Cartouche

"Cartouche" (1961) is Phillipe de Broca's other hit film several years earlier that he also did "That Man From Rio" (1964) both starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and both written by Daniel Boulanger with de Broca, "That Man From Rio" also with J.P. Rappeneau and Ariane Mnouchkine, albeit the better script making a better film. The great Charles Spaak also helped write "Cartouche." The music is also by Geroges Delerue but the sumptuous photography of "Cartouche" is by Christian Matras. Opposite Belmondo for "Cartouche" is Claudia Cardinale, Odile Versois, Marcel Dalio, Jess Hahn, Jean Rochefort and many others in this time a swashbuckling story of an 18th century master thief, swordsman and rogue who becomes a kind of Frenchmen's Robin Hood and together with a beautiful bandit question if true love may be more dangerous. Fast-paced, never boring and often hilarious, the film is visually arresting. The film ends on a sobering note. The Anchor Bay DVD edition is a widescreen presentation enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs with both English and French languages with optional English subtitles in beautiful Eastmancolor and Dolby Digital Mono. No extras.

I only take off a point because the color and sound are not quite as good as I would have hoped for a mid-'60s film and it's a tad overlong at 1 hr 55 min. Otherwise, a very entertaining story (NOT a copy of Robin Hood, despite my allusion) combining humor, romance, and some tragedy, well-acted. Claudia Cardinale has never looked or sounded better and is convincing in her role to boot.

The production quality of this film was great. I watched it with my teenage son, and we thought it was a wonderful French film.

Marvelous period action & romance thriller!

Great purchase and in great condition! I first saw this film while growing up in Cuba and it was a big thrill to revisit it! Belmondo and Cardinale shine,and it is a great rollicking swashbuckler! Check it out,you will love it!!

Excellent

Almost unwatchable. A poorly made film with characters it's hard to like.

In CARTOUCHE you made the rest of the 60s filmmakers seem out of date, and in Belmondo and Cardinale you found the perfect actors who could add the bubbles to your brand of filmic champagne. Now that you are gone, we think back to all the pleasures you have given us over the years, from your little parts in BREATHLESS and 400 BLOWS, to your most recent work discovering the Welsh coalminer's daughter Catherine Zeta Jones, and we are grateful to you for your inspired interventions and pizzazz. Not since Ernst Lubitsch has flair been filmed so perfectly and gallantly, and not since Clouzot has action been so well blended with nail-biting suspense. Our hearts are sad today and we wish your extended family well in these difficult days. Belmondo and Cardinale are still with us and thanks to you, we will always have them in excelsis, as the perfect man and woman au cinema. Merci, De Broca!

CARTOUCHE - MOVIE [DVD ]What a delight to get a Belmondo film with English audio, and at an affordable price. The film is a bawdy period romp of the first order, there is adventure, a swashbuckling hero (played by an actor who actually does all the fight scenes and stunts himself) and a drop dead gorgeous love interest played by Claudia Cardinale. What more can you want? The film was made fifty plus years ago, in the same year as the very first Bond film, so the action scenes are not on a par with the big budget Hollywood productions of recent years. To younger viewers, the action scenes from a time when cgi had not been invented will likely seem tame and wanting, but for those who were around in the 60s and fondly remember the tongue in cheek European films of the time this is a real treat.The DVD plays with English audio, subtitles can easily be hidden if so desired. Picture and sound are perfectly adequate for a film of the time. CARTOUCHE - MOVIE [DVD

Described as a swashbuckling comedy adventure. I thought it more of a comic strip adventure. I had to fast forward through some scenes because they were doing nothing for me. The last quarter of the film picked up when it seemed to be about real people rather than cardboard characters.Jean-Paul Belmondo gave us his famous Gallic charm and held the film together, but it was the performance of Claudia Cardinale that waspitch-perfect. She is a much unrated actress, because reviewers can't see past her beauty and tend to regard her as a "decorative addition" to her films.However, even though it's a film highly praised in both the Radio Times and Maltln's guide, I couldn't agree with them and may in fact give it away.

A long rambling unimportant tale set in the 18th century. Forget the story. Just marvel at the costly production, the colour, the costumes, the grand ball dresses, the 2.35 scope image filled and overflowing with carefully staged scenes which all come alive in a superb DVD where the picture quality is as near to blu ray as you could wish for. The French production plays in English, with or without subtitles. A colourful gem.

Great swashbuckling adventure starring the brilliant French actor Jean Paul Belmondo as the bandit Cartouche.

Refreshing movie with a little French historie . Every kid should see it and stop waste time with Play station Grand car theft.