Vidocq

This telefilm in black and white is diffused on the first French chain the November 6th 1965. It undoubtedly remains the most known adaptation of the Dom Juan of Molière.

Idris is a young shepherd in the desert of Tunesia. One day a jeep drives by and a woman takes a picture of him; she says she's from Paris and promises to send him a copy. But when nothing arrives during the next months, Idris becomes worried. His father advises him to get his "face" back or bad things may happen to him. So he sets out to Paris... and discovers Paris as a world full of strange things and weird behavior.

After selling his orchard, an old farmer gets furious when he learns the new owner plans to use the lot to grow wheat.

A French telefilm broadcast on 30th September 1962, this is a detective fiction, set in London, 1927. The plot is set in a single space... a police interrogation room for suspects. It has only three characters; the suspect, who is an architect, and an idealist influenced by radical ideas. The other two characters are policemen, who try to coax from him the motive behind the death (murder?) of his three year old child. Even in a remastered DVD, the beta production values of a television production will be evident. But at barely a few minutes over an hour, it packs a brisk, at times rushed, but an interesting narrative. Makes one wonder, what other gems must the TV vaults in France (and UK, and Germany, and Italy) conceal?