René Hell

Acting

René Hell

Born — Died

1891-05-01 — 1965-10-11

Place of birth

Orbec, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

Known for

Paris Blues poster
6.5

During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.

Paris Blues

1961

La Traversée de Paris poster
7.3

Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris.

La Traversée de Paris

1956

The Counterfeiters of Paris poster
7.0

"Le Dabe" retired many years ago and now he lives in the Tropics where he owns stables and horses. He is a very rich man. He was the king of all money counterfeiters. He is contacted from Paris to organize a new job. He says no. But when he finds out the the currency that should be counterfeited is the Dutch florin, he accepts immediately. He retired after having counterfeited 100 florin notes just before the Queen Wilhelmina retired them from circulation. He flies to Paris. But the gang is not to be trusted, at least not all of them.

The Counterfeiters of Paris

1961

Touchez Pas au Grisbi poster
7.2

Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

1954

Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case poster
7.0

Police Commissioner Jules Maigret returns to the small village where he spent his childhood at the request of the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, who has received a disturbing anonymous letter.

Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case

1959

The Count of Bragelonne poster
6.0

Raoul de Bragelonne must uphold his musketeer father's legacy in the face of court intrigues from Cardinal Mazarin.

The Count of Bragelonne

1954

Film credits

1960s · 9 titles

Paris Blues poster
6.5

During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.

Paris Blues

1961

The Counterfeiters of Paris poster
7.0

"Le Dabe" retired many years ago and now he lives in the Tropics where he owns stables and horses. He is a very rich man. He was the king of all money counterfeiters. He is contacted from Paris to organize a new job. He says no. But when he finds out the the currency that should be counterfeited is the Dutch florin, he accepts immediately. He retired after having counterfeited 100 florin notes just before the Queen Wilhelmina retired them from circulation. He flies to Paris. But the gang is not to be trusted, at least not all of them.

The Counterfeiters of Paris

1961

Carom Shots poster
6.0

Paul Martin is the subservient brown-nosing youngster who needs quick advancement up the hierarchy to pay for the modern lifestyle he is buying on credit. Seeing that marrying his immediate superior's daughter will not get him the results he wants, he begins plotting the demise of the head of the company. The company itself specializes in holiday travel and unscrupulously brutalizes its customers for maximum profit, spending more thought on publicity gimmicks than customer service...

Carom Shots

1963

Rue du Havre poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Rue du Havre

1962

Mum's the Word poster
5.3

Martin is a nurse in a private clinic in Paris. The victim of a serious concussion, an unidentified casualty, arrives in the emergency room one night. He is operated on immediately. When he wakes up, half-unconscious, he tells Martin a confused story about stealing jewels from a maharajah visiting Marseille... before falling into total amnesia. Real and fake policemen interrogate Martin, gangsters kidnap him to get him to reveal precious information, but... the nurse keeps his mouth shut!

Mum's the Word

1960

The Baron of the Locks poster
6.5

Lucky Baron Jérôme Napoléon Antoine wins a boat in a card game and takes off with his former lover in search of new adventures. Adverse circumstances land them in a small town, where the Baron's seafaring companion departs for more attractive scenery offered by a wealthy local. Meanwhile, there's a certain charming café owner that the Baron finds irresistible – at least for awhile.

The Baron of the Locks

1960

Mademoiselle poster
7.0

A sexually repressed school teacher releases her pent up passions in a series of shocking crimes.

Mademoiselle

1966

The Old Guard poster
6.3

Three friends leave their village for a retirement home travelling the countryside

The Old Guard

1960

People in Luck poster
5.6

A light French comedy of 5 segments.

People in Luck

1963

1950s · 38 titles

La Traversée de Paris poster
7.3

Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris.

La Traversée de Paris

1956

Touchez Pas au Grisbi poster
7.2

Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

1954

Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case poster
7.0

Police Commissioner Jules Maigret returns to the small village where he spent his childhood at the request of the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, who has received a disturbing anonymous letter.

Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case

1959

The Count of Bragelonne poster
6.0

Raoul de Bragelonne must uphold his musketeer father's legacy in the face of court intrigues from Cardinal Mazarin.

The Count of Bragelonne

1954

The Adventures of Arsène Lupin poster
6.6

Arsène Lupin is extremely popular among the population, because he allows the needy to share in his acquired wealth. Before entering the service of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, he removes his vault in Alsace, steals two paintings of old masters, steals valuable gems and calls out to the police prefect to avoid his arrest. But this time he risks being seriously recognized. Lupin must once again use his fine intellect to deftly escape the situation.

The Adventures of Arsène Lupin

1957

Holiday for Henrietta poster
7.1

Two scriptwriters argue about the fate of Henrietta, a charming and gamine shopgirl. One favors a comical path for their heroine, who is overcome with sentimental love for a young photographer on Bastille Day. The other has a more thrilling and dastardly fate in mind for her. Among the film's irresistible conceits is Hildegarde Neff as an oversexed circus bareback rider.

Holiday for Henrietta

1952

The Tricyclist poster
5.7

Antoine Peyralout is baker Mouillefarine's tricycle delivery man. Comical and stuttering, Antoine shows more interest in the local soccer team than in professional integrity. A wedding cake pays the price for it and the young man is dismissed. Not dispirited in the least, Antoine decides to go to Nice, where his favorite team will play the final of the Cup. On his merry (and eventful) way, he has the opportunity to save a pretty camper, Popeline, with whom he falls in love. Once in Nice, he discovers that Dabek, the brilliant goal-keeper is not up to his task following bad news...

The Tricyclist

1957

Poison Ivy poster
6.1

FBI Agent Lemmy Caution is sent after a missing two million in Casablanca while mob boss mistress Carlotta plays both sides of the law.

Poison Ivy

1953

Speaking of Murder poster
6.3

Louis Bertain is the owner of a Paris garage which is the front for a robbery gang. He and his accomplices are careful to keep up a civic veneer by day, indulging in criminal activities only when "the red light is on" at night. This status quo is upset when one of the gang members becomes convinced that Louis' younger brother is a police informer.

Speaking of Murder

1957

The Night Affair poster
6.2

Vallois, a vice inspector for the Paris police, takes special interest in the plight of drug-addicted Lucky (Najda Tiller), whom he considers to be more victim than criminal. Taking it upon himself to wean Lucky away from narcotics, Vallois also wins her love -- and, incidentally, smashes the dope ring responsible for her addiction.

The Night Affair

1958

Witness in the City poster
6.3

Industrialist Pierre Verdier kills his mistress Jeanne Ancelin by throwing her off a train. Her husband, Ancelin, decides to take revenge on his wife's murderer, who has been acquitted by justice.

Witness in the City

1959

Piédalu fait des miracles poster
4.5

The inhabitants of Marboue-Chambourcy want a swimming pool, and the difficulties in realizing this expensive dream divide the village into two clans: on one side the women, on the other the men. Piedalu, whom this conflict desolates, discovers by chance, as part of a found bicycle, a fortune in gold coins.

Piédalu fait des miracles

1952

The Rear-Wheel Drive Gang poster
6.5

The manager of a firm has a very unusual idea : asking his employees to pose as gangsters and to hold up a bank before returning the stolen money and pocketing the reward. But things do not go according to plan and the phony thieves get stolen in their turn. They have no other choice than turning into amateur detectives to be able to pay back the stolen dough.

The Rear-Wheel Drive Gang

1950

Dear Caroline poster
5.5

France, July 1782. During her birthday, the beautiful young Marchioness Caroline meets the attractive soldier Gaston. It's love at first sight but Gaston does not wish to make a commitment because a military career waits for him. Caroline marries then a politician but the French Revolution bursts and Caroline has to run away to escape the guillotine. By running away she meets Gaston again who decides to help her.

Dear Caroline

1951

Signed, Arsène Lupin poster
7.1

At the end of the Great War, Arsène Lupin resumed his adventurous life. Theft of three paintings committed by an adversary leads him to the treasure of the Golden Fleece.

Signed, Arsène Lupin

1959

Headlines of Destruction poster
7.0

Released from prison after two years, Michel Gérard sets out to find his wife Alice. Alice, luxuriously maintained by her lover, Jacques Rupert, editor-in-chief of a major newspaper, rejects him. Shortly afterwards, Rupert discovers Alice dead, murdered. Fearing charges, he asks one of his reporters, Barney Morgan, to direct suspicion to Michel. But Michel's lawyer shows Barney that the husband is innocent.

