The Seven Deadly Sins [Les Sept Péchés Capitaux] **** (1952, Michèle Morgan, Françoise Rosay, Isa Miranda, Gérard Philipe, Jean Debucourt) – Classic Movie Review 9875

An extraordinary gathering of prestigious French film-makers and performers contributes to the 1952 French/ Italian co-production portmanteau movie The Seven Deadly Sins [Les Sept Péchés Capitaux], an elegant and entertaining collection of modern interpretations of – in fact – eight Biblical sins.

Ranging from a witty story about cheese gluttony (La Gourmandise/ Gluttony, directed by Carlo Rim) to an equally clever tale (by Collette) about a couple’s jealousy over a cat (L’Envie/ Envy, directed by Roberto Rossellini), every single episode is worthwhile and diverting.

There is a segment Le Huitième péché / The Eighth Sin), in which Gérard Philipe plays Le meneur de jeu / Le peintre (The playmaker / The painter) and Robert Dalban plays Le forain (The showman). Philipe plays carnival barker who introduces each segment and narrates the last one dealing with the eighth unknown sin, which turns out to be the sin of thinking evil where none exists. Ah, ha.

Five of the episodes come from France and two from Italy. two of the sins are covered in one segment: L’Avarice et La Colère, / Avarice and Anger.

It is remade in the French New Wave era as the 1961 The Seven Deadly Sins [Les Sept Péchés Capitaux].

It stars Eduardo de Filippo, Isa Miranda, Paolo Stoppa, Louis de Funès, Jean Richard, Françoise Rosay, Gérard Philipe, Jean Debucourt, Robert Dalban, Maurice Ronet, Noël-Noël, Henri Vidal, Jacques Fabbri, Viviane Romance, Frank Villard and Michèle Morgan.

The Seven Deadly Sins [Les Sept Péchés Capitaux] is directed by Eduardo de Filippo, Jean Dréville, Yves Allégret, Roberto Rossellini, Carlo Rim, Claude Autant-Lara and Georges Lacombe, runs 148 minutes, is written by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, Roberto Rossellini, Léo Jouanon, Carlo Rim, Diego Fabbri, Lianna Ferri, Eduardo de Filippo and Charles Spaak, and is shot in black and white by André Bac, Roger Hubert, Robert Lefebvre, Jacques Natteau, Giovanni Pucci, Enzo Serafin and André Thomas.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9875

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