Pathe to Release Three Newly Restored Julien Duvivier Films on Blu-ray
Posted March 25, 2016 05:50 PM by Webmaster
French label Pathe will add to its Blu-ray catalog three newly restored films directed by Julien Duvivier: They Were Five (1936), The End of the Day (1939), and Deadlier Than the Male (1956). The three releases will be available for purchase on June 1.
Included with this announcement is Pathe's brand new trailer for They Were Five.
Five unemployed Parisian workers, Jeannot (Jean Gabin), Charlot (Charles Vanel), Raymond, called Tintin (Raymond Aimos), Jacques (Charles Dorat), and Mario (Raphaël Médina), a foreigner threatened with expulsion, win the main prize in the National Lottery. One of them, Jeannot, has the idea of putting the money together so the group can buy an old suburban wash house in ruins that they would transform, as equal co-owners, into a guinguette -- a dancing and refreshment café in the country. They begin working on the project with confidence, but the solidarity of the group proves fragile. Soon after, the group is reduced to just Charles and Jean -- who are in love with the same woman, Gina (Viviane Romance). The ending, judged too pessimistic, was re-made. (Pathe's upcoming release will feature the original theatrical ending).
In Les Halles, in the heart of Paris, the restaurateur André Chatelin (Jean Gabin), leads an uneventful life until the arrival from Marseille of Catherine (Danièle Delorme), the daughter of his ex-wife Gabrielle (Lucienne Bogaert). She tells him her mother is dead and that she is without resources. Chatelin welcomes her under his roof -- then marries her. Gérard (Gérard Blain), a young student that Chatelin looks upon as a son, becomes Catherine's lover, and she sets him at odds with Chatelin. She then asks him to kill the restaurateur. When he refuses, she kills him. Having discovered that Gabrielle is still alive, declined and drug addicted, Chatelin realises the darkness of Catherine's soul who has always lied to him.
In a retirement home, three elderly actors with very different histories and personalities have to learn to get along with each other. Starring Victor Francen, Michel Simon, Louis Jouvet, Madeleine Ozeray, Alexandre Arquillière, and Arthur Devère.