Philippe de Broca

Directing

Philippe de Broca

Born — Died

1933-03-15 — 2004-11-26

Place of birth

Paris, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

69 titles

Philippe Claude Alex de Broca de Ferrussac (15 March 1933 – 26 November 2004) was a French film director. He directed 30 full-length feature films, including the highly successful That Man from Rio (L'Homme de Rio), The Man from Acapulco (Le Magnifique) and On Guard (Le Bossu). His works include historical, romantic epics such as Chouans! and King of Hearts (Le Roi de cœur), as well as comedies with a charismatic, breezy hero ready to embark upon any adventure which comes his way, so long as it means escaping everyday modern life: Practice Makes Perfect (Le Cavaleur), The Devil by the Tail (Le Diable par la queue), The African (L'Africain). He had links with the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, wi…

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 2 titles

1980s · 1 titles

1960s · 9 titles

Breathless poster
7.5

A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.

Breathless

1960

King of Hearts poster
7.0

An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI to investigate a garbled report from the resistance about a bomb which the departing Germans have set to blow up a weapons cache.

King of Hearts

1966

Cartouche poster
6.3

In the 18th century, Louis de Bourguignon is working with the Malichot's gang, but their ways are too 'unethical' for him. He creates his own band, acting under the name of Cartouche, making audacious robberies of the rich people, and even distributing the takings with the poor. Thus, cartouche attracts the people's sympathies, Venus's love, and hate from the Police and Malichot... Cartouche can escape all the traps they set at him - except the entrapments of love. Eventually, he will be saved by a woman, at her own cost.

Cartouche

1962

The Devil by the Tail poster
6.1

In this comedy, a run-down hotel drums up customers by sabotaging passing cars. The stuck motorists are then obliged to stay. Unfortunately, one of the sabotaged cars belongs to a bank robber. The hotel staff wants the robber out, but they also want to keep his ill-gotten money.

The Devil by the Tail

1969

The Love Game poster
6.3

Victor and Suzanne are a couple at odds about commitment. Suzanne needs more reassurance from Victor about the future of their relationship. He is a painter with an inspired creative side who finds it difficult to understand Suzanne's point of view. They are happy together; what is the problem? So when a friend comes into the picture and proposes to Suzanne, Victor suddenly realizes that Suzanne was right. Without a formal commitment, the suddenly insecure man does not like the view from the opposite shore.

The Love Game

1960

People in Luck poster
5.6

A light French comedy of 5 segments.

People in Luck

1963

The Girls of La Rochelle poster
10.0

July 13, 1389. On the initiative of the Mayor, warned by a famous astrologer, the town of La Rochelle is getting ready - 400 years in advance! to celebrate the Fête Nationale with dignity! But the English, who already held almost every square in the Kingdom of France, set their sights on La Rochelle. The enemy fleet cruised off the coast, and while preparations for the festivities continued, orders were given to stretch the enormous chain that was to block access to the port between the two towers. However, this complicated maneuver and responsibility fear to provoke countless avatars.... The fatuity of the captain of the guards, Thimoléon, the reckless coquetry of the governor's daughter, Hiildegarde, the thick stupidity of the adjutant, the deceitfulness of the traitor and the scheming of a mysterious Scotsman lead the city to the brink of the abyss, while the people, excited, stage a fleeting riot in which the daughters of La Rochelle will have the last word.

The Girls of La Rochelle

1962

Les Pieds nickelés poster
6.2

Three tramps in search of adventure and fortune decide to try their luck at swindling. After an initial failure at shoplifting, they take over a bateau-mouche and exploit tourists in their own way.

Les Pieds nickelés

1964

The Little Misses poster
NR

Four young girls' love of boys put their newly opened all-services company in peril.

The Little Misses

1964

Series credits

Behind the camera

That Man from Rio poster
7.3

French military man Adrien Dufourquet gets an eight-day furlough to visit his fiancée, Agnès. But when he arrives in Paris, he learns that her late father's partner, museum curator Professor Catalan, has just been kidnapped by a group of Amazon tribesmen who have also stolen a priceless statue from the museum. Adrien and Agnès pursue the kidnappers to Brazil, where they learn that the statue is the key to a hidden Amazon treasure.

