Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

blanche-2 Simone Simon to me was always a fascinating woman. When I saw her on TV in Cat People, my mother told me that she had disappeared after the war. I was a kid, and I thought it was something mysterious. Years later I found out she just went back to France, where she lived to age 94.Simon doesn't play the title role here; Kurt Krueger does. She plays a laundress in a combination of two Guy De Maupassant stories about the Franco-Prussian war. They must have resonated during World War II.Simon's character hates the Prussians and doesn't go along with them, though many in the town do. The theme here is passive resistance, and how the poor make sacrifices for their country.The first part of the film takes place in a carriage and was supposedly the inspiration for "Stagecoach."Directed by Robert Wise and produced by, of all people, Val Lewton, this is a short film, mildly entertaining. Actually, Simon's life would make a much more exciting story. Men she liked were given a gold key to her bedroom; she had a relationship with an MI5 spy, Dusko Popov, who was in actuality a double agent. Popov was supposedly the model for James Bond. Simon also had an affair with George Gershwin. I have a feeling there are lots of other interesting stories to be told.

Michael O'Keefe Robert Wise directs this dramatic offering produced by Val Lewton, who strays from his string of low-budget horror flicks for RKO. In occupied France, a young French laundress(Simone Simon) refuses to give in to a small village's Prussian oppressors. She is given permission to travel to her hometown Cleresville and shares a coach ride through the snow with several socialites with strongly opposite political views than her own. The film's name comes from the nickname of one of the most brutal Prussian officers Lt. von Eyick(Kurt Kreuger)who is called 'Fifi'. Very good scenery depicting the WWII devastation. Others in the cast: Jason Robards Sr., Romaine Callender, Edmund Gover, Helen Freeman, Fay Helm and John Emery.

whpratt1 This is a very interesting film directed by a very famous Hollywood Director, Robert Wise,"The Sound of Music","West Side Story" and many other famous films. This is a gem of a 1944 film starring Simone Simon, (Elizabeth Bousset),"The Curse of the Cat People" who plays the role of a young French Laundress who shares a coach ride during the Franco-Prussian War with some very important social superiors. These so called social superiors thought themselves better than Elizabeth, however, when they forgot to bring any food supplies on their journey, she furnished them with chicken she had prepared for herself and things changed. Kurt Kreuger, (Lt. Von Eyrick) is a Prussian soldier who tries to hit on Elizabeth and stops all the travelers from going on their journey until poor Elizabeth complies with his wishes. Jason Roboards,Sr., (Wholesaler in Wines) gave a great supporting role along with John Emery, (Jean Cornudet) who comes to the aid of Elizabeth along with a Priest who will not ring the church bells of his Parish in defiance of the Prussian Generals. Great Classic Film.

Thomas Pfaff I Mademoiselle Fifi to be something new. I think 30 minutes of the film take place in a stagecoach with a group of people who try to be as mean and nasty to each other as possible. A lunch provided by a peasant woman brings them all together. If this were a play this would be Part 1.The rest of the film is about kicking Prussians (stoic Germans) out of France. It is a resistance film, appropriate for the year 1944 when it was made. If you liked "The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel" well... this is a more interesting film than that was.Most old movies are interesting to me because I feel I can learn something by observing the indirect attitudes of the media/generation of the time. I find many subjects now are taboo and we are not allowed to discuss them anymore via the media. I don't fault how things are now or were then. This is just how the media works- it is human nature to reflect biases of the time. This is definitely the case with this film. I liked it. It is worth watching once.