malheur) is a 1958 French film directed by Claude Autant-Lara, screenplay by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, after a novel by Georges Simenon. Follow the tragic love of a criminal lawyer (Jean Gabin) for his beautiful young client (Brigitte Bardot).
Le rouge est mis
Monsieur tout le monde pour beaucoup, Louis est en réalité un dangereux gangster. Son frère Pierre, également truand, surprend les préparatifs d'un prochain coup. Louis est arrêté, et son associé Pépito, pense que c'est Pierre qui a trahi...
Le cas du Docteur Laurent
A heartfelt plea for painless childbirth in rural France of the fifties.
Voici le temps des assassins...
In the heart of Paris, a restaurateur's mundane life is disrupted by the arrival of his ex-wife's daughter, who claims to be in need after her mother's death. After marrying her, tensions rise when she becomes involved with a young student, leading to betrayal and murder.
Le sang à la tête
François Cardinaud is one of the richest shipowners in the region. But this success arouses resentment and jealousy. When Marthe, his wife, leaves the home without warning, Cardinaud sees her life cracking little by little.
La traversée de Paris
Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris.
Des gens sans importance
During a stay at a roadside inn, long-distance lorry driver Jean Viard meets a young woman Clothilde who works there. Their friendship soon develops into a passionate love affair, even though Jean is already married and is old enough to be Clothilde’s father.
Crime et châtiment
Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.
Razzia sur la chnouf
Henri, a tough man from Nantes, returns to his country after working for drug dealer Liski in the US. He aims to understand the profitability of French operations and becomes master of all organization links, but faces police scrutiny.
Port du désir
Martine is searching for her sister that disappeared mysteriously. Lequévic agrees to help her.
Napoléon
The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Gas-oil
A trucker encounters a dead body on the road home. He reports the incident to the police, who suspect that Jean was responsible for the death, and his new truck is impounded. To make matters worse, the man's widow accuses him of having robbed her husband, and a gang of sinister crooks are also harassing him.
French Cancan
A comedy/drama about a world-weary impresario who transforms a laundress into a theatrical star.
Touchez pas au grisbi
An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
L'air de Paris
An aging boxer (Jean Gabin) trains a young railroad worker (Roland Lesaffre) to become a fighter.
Leur dernière nuit
Madeleine arrives in Paris looking for a job as an English teacher. She finds a room in a boarding house where she meets and takes interest in Pierre Ruffin, a quiet librarian, who actually lives a double life.
La vierge du Rhin
Reported missing in 1940, Jacques Ledru comes back to Strasbourg as Martin Schmidt. He tracks down his wife Genevieve, but she's remarried and has taken the head of his shipping company. She and her husband will do anything to get rid of Jacques and keep his company.
La vérité sur Bébé Donge
Francois Donge, riche industriel provincial, a epouse Elisabeth d'Onneville surnommee Bebe. Sentimentalement decue, incomprise, Bebe empoisonne un jour son mari. Francois, sur son lit de mort, revoit son passe au cours de sa longue agonie.
La minute de vérité
After attending to a suicidal young man, Dr Richard learns that his wife has been unfaithful for years. This comes as a shock after 10 years of supposedly happy marriage. Back home, he demands answers from Madeleine. A long night of explanations ensues.
Victor
Secretly in love with Françoise, the companion of his best friend Marc, Victor decides to go to prison in his place.
La nuit est mon royaume
After an accident Raymond has gone blind .His family treats him like a child .But fortunately ,a nun comes to his rescue.She works in a center where blind people learn to read with the Braille alphabet.
Archimède, le clochard
Bum Archimede wants to spend the winter in prison, but to get there proves not to be that easy.
La Marie du port
Henri Chatelard is well in his forties, owns a restaurant and a cinema in the city, and appreciate women. When he meets Marie, a 18ish stronghead who just lost her father in a small fishermen village, it is not clear who is the hunter and who is the prey.