That Man from Rio

1964

That Man from Rio poster
7.3

French military man Adrien Dufourquet gets an eight-day furlough to visit his fiancée, Agnès. But when he arrives in Paris, he learns that her late father's partner, museum curator Professor Catalan, has just been kidnapped by a group of Amazon tribesmen who have also stolen a priceless statue from the museum. Adrien and Agnès pursue the kidnappers to Brazil, where they learn that the statue is the key to a hidden Amazon treasure.

That Man from Rio

1964

Dear Inspector poster
5.9

When Lise's car bumps Antoine's bike, they recognize each other from a brief fling 20 years before while at the Sorbonne. He's now a professor of Greek; she's loathe to tell him she's a police inspector. A call interrupts their first dinner date: a Deputy of the National Assembly has been murdered. She has a suspect, another Deputy, and must track him while deflecting Antoine's eye from her vocation. All roads in the inquiry lead to Christine Vallier, the dead Deputy's mistress, a beguiling 22-year-old whose mother ran the Assembly's snack bar. When more deputies die and Antoine learns Lise's identity, she must act quickly solve the crime and save her future.

Dear Inspector

1978

1001 Nights poster
5.2

Sheherazade has been married to a ruler who wants many wives, but only one at a time. Consequently, as soon as he has bedded them, he has them put to death. In most retellings, the girl staves off this unfortunate conclusion by putting off the connubial event for a thousand and one nights, telling irresistible stories instead. In this one, she gets hold of a magic lamp.

1001 Nights

1990

1001 Nights poster
5.2

Sheherazade has been married to a ruler who wants many wives, but only one at a time. Consequently, as soon as he has bedded them, he has them put to death. In most retellings, the girl staves off this unfortunate conclusion by putting off the connubial event for a thousand and one nights, telling irresistible stories instead. In this one, she gets hold of a magic lamp.

1001 Nights

1990

Incorrigible poster
6.2

Victor Vautier is incorrigible: he's in constant motion, working several cons at once, using different names and changing disguises. He's charming and outrageous, incapable of uttering a sentence that isn't embellished or an outright lie. His life goal is to make enough money to build a sea wall to protect Mont-Saint-Michel. Charlotte, a parole officer, shows up: she's young and seems taken in by Victor. He discovers she lives above the Senlus Museum, where her parents are the curators. With two pals he decides to steal a priceless El Greco triptych and then ransom it back to the cultural ministry. What will Charlotte do when she realizes he's used her to make a fortune?

Incorrigible

1975

Incorrigible poster
6.2

Victor Vautier is incorrigible: he's in constant motion, working several cons at once, using different names and changing disguises. He's charming and outrageous, incapable of uttering a sentence that isn't embellished or an outright lie. His life goal is to make enough money to build a sea wall to protect Mont-Saint-Michel. Charlotte, a parole officer, shows up: she's young and seems taken in by Victor. He discovers she lives above the Senlus Museum, where her parents are the curators. With two pals he decides to steal a priceless El Greco triptych and then ransom it back to the cultural ministry. What will Charlotte do when she realizes he's used her to make a fortune?

Incorrigible

1975

King of Hearts poster
7.0

An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI to investigate a garbled report from the resistance about a bomb which the departing Germans have set to blow up a weapons cache.

King of Hearts

1966

King of Hearts poster
7.0

An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI to investigate a garbled report from the resistance about a bomb which the departing Germans have set to blow up a weapons cache.

King of Hearts

1966

Cartouche poster
6.3

In the 18th century, Louis de Bourguignon is working with the Malichot's gang, but their ways are too 'unethical' for him. He creates his own band, acting under the name of Cartouche, making audacious robberies of the rich people, and even distributing the takings with the poor. Thus, cartouche attracts the people's sympathies, Venus's love, and hate from the Police and Malichot... Cartouche can escape all the traps they set at him - except the entrapments of love. Eventually, he will be saved by a woman, at her own cost.

Cartouche

1962

Cartouche poster
6.3

In the 18th century, Louis de Bourguignon is working with the Malichot's gang, but their ways are too 'unethical' for him. He creates his own band, acting under the name of Cartouche, making audacious robberies of the rich people, and even distributing the takings with the poor. Thus, cartouche attracts the people's sympathies, Venus's love, and hate from the Police and Malichot... Cartouche can escape all the traps they set at him - except the entrapments of love. Eventually, he will be saved by a woman, at her own cost.

