Film Still

French Cancan

Jean Renoir

France

1955

105 minutes

Color

1.33:1

French

243

Synopsis

Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the cancan all the rage while juggling the love of two beautiful women—an Egyptian belly-dancer and a naive working girl turned cancan star. This celebration of life, art and the City of Light (with a cameo by Edith Piaf) is a Technicolor tour de force by a master of modern cinema.

Cast

Henri DanglardJean Gabin
NiniFrancoise Arnoul
Lola de CastroMaría Félix
Arlette VibertAnna Amendola
Baron WalterJean-Roger Caussimon
La GénisseDora Doll
Prince AlexandreGiani Esposito
OscarGaston Gabaroche
BidonJacques Jouanneau
TailorJean Parédès
PauloFranco Pastorino
EleonoreMichèle Philippe
Captain ValorgueilMichel Piccoli
BarjolinAlbert Remy
BéatrixFrance Roche
SavateJean-Marc Tennberg
Madame OlympeValentine Tessier
CasimirPhilippe Clay
Eugénie BuffetEdith Piaf
Yvette GuilbertPatachou
Esther GeorgesCora Vaucaire
Paul DelmetAndré Claveau

Credits

DirectorJean Renoir
ProducerLouis Wipf
ScreenplayJean Renoir
CinematographyMichel Kelber
EditingBorys Lewin
Set designerMax Douy
Set decorationJean André and Jacques Douy
Costume designerRosine Delamare
Sound recordistAntoine Petitjean
Original music byGeorges van Parys

Disc Features

  • New high definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound
  • Video introduction by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
  • Jean Renoir parle de son art: part two of Jacques Rivette’s three-part interview with Renoir
  • Video interview with set designer Max Douy
  • A collection of rare production stills
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
  • Plus: an original essay by film critic Andrew Sarris

From the Current

French Cancan

by Andrew Sarris Aug 2, 2004

French Cancan, produced at the Francoeur Studios in Saint–Maurice, had its Paris premiere in May 1955 and was mostly successful as a fun musical with both the critics and the public. In later decades, the critics around the world hailed the magnitude of Jean Renoir’s achievement...

Jean Renoir’s Trilogy of Spectacle

by Jonathan Rosenbaum Aug 2, 2004

Movie trilogies can be created by either filmmakers or critics. When Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote and directed The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1973), he made no bones about calling them his Trilogy of Life. But when Michelangelo Antonioni...

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