Hardly Nouvelle Vague, but I have another overlooked oldie from the '40s -- Blonde Fever. Mr. and Mrs. Donay (Philip Dorn and Mary Astor) have operated restaurants in all the worldwide hot spots, but they've settled in Nevada running a place that does big business among the divorce seekers. Mr. Donay is a reformed gambler and an unreformed skirt-chaser with his eye on waitress Sally (Gloria Grahame). Sally is engaged to Freddy (Marshall Thompson), and they plan to marry when he can afford it. At least, except when they fight every five minutes. All-seeing, all-knowing bartender Johnny (Felix Bressart) is always handy with a bit of advice or a drily witty line. Then Mr. Donay wins $40,000 in a lottery, and he starts to promise Sally all sorts of fine living....
It's nobody's gem, but an amusing hour-plus with Star Power. Okay, Astor was at the end of her career, and it was the first real roles for Grahame and Thompson. But they do fine, and the script is serviceable. Make it a second feature to The Maltese Falcon or The Bad and the Beautiful. Or even a few episodes of Daktari.
If 400 Coups was not for you, try a slightly later Truffaut, I don't know, perhaps "Jules et Jim"? Also very important to the Movie Brats. Or "Don't Shoot the Piano Player". Or "Day for Night". Truffaut's films can be very different from one another, and he likes to play around with genre quite a bit.
I poked around, and
Shoot the Piano Player
sounds like I might like it and it's on Instant, so I added it.
Day for Night
isn't streaming, but I added it to my queue in hopes that by the time I decide to tackle the French New Wave, it will be.
Jules et Jim
didn't seem like one I would dig. Not when it's all New Wave-y.
We watched this [link] the other night and will probably watch it again tonight.
We liked it a lot, but it's like Inception in that you may want to watch it a few times to get everything that's going on.
Jules et Jim didn't seem like one I would dig.
I feel pretty secure in saying it will bore you to tears. I like a lot of Truffaut, but have never understood people's love for that one.
I love 400 Blows and am with megan in not getting Jules et Jim.
I love
Day for Night,
although it's a not a "big" film, just a souffle. So delicious, though. Also
Small Change.
And I adored and was totally broken by
The Story of Adele H,
although I haven't seen it since it came out.
I saw Small Change at a relatively young age (11 or 12) and it was definitely a gateway drug for subtitled movies with me. I really need to see it again, because I'm pretty sure I haven't seen it since (though some parts of it stick in my memory very clearly).
I think I might have gone to see it because I knew Truffaut from CE3K and his Hitchcock book.
And I adored and was totally broken by The Story of Adele H, although I haven't seen it since it came out.
That was my first Truffaut. It kinda destroyed my soul, even though it was so beautifully made. Haven't rewatched it since either. I watched a few more Truffaut films since but none has left as deep an impression.
I do have a lasting fondness for his last film, Vivement Dimanche!, even though I think it's considered a lesser work.
I'm also a fan of Small Change which I discovered in college.
Jules and Jim really spoke to its era and created an iconic image of sexual liberation and one of the earlier instances of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. After several revolutions in feminism, sexuality and therapy, however, it all looks unhealthy and even a bit old fashioned, sexist and dumbass.