Le mura di Malapaga
Pierre, un homme recherché par la police française pour le meurtre de sa maîtresse, débarque clandestinement dans le port de Gênes en Italie. Aidé par Cecchina, une petite fille, il fait bientôt la rencontre de la mère de celle-ci, Marta...
Miroir
Portrait of a two-faced man. By day he is rich, brilliant and respectable financial officer Lussac; at night, he becomes "Mirror", a ruthless gang leader in Marseilles.
Martin Roumagnac
The local building-contractor Martin Roumagnac is fascinated by the fashionable Blanche Ferrand. To impress Blache, Martin presents her with a villa. However, this ruins him financially. Despite Martin's many efforts for the now femme-fatal Blanche, she is not able to chose between him and the rich consul De Laubry.
The Impostor
A condemned murderer named Clement is "liberated" when the Nazis bomb the French jail that holds him. During his escape, Clement comes across the body of a French soldier; he steals the dead man's uniform and identification papers, then hides from the law by joining the Resistance movement.
Moontide
After a drunken night out a longshoreman thinks he may have killed a man.
Remorques
A married tugboat captain falls for a woman he rescues from a sinking ship.
Le récif de corail
The adventures of a sailor (Lennard) from Mexico to a lagoon in the Pacific ocean, and the meeting with a lonely girl (Lilian White).
Le jour se lève
Francois, a sympathetic factory worker, kills Valentin with a gun. He locked himself in his furnished room and starts remembering how he was led to murder. He met once Francoise, a young fleurist, and they fell in love. But Francoise was gotten round by Valentin, a dog trainer, a machiavellian guy...
Le quai des brumes
A military deserter in a French port city finds love amidst trouble.
La bête humaine
Séverine and her husband Roubaud kill their former employer in a train. Engineer Jacques watches them, but doesn't tell the police, because he's in love with Severine. But in an epileptic attack he kills her...
Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko, one of France's most wanted criminals, hides out in the Casbah section of Algiers. He knows police will be waiting for him if he tries to leave the city. When Pépé meets Gaby, a gorgeous woman from Paris who is lost in the Casbah, he falls for her.
La grande illusion
Grand Illusion is a classic war film from French director Jean Renoir created without using images from the first World War.
Gueule d'amour
Lucien Bourrache, a good looking non-commissioned officer at the Spahis, is used to charm many women. He met Madeleine Courtois at Cannes. She is beautiful and lives in luxury. He lends her a large amount of money, which she loses gambling. Then she drops him. But Lucien is now in love, and once demobilized, he goes to Paris to find her again.
Les bas-fonds
The film treats the imprisoning hold of poverty; the disheartening odds of people rising from such social despair, and the ease in which those in the upper spheres of Society may descend.
La belle équipe
Those five are unemployed penniless workers. Together they win 100,000 Francs with the national lottery. Instead of sharing the money, they buy a ruin and build an open-air cafe. But difficulties come to split their friendly group apart: former wife, police tracking one of them (Spanish republican refugee), jealousy...
La bandera
Pierre Gilieth has committed a murder in Paris. He flees to Barcelona, where he runs out of money. So he joins the Spanish Foreign Legion. He meets there two fellow countrymen, Mulot and Lucas. He tries to forget his fault... but Lucas's friendship soon appears to be less unselfish...
Golgotha
The final days of Jesus from the time he enters the city of Jerusalem. Viewed as a threat, it is decided that he must be captured, tried, and executed as a criminal, a plan aided and abetted by disciple Judas Iscariot.
Zouzou
Zou Zou tries to help her childhood friend prove his innocence after he's accused of murder.
Maria Chapdelaine
A young woman has three suitors on her father's logging ranch on the Quebec frontier.
Le tunnel
An engineer is hired to plan and oversee the construction of a undersea tunnel between Europe and the US. However, certain interests don't want to see the tunnel built and use every means at their disposal, including sabotage and murder, to stop its construction.
Les gaîtés de l'escadron
The life of disorderly soldiers in the barracks dealing with daily routines.
Coeur de lilas
Lilac is consorting with the criminal scum of Paris but then she falls in love with a handsome detective...