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"Let the game begin." Janus Films has revealed a brand new trailer for the 4K restoration and re-release of the Jean Renoir 1939 classic The Rules of the Game, considered one of the best films ever made despite opening to very negative reviews. The film depicts members of upper-class French society and their servants just before the beginning of World War II, showing their moral callousness on the eve of destruction. At la Colinière, the deceptively idyllic country estate of a wealthy Parisian aristocrat, a selection of society’s finest gather for a rural sojourn and shooting party, and reveal themselves to be absurdly, almost primitively, cruel and vapid. Starring Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, Roland Toutain, Gaston Modot, and Pierre Magnier. The film received terribly negative reviews and even provoked near riots in Paris upon its initial release. As a result, Renoir cut 23 minutes from the film at the time.

Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider in Max Et Les Ferrailleurs - Bertrand Tavernier: "I see Claude Sautet as the son of Jacques Becker."

In the third and final installment of my conversation with Bertrand Tavernier on his Journey Through French Cinema (Voyage À Travers Le Cinéma Français) he discusses his dedication to Jacques Becker (Casque D'Or, Édouard Et Caroline) and Claude Sautet (Max Et Les Ferrailleurs), Mireille Balin's dress in Jean Delannoy's Macao, l'Enfer Du Jeu (Gambling Hell), Jean Gabin, not forgetting Jean-Pierre Melville's Army Of Shadows (L'Armée Des Ombres), Léon Morin, Prêtre or Le Silence De La Mer, Jean Paul Gaultier and Falbalas (Paris Frills), Mila Parély in Coco Chanel, Jean Renoir's A Day In The Country (Partie De Campagne), Joseph Kosma, Sylvia Bataille and Jacques Lacan, Howard Hawks's Red River and Only Angels Have Wings, and not having to see Rio Bravo ever again.

Bertrand Tavernier with Anne-Katrin Titze: "Josef von Sternberg's Macao. Dubbed in Vietnamese and I have never been able to watch the film again ..." Photo: Sophie Gluck

The day before the opening of the 54th New York Film Festival, I met with Bertrand Tavernier for an in-depth conversation on his documentary My Journey Through French Cinema (Voyage À Travers Le Cinéma Français) that spanned fashion from Mila Parély wearing Coco Chanel's ocelot coat in Jean Renoir's La Règle Du Jeu, the daring of Mireille Balin's deep décolleté in Jean Delannoy's Macao, L'Enfer Du Jeu, to Jean Paul Gaultier's reaction to Jacques Becker's Falbalas.

Bertrand Tavernier: "Also, it's learning about myself. How I discovered those films."

Also, Robert Mitchum in Vietnamese, never having to see Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo again, Yves Montand and the birth of Autumn Leaves, Ernst Lubitsch interactions between Lino Ventura...

Chicago – One of the legendary films in cinema history is Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et La Bete,” also known to generations as “Beauty and the Beast.” The restored re-release is touring the country, and in Chicago it’s currently at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com will lead a discussion of the film there on Monday, April 11, 2016.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

The story is adapted from a traditional fairy tale, but in Cocteau’s hand is more adult-like, even more so than the sophisticated Disney animated version. The “Beauty” is about sexual blossoming, and the “Beast” is willing to accommodate, but first some trials must be had. What makes the film so unusual is the palette on which this multi-textured story takes place, an expressly creative landscape of dreams, with a production design (by Christian Bérard and Lucien Carré) that uses every inch of the ‘Academy Aspect...

Christian Dior and Coco Chanel calligraphy dresses with a clip from Zhang Yimou's Hero edited by Wong Kar Wai Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

With the John Singer Sargent exhibition, Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends, organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art opening today, here is the second half of my conversation with Gay Talese on the seduction of fashion and film at China: Through The Looking Glass.

Myrna Loy, Anna May Wong, Callot Soers, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Mila Parély in Jean Renoir's The Rules Of The Game, Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar, Cesar Romero, Tyrone Power, Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me in St. Louis plus Ziegfeld Follies, Fred Astaire and the Duke of Windsor were conjured up. Gay told me about meeting Gene Kelly, Marcello Mastroianni and Federico Fellini during La Dolce Vita and we discussed tailoring while strolling...

Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy with Fred Astaire - Stanley Donen's Funny Face

Spring in New York comes alive with Haute Couture on Film featuring the work of Hubert de Givenchy in Stanley Donen's Funny Face, starring Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson, presented by Eye For Film's Anne-Katrin Titze on April 7.

See creations by Pierre Cardin in Jacques Demy's Bay Of Angels (La Baie Des Anges) with Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, Paul Guers and Henri Nassiet. Emanuel Ungaro made the clothes for Gena Rowlands in John Cassavetes' Gloria with Julie Carmen and Buck Henry. Coco Chanel in Jean Renoir's The Rules Of The Game (La Règle Du Jeu) dressed Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély and Odette Talazac. Be dazzled by Christian Dior in Jean Negulesco's How To Marry A Millionaire with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall. Yves Saint Laurent's...

Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (12A)

(Justin Chadwick, 2013, UK/Sa) Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Jamie Bartlett. 146 mins

Prestige dramatisation finds little to add to a true story that's already inspirational enough, and has already been much retold, especially since Mandela's death. That leaves this as a slightly redundant exercise in biopic box-ticking and corner-cutting, puffed up with awards-friendly grandeur and less interested in the political questions than the personal heart-strings. Still, Elba conveys something of the man as well as the icon, and Harris is a spirited Winnie.

Last Vegas (12A)

(Jon Turtletaub, 2013, Us) Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline. 105 mins

If that title and cast had you thinking "is this The Hangover for seniors?", you wouldn't be far off. It's another Las Vegas bachelor-party adventure, in which four decaying dudes cement their buddyhood and lose their dignity – often assisted by people a fraction of their age,...

It is hard to believe that a film considered to be among the greatest of all time was not only ridiculed upon its initial release but also at one time lost for nearly twenty years. But such was the case with Jean Renior’s The Rules of the Game, the negative for which was destroyed in World War II and the film not reconstructed until 1959 at which point it was recognized for the masterpiece that it is. Hit the jump for my review of the Criterion Collection Blu-ray release. The Rules of the Game is a social satire about the frivolous, self-indulgent, amoral French bourgeoisie masquerading as a comedy of manners. André Jurieux (Roland Toutain) is a national aviation hero in love with Christine de la Chesnaye (Nora Grégor), wife of Marquis Robert de la Chesnaye (Dalio), who himself is having an affair with Geneviève de Marras (Mila Parély). But...

DVD Playhouse—December 2011

By Allen Gardner

The Rules Of The Game (Criterion) Jean Renoir’s classic from 1939 was met with a riot at its premiere and was severely cut by its distributor, available only in truncated form for two decades until it was restored to the grandeur for which it is celebrated today. A biting comedy of manners set in the upstairs and downstairs of a French country estate, the film bitterly vivisects the bourgeoisie with a gentle ferocity that will tickle the laughter in your throat. Renoir co-stars as Octave. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Introduction to the film by Renoir; Commentary written by scholar Alexander Sesonske and read by Peter Bogdanovich; Comparison of the film’s two endings; Selected scene analysis by Renoir scholar Chris Faulkner; Featurettes and vintage film clips; Part one of David Thomson’s “Jean Renoir” BBC documentary; Video essay; Interviews with Renoir, crew members,...

Rank the week of July 19th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Limitless

(DVD & Blu-ray | PG13 | 201)

Flickchart Ranking: #1890

Times Ranked: 3217

Win Percentage: 51%

Top-20 Rankings: 12

Directed By: Neil Burger

Starring: Bradley Cooper • Robert De Niro • Abbie Cornish • Anna Friel • Andrew Howard

Genres: Psychological Sci-Fi • Psychological Thriller • Science Fiction • Thriller

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Take Me Home Tonight

(DVD & Blu-ray | R | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5722

Times Ranked: 1234

Win Percentage: 49%

Top-20 Rankings: 2

Directed By: Michael Dowse

Starring: Topher Grace • Anna Faris • Dan Fogler • Teresa Palmer • Chris Pratt

Genres: Comedy • Comedy Drama • Coming-of-Age • Drama • Period Film • Romance • Romantic Comedy • Romantic Drama

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The Reef

(DVD & Blu-ray | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #10667

Times Ranked: 152

Win Percentage: 47%

Top-20 Rankings: 2

Directed By: Andrew Traucki

Starring: Adrienne Pickering • Gyton Grantley • Zoe Naylor • Damian Walshe-Howling • Kieran Darcy-Smith

Genres: Horror • Natural Horror • Thriller

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Tekken

(DVD & Blu-ray | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #9314

Times Ranked: 332

Win...