Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958)
A beautiful 18-year-old orphan escapes from a reformatory and hooks up with a gang of jewel smugglers, and decides on a life of crime. However, she falls for and marries a policeman, putting a crimp in her criminal career.
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A Masterpiece!
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Blistering performances.
Marc Allégret began his career in the late twenties ,but he's remembered for "Fanny"(1932) (but it's mainly Marcel Pagnol's work) and "entrée des artistes"(1938) (but it's mainly Louis Jouvet's performance that' s worth the price of admission).His brother,Yves -who was Simone Signoret's first husband- Allégret gave more memorable works (such as "une si jolie petite plage" "manèges" or "les orgueilleux")."Sois belle et tais-toi" epitomizes the worst of the French cinema de qualité before the nouvelle vague -one should never forget that there was a great great cinema de qualité with such directors as Clouzot,Duvivier,Decoin,Becker and even Delannoy-;it remains enjoyable -I pass over in silence the screenplay which final line (the title: stay pretty and shut up)will infuriate the feminists-because of the cast:1.The first time Delon and Belmondo played together (there were three movies in all ,the others being "Borsalino" (1970) and "une chance sur deux" (1998)) just before the time they became the biggest French superstars of the sixties.2.One of Henri Vidal's last part:he was the fifties' most popular actor and his death in 1960 would make way for his two young supporting actors.3.Mylène Demongeot was not lucky:they tried to make her a new Brigitte Bardot and there was no room for two ,so her career suffered accordingly.One should note that M.Allegret had already directed B. Bardot just before "sois belle et tais-toi" ,in "en effeuillant la marguerite".4.Other actors include Roger Hanin ,François Mitterrand's brother-in-law ,and comic actor Darry Cowl.