Headlines of Destruction

1955

Tamango poster
7.0

A Dutch slave captain, on a voyage to Cuba, faces a revolt fomented by a newly captured African slave, Tamango. The slaves capture the captain's mistress, forcing a showdown.

Tamango

1958

Marie of the Port poster
5.7

Henri Chatelard is well into his forties, owns a restaurant and a cinema in the city, and appreciates women. When he meets Marie, an 18-ish strong-head who just lost her father in a small fishing village, it is not clear who is the hunter and who is the prey.

Marie of the Port

1950

Imperial Violets poster
5.7

Violeta, an Andalusian gypsy, foretells a lady she will become empress. The lady is Eugenia de Montijo, and when she marries emperor Luis Napoleón of France she takes the young girl with her. The empress'cousin readily makes her his focus of attention, then she discovers a criminal attempt against the empress.

Imperial Violets

1952

The Strange Madame X poster
5.0

Irène is the unhappy wife of a wealthy publisher, Jacques Voisin-Larive, who cares about her no more than a beautiful piece of furniture. Her meeting with Étienne, a young cabinetmaker with whom she falls in love, turns her dismal existence upside down. Not wanting to reveal her condition to her lover, she pretends to be a modest maid, employed by the Voisin-Larive. At the end of a weekend spent with her lover, Irène discovers that she is pregnant. The fragile balance of their existence is suddenly broken. Taking the initiative, she reveals her affair to Jacques and tells him about her desire to divorce. But her husband has no intention of giving her back her freedom...

The Strange Madame X

1951

Without Leaving an Address poster
6.4

A woman in Paris hires a taxi driver to locate her ex-lover, father to her newborn child, who left her without leaving an address.

Without Leaving an Address

1951

Law of the Streets poster
7.5

Yves Tréguier, a young orphan, escapes from a reform school in Brittany to join "Dédé la Glace" in Paris, an old-timer with whom he has a sincere friendship. The love of Zette, a young girl he has met, and the benevolent friendship of Father Blain, the bistro owner, give him the desire for regular work. "Jo le Grec", a pimp jealous of Dédé's friendship with Yves, seduces Wanda, a prostitute he loves, and shoots Dédé dead. Blain prevents him from doing the same to Yves, and shoots him in turn. Yves can live an honest life with Zette and the baby she's expecting.

Law of the Streets

1956

Juliette, or Key of Dreams poster
7.0

Michel has stolen from his employer, Mr Bellanger, for the love of Juliette. He is now in jail. One night, while sleeping in his cell, he wakes up all of a sudden, the gates open and he finds himself in a strange village where all the inhabitants have lost their memory. There, meets Juliette again who seems to agree to marry a powerful man, who might well be Bluebeard...

Juliette, or Key of Dreams

1951

Mon ami le cambrioleur poster
7.0

When Nadia, his unfaithful mistress, breaks up with him, Patrick Lambert decides to kill himself. But before he reaches the point of no return he is stopped in the act by Camille, a burglar who has just broken into his house. Thanks to him and also to Rosita, Camille's girlfriend who falls for him, Patrick forgets his gloomy thoughts. It is the beginning of a series of crazy misunderstandings and adventures.

Mon ami le cambrioleur

1950

Papa, Mama, My Wife and Me poster
5.9

Robert Langlois is now married to Catherine, the former housemaid. And they would live happily ever after if the housing crisis did not force them to live together with Gabrielle and Fernand, Robert's parents. For, despite the good will on either side, tension soon arises. What else to expect when there is too little space in their Montmartre apartment for four people (then for six then eight, the couple having... two pairs of twins!) ; the continued presence there of Fernand (who loves peace and quiet) after he is driven to retirement ; the difficult beginnings of Robert as a lawyer in a room of the apartment, etc... Other troubles follow and the harried family is on the verge of implosion...

Papa, Mama, My Wife and Me

1955

Champions Juniors poster
6.7

Even back in 1951, boys knew more about cars than their dads.

Champions Juniors

1951

Crime and Punishment poster
7.0

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1956

Foyer perdu poster
7.0

A brave and talkative wine merchant, Eugène Barbentin drives his son Pierrot out of the family home, because he has given birth to his girlfriend. His wife then reveals to him that he is not Pierrot's father and she flees with her lover. Abandoned, Eugene will be saved by his mother who will restore the situation with energy and determination.

Foyer perdu

1952

Blood to the Head poster
6.3

François Cardinaud is one of the richest shipowners in the region. But this success arouses resentment and jealousy. When Marthe, his wife, leaves the home without warning, Cardinaud sees her life cracking little by little.

Blood to the Head

1956

Mammy poster
5.3

Mammy has a grandson she adores even though he is a good for nothing. One day Maurice disappears and Mammy becomes blind. When Maurice finally announces his return the fond old lady is overjoyed. Unfortunately, Maurice's plane crashes and catches fire. The young man is reported missing, presumably dead. Pierre, Mammy's husband, can't bring himself to announce such a shocking news. Desperate, he finds no other solution than subterfuge : he will ask a young couple to pass themselves off as Maurice and his girlfriend.

Mammy

1951

Carrot Top poster
10.0

As the red headed boy writes in his school book, a family is a group living under the same roof who can't stand each other.

Carrot Top

1952

No Pity for Women poster
7.0

The wealthy industrialist Alain de Narbois has disappeared. Michel Dunant, an idle man who passed by and who looks exactly like the deceased, is taken for Alain by a young woman and her servant. He jumps at the chance but quickly realizes that, in this hushed little world, masters and servants play comedy and know very well that he is only a double of Alain. In fact, the industrialist was assassinated.

No Pity for Women

1950

Ils sont dans les vignes... poster
7.5

In 1935, in the Burgundian village of Valromey, Commissioner Desbordes was the very unpopular leader of the anti-alcoholic league. His own brother, Pimpin, is an unconditional defender of the vineyard. Pierre Moreau is, for his part, the representative of a hygienic drink, the "Koku-Kolu". The cafe owner's daughter, Rose, will find the man very to her liking and will manage to seduce him.

Ils sont dans les vignes...

1952

Et ta sœur… poster
6.2

Bastien du Boccage is a repeat offender: hasn't he been sent to jail no fewer than six times? But he is no ordinary criminal mind you. As a matter of fact he is a newspaper editor and should have no problems with justice. The trouble is that he has a sister, Lucrèce, who is agony aunt in his newspaper and who tends not to mince her words. To make matters worse, Francine, his daughter, has fallen in love with Bruno, a penniless student and Lucrèce is prepared to do anything to prevent her marriage..

Et ta sœur…

1958

Le Crâneur poster
5.4

A singer tries to rescue a man drawn into the drug trade.

Le Crâneur

1955

Run Away Mr. Perle poster
6.0

Modest fifty-something, Mr. Perle, is a baker in a small provincial town. He lives there with an authoritarian woman and her cousin, a parasite who poisons his existence. A Parisian notary writes to the hero to ask him to come and take possession of an inheritance. In Paris, Perle meets a pretty adventuress.

Run Away Mr. Perle

1952

A Bomb for a Dictator poster
5.7

RY A revolution breaks out in a South American country while its cruel dictator is on a trip to France. The rebels have made careful plans to blow up the dictator's private plane as he returns, but at the last second he changes plans and travels on a commercial flight. The rebels then must make a difficult decision: they must either blow up a flight filled with innocent passengers, or else allow the dictator to return home and take brutal reprisals against the leaders of the uprising.

A Bomb for a Dictator

1957

Mr. Leguignon Lampiste poster
5.9

A railway worker, Leguignon, and his wife are forced to move into a house located in a shaggy part of town. What Leguignon doesn't know is that a group of children have discovered a treasure and keeps it stored in the house. Trouble ensues when he discovers the cache and tries to claim it as his own.

Mr. Leguignon Lampiste

1952

1940s · 13 titles

Martin Roumagnac poster
6.8

The local building-contractor Martin Roumagnac is fascinated by the fashionable Blanche Ferrand. To impress Blache, Martin presents her with a villa. However, this ruins him financially. Despite Martin's many efforts for the now femme-fatal Blanche, she is not able to chose between him and the rich consul De Laubry.

Martin Roumagnac

1946

After Love poster
5.3

Betrayed by his wife, a teacher proceeds to have an affair with a young and pretty student. The two women both find themselves expecting a child. The girl dies during childbirth. In a spirit of revenge and to keep his real son, the scorned husband exchanges the babies.

After Love

1948

Mandrin (1ère époque) Le libérateur poster
NR

Around 1750, in the Dauphiné not far from the Swiss border, a cooper, tired of the injustices affecting the peasants crushed by taxes, went into revolt. Louis Mandrin, a handsome fellow without fear and without reproach, puts himself out of the law by refusing to obey the local nobility. The public authorities are tearing their hair out because the man is elusive. Helped by his faithful friends and by two women in love, Mandrin will become a legend.

Mandrin (1ère époque) Le libérateur

1947

Mandrin (2ème époque) La Tragédie d'un siècle poster
7.5

Around 1750, in the Dauphiné not far from the Swiss border, a cooper, tired of the injustices affecting the peasants crushed by taxes, went into revolt. Louis Mandrin, a handsome fellow without fear and without reproach, puts himself out of the law by refusing to obey the local nobility. The public authorities are tearing their hair out because the man is elusive. Helped by his faithful friends and by two women in love, Mandrin will become a legend.

Mandrin (2ème époque) La Tragédie d'un siècle

1948

Impasse of Two Angels poster
5.6

Stage actress Marianne has decided to give up her career to marry wealthy nobleman Marquis Antoine de Fontaines. As a wedding present, Antoine gives his future wife a precious diamond necklace, which is coveted by a gang of crooks. Jean, one of them, is given the mission to approach Marianne and steal the necklace from her. The only trouble is that when he meets her, she recognizes him as the man she once loved.

Impasse of Two Angels

1948

Road Blocked poster
8.0

Jacques Audoin falls in love with a pianist, Evelyne Clery, and marries her. In reality, he had wanted to approach her, because he imagined that she had witnessed the murder of the lover of his first wife. Evelyne learns what has happened and, revolted by what she thinks is her husband's plot, commits suicide. Jacques confesses his crime.

Road Blocked

1948

Wear His Heart on His Sleeve poster
6.4

Léon Ménard, the village verger, is a decent young man whose hobby is to play the accordion. One day he is fired for having accompanied Mary Pinson, a singer deemed scandalous by the right-minded parishioners. Blinded by his love for Mary, Léon follows her to Paris where he becomes her plaything. With Mary's complicity, a gang of swindlers make him the puppet proprietor of a night club. But Léon can't live in a fool's paradise forever and soon finds himself on the street, forsaken and desperate. Luckily, the manager of a circus notices him while he is busking and he hires Léon at once. Not only will success come to him but he will win the love of sweet Solange.

Wear His Heart on His Sleeve

1949

The Figurehead poster
8.0

At sea, sailors have got to make do with what they have. François is in love with.... the figurehead, the bust of a gorgeous woman.

The Figurehead

1948

L'Homme aux mains d'argile poster
10.0

The fictionalized life, and interpreted by himself, of the popular boxing champion Marcel Cerdan. Training sessions, matches, victories, flight to the U.S.A. where the title of world champion is disputed, form the whole subject of the film.

L'Homme aux mains d'argile

1949

Cité de l'espérance poster
8.0

The City of Hope is the place where left-behind artists subsist by scraping by. When one of them is accused of murder, all try to find the real culprit.

Cité de l'espérance

1948

Le Cabaret du Grand Large poster
10.0

Superintendent Thomas is investigating a cabaret owner with suspicious actions.

Le Cabaret du Grand Large

1946

The Story of Dr. Louise poster
8.0

The struggle of a female doctor against superstition and healers.

The Story of Dr. Louise

1949

The Cupboard Was Bare poster
6.3

The aunt of Alfred Puc, a meek tax-collector in Paris, dies while riding in a moving van. The driver, not wishing to be bothered by a police interrogation, hides her corpse in a cupboard before notifying Alfred. But the van is stolen. Alfred, being the heir of a rich lady, begins a frantic search to locate the missing van and the cupboard because one can't claim an inheritance if there is no 'corpus delecti.' In his search, he gets caught up in an underworld web and finds the body of a murdered gangster in his room. He finally locates the cupboard but promptly loses it again. But, wait, it isn't "finis' time, yet.

The Cupboard Was Bare

1948