Cartouche

1962

The Magnificent One poster
7.0

A writer of pulpy book series in which he's the hero and his beautiful English roommate is the love interest attempts to finish his new book in time at the publisher's demand.

The Magnificent One

1973

The Magnificent One poster
7.0

A writer of pulpy book series in which he's the hero and his beautiful English roommate is the love interest attempts to finish his new book in time at the publisher's demand.

The Magnificent One

1973

The Seven Deadly Sins poster
5.9

Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.

The Seven Deadly Sins

1962

Up to His Ears poster
7.0

A millionaire realizes he really wants to live after he has hired an assassin to kill him.

Up to His Ears

1965

The Oldest Profession poster
5.0

A collection of sketches that tells the story of prostitution through the ages.

The Oldest Profession

1967

Chouans ! poster
5.8

Directed by Philippe de Broca, the film recounts a bloody episode of the French Revolution. 1793, the Terror . In Vendée and in Bretagne, the chouans are revolting against the young Republic and fight for the monarchy restauration. The civil war divides also the family of the Count Savinien de Kerfadec, a liberal and generous noble and a flying machines inventor.

Chouans !

1988

Amazon poster
4.4

On an observatory set high on a mountain, astronomers make a stunning discovery somewhere out in the galaxy. A flying object in the depths of the cosmos is showing signs of life, emitting an intelligent signal. The UFO has just landed on Earth somewhere in the midst of a rainforest. Margot, the enthusiastic young woman heading up the research team, decides to go to the spot and check out this phenomenon. Meanwhile Edouard, our hero, studies the flora and fauna of the tree tops in the rainforest. He perches on an enormous net that stretches over the still pure, unadulterated forest that spreads out beneath him. He discovers a naked little twelve-year old girl seated on the net. He covers her with a broad banana leaf and asks where she comes from. She quickly replies, in perfect French 'from another world'.

Amazon

2000

Amazon poster
4.4

On an observatory set high on a mountain, astronomers make a stunning discovery somewhere out in the galaxy. A flying object in the depths of the cosmos is showing signs of life, emitting an intelligent signal. The UFO has just landed on Earth somewhere in the midst of a rainforest. Margot, the enthusiastic young woman heading up the research team, decides to go to the spot and check out this phenomenon. Meanwhile Edouard, our hero, studies the flora and fauna of the tree tops in the rainforest. He perches on an enormous net that stretches over the still pure, unadulterated forest that spreads out beneath him. He discovers a naked little twelve-year old girl seated on the net. He covers her with a broad banana leaf and asks where she comes from. She quickly replies, in perfect French 'from another world'.

Amazon

2000

The Devil by the Tail poster
6.1

In this comedy, a run-down hotel drums up customers by sabotaging passing cars. The stuck motorists are then obliged to stay. Unfortunately, one of the sabotaged cars belongs to a bank robber. The hotel staff wants the robber out, but they also want to keep his ill-gotten money.

The Devil by the Tail

1969

Jupiter's Thigh poster
6.2

Antoine, a professor of Greek, and Lise, a police inspector, honeymoon in Greece. There they meet a young couple, Charles, an archaeologist, and Agnes, a dishy flirt. Charles unearths the lovely buttocks of a classical statue and is determined to donate it to the Louvre. Agnes wants to sell it and gets a handsome local sailor to take it for an appraisal. When the sailor is murdered, the police suspect Charles and arrest Antoine as his accomplice. Lise swings into action, but before she can clear the men, Agnes springs them from jail, and now Lise must help them elude the police, find the real murderer, and recover the statue fragment. More art goes missing. What is the statue's secret?

Jupiter's Thigh

1980

Give Her the Moon poster
5.8

Marie, a young provincial girl, is seduced by an American billionaire. She agrees to stay with him if he moves her village to New York.

Give Her the Moon

1970

Give Her the Moon poster
5.8

Marie, a young provincial girl, is seduced by an American billionaire. She agrees to stay with him if he moves her village to New York.

Give Her the Moon

1970

The Love Game poster
6.3

Victor and Suzanne are a couple at odds about commitment. Suzanne needs more reassurance from Victor about the future of their relationship. He is a painter with an inspired creative side who finds it difficult to understand Suzanne's point of view. They are happy together; what is the problem? So when a friend comes into the picture and proposes to Suzanne, Victor suddenly realizes that Suzanne was right. Without a formal commitment, the suddenly insecure man does not like the view from the opposite shore.

The Love Game

1960

The Love Game poster
6.3

Victor and Suzanne are a couple at odds about commitment. Suzanne needs more reassurance from Victor about the future of their relationship. He is a painter with an inspired creative side who finds it difficult to understand Suzanne's point of view. They are happy together; what is the problem? So when a friend comes into the picture and proposes to Suzanne, Victor suddenly realizes that Suzanne was right. Without a formal commitment, the suddenly insecure man does not like the view from the opposite shore.

The Love Game

1960

People in Luck poster
5.6

A light French comedy of 5 segments.

People in Luck

1963

People in Luck poster
5.6

A light French comedy of 5 segments.

People in Luck

1963

The African poster
6.3

Charlotte flies to East Africa to build a tourist center near Lake Williams where the pygmies live. Here she meets her husband Victor, a devoted conservationist who left her three years ago to live in the jungle. Can you imagine his enthusiasm when she arrives at the conclusion that the ideal place to build this holiday resort is his kitchen garden?

The African

1983

The African poster
6.3

Charlotte flies to East Africa to build a tourist center near Lake Williams where the pygmies live. Here she meets her husband Victor, a devoted conservationist who left her three years ago to live in the jungle. Can you imagine his enthusiasm when she arrives at the conclusion that the ideal place to build this holiday resort is his kitchen garden?

The African

1983

On Guard poster
6.7

France, 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIII. When a dear friend, the Duke of Nevers, is treacherously assassinated by a powerful relative, a skilled swordsman, the noble Henri de Lagardère, seeks his rightful vengeance as he tries to protect the innocent life of the duke's last heir.

On Guard

1997

On Guard poster
6.7

France, 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIII. When a dear friend, the Duke of Nevers, is treacherously assassinated by a powerful relative, a skilled swordsman, the noble Henri de Lagardère, seeks his rightful vengeance as he tries to protect the innocent life of the duke's last heir.

On Guard

1997

Louisiana poster
4.7

Virginia Tregan returns to her home in the U.S. Deep South from a sojourn in Paris only to discover that her family plantation and its holdings have been lost. She determines to recoup her family's fortune.

Louisiana

1984

Touch and Go poster
5.2

North Africa, December 1942. Valentin, a professional gardener ruined by the bombings of 1940, has fled to Tunis, where he traffics stolen goods, transporting them from Libya to Tunisia on an old boat.

Touch and Go

1971

Touch and Go poster
5.2

North Africa, December 1942. Valentin, a professional gardener ruined by the bombings of 1940, has fled to Tunis, where he traffics stolen goods, transporting them from Libya to Tunisia on an old boat.

Touch and Go

1971

The Skirt Chaser poster
5.7

A discontented concert pianist causes all sorts of heartbreak with his egotistical and womanizing antics, and all the people in his life attempt to force him to grow up in this French comedy/drama.

The Skirt Chaser

1979

The Skirt Chaser poster
5.7

A discontented concert pianist causes all sorts of heartbreak with his egotistical and womanizing antics, and all the people in his life attempt to force him to grow up in this French comedy/drama.

The Skirt Chaser

1979

Male Companion poster
5.3

A dedicated layabout (Jean-Pierre Cassel) bounces from relationship to relationship, moving on only when the prospect of employment presents itself.

Male Companion

1964

Male Companion poster
5.3

A dedicated layabout (Jean-Pierre Cassel) bounces from relationship to relationship, moving on only when the prospect of employment presents itself.

Male Companion

1964

Tales from the Zoo poster
10.0

In Paris, near the end of World War II, crotchety professor Fernand Bonnard maintains a zoo and continues his research. He's a coward, as is his debonair son, Armand, who has one daughter, Philippine. On her eighth birthday, Armand picks her up from her repressive boarding school and takes her to Fernand's to celebrate. Father and son quarrel, and Armand leaves, only to be arrested and shot for violating curfew. In grief, the curmudgeonly Fernand does not tell Philippine, but invents a life for Armand as a captain of the Resistance. Fernand takes her from school to live with him and his sensible wife. Along the way, Philippine finds out the truth and Fernand discovers courage.

Tales from the Zoo

1994

Les Clés du Paradis poster
5.4

Two brothers, one very successful and the other not, switch places with each other, exchanging jobs and wives.

Les Clés du Paradis

1991