Le Diable et les Dix Commandements

Le Diable et les Dix Commandements
The Ten Commandments of Gustave Doré
Directed by	Julien Duvivier
Produced by	Hoche Productions, Films Odéon, U.F.A, Comacico (France)
Written by	David Alexander Michel Audiard
Starring	Michel Simon Louis de Funès
Music by	Georges Garvarentz Guy Magenta Michel Magne
Distributed by	Cinédis (1962) (France) Union Film Distributors Inc. (1963) (USA)
Release date(s)	14 September 1963
Running time	143 minutes; 126 minutes (France)
Country	France
Language	French

Le Diable et les Dix Commandements (English: The Devil and the Ten Commandments), is a French comedy-drama film from 1963, directed by Julien Duvivier, written by David Alexander and Michel Audiard, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès (uncredited). The cast list includes several famous French actors: Fernandel, Danielle Darrieux, Michel Simon, Louis de Funès, Lino Ventura, Jean-Claude Brialy, Charles Aznavour, and a very young Alain Delon, but according to Bosley Crowther only one from seven episodes tickled him, in which play Louis de Funes and Jean-Claude Brialy.^[1]

The film offers a perspective on sin and salvation. A snake proclaims – voice of Claude Rich – that it is our old friend, the Devil.^[1]

Plot

The film consists of seven roughly 15 minute episodes, each showing what will happen if one or more of the Ten Commandments will be broken. The episodes are either mini-dramas. The European version has eight episodes.

In the first episode Jérome Chambard is warned that he will lose his job if he continues to swear.

In second episode Françoise Beaufort enamored of a stripper calls on her only to find her married to a janitor who doesn't know what kind of dancing his wife performs.

In the third episode Denis, a Jesuit novice, leaves the order to avenge his sister's suicide, which was provoked by Garigny, who seduced her into prostitution and drug addiction.

In the fourth episode Philip buys a necklace for Micheline though he is bored with her. Fernandel (horse-faced) declares that he is God.

In the fifth episode a young man find out that his real mother is not Madeleine, but actress Clarisse Ardant.

In the sixth episode Didier Marin, cashier of a bank, was fired by his boss.

In the seventh episode the Devil appears as a serpent for Jérome Chambard and the bishop are eating.^[2]

Cast

1st episode

• Michel Simon : Jérôme Chambard
• Lucien Baroux : monsignor Hector Trousselier
• Claude Nollier : grandmother
• Albert Michel : the trader of firsts
• Nina Myral : a parishioner (uncredited)

2nd episode

• Micheline Presle : Micheline Allan
• Françoise Arnoul : Françoise Beaufort
• Mel Ferrer : Philip Allan
• Claude Dauphin : Georges Beaufort
  • Marcel Dalio : le bijoutier (uncredited)
  • Claude Piéplu : un vigile (uncredited)
  • Philippe March : un vigile (uncredited)
  • René Lefèvre-Bel : le majordome de Philip (uncredited)
  • Marie-France Pisier : figurante (uncredited)

3rd episode

• Charles Aznavour : Denis Mayeux, brother of Catherine (the committing suicide)
• Lino Ventura : Garigny, the procurer
• Maurice Biraud : Louis, the inspector of police
• Henri Vilbert : Alexandre, the restaurateur
• Maurice Teynac : grandfather
• Clément Harari : a man of hand of Garigny
• Guy Mairesse or Pierre Fromont : a man of hand of Garigny
• Yana Chouri : a woman from the restaurant

4th episode

• Fernandel : the madman who is taken for God alias « le père Gilbert »
• Germaine Kerjean : grandmother
• Gaston Modot : Auguste, grandfather
• Claudine Maugey : Marie, small girl
• René Clermont : father
• Josette Vardier : mother

5th episode

• Alain Delon : Pierre Messager
• Danielle Darrieux : Clarisse Ardant alias Solange Beauchon
• Madeleine Robinson : Germaine Messager
• Georges Wilson : Marcel Messager
• Roland Armontel : Monsieur Mercier
• Hubert Noël : friend of Clarisse
• Dominique Paturel : the actor
• Gaby Basset : the dresser
• Robert Le Béal : the movie director
• Raoul Marco : an actor

6th episode

• Jean-Claude Brialy : Didier sailor, the bank clerk
• Louis de Funès : Antoine Vaillant, the embezzler
• Armande Navarre) : Janine Millaud, fiancée of Didier Marin
• Noël Roquevert : inspector

7th épisode

• Michel Simon : Jérôme Chambard
• Lucien Baroux : Monseigneur Trousselier
• Madeleine Clervanne : Delphine

See also

• The Ten Commandments (1956 film)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bosley Crowther, Le Diable et les Dix Commandements, The New York Times, October 15, 1963
2. ^ The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Feature Films, 1961-1970, Part 2, University of California Press, 1997, p. 251

External links

• Le Diable et les Dix Commandements at the Internet Movie Database
• Le Diable et les Dix Commandements (1962) at the Films de France
• The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1963) at the TCM Movie Database
• The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Feature Films, 1961-1970, Part 2, University of California Press, 1997, p. 251
• Der Teufel und die zehn Gebote at the defunes.de
• Bosley Crowther, Le Diable et les Dix Commandements, The New York Times, October 15, 1963