The Devil and the Ten Commandments - 1962
- Director Julien Duvivier
- Product Code: NA-P2033-8047-COM-LT
- Reward Points: 1
- Availability: In Stock
Available Options
Tags: Devil and the Ten Commandments, The Devil and the Ten Commandments, Le diable et les dix commandements, Julien Duvivier, 1962, Michel Simon, Fernandel, Alain Delon, Charles Aznavour, Louis de Funès, Lino Ventura, Danielle Darrieux, Françoise Arnoul, Jean-Claude Brialy, Micheline Presle, Mel Ferrer, Madeleine Robinson, French cinema, Italian cinema, France, Italy, European cinema, comedy drama, drama, comedy, anthology film, episodic cinema, sketch film, Ten Commandments, religion, Christianity, faith, morality, ethics, sin, temptation, guilt, transgression, redemption, revenge, justice, adultery, infidelity, family, motherhood, bank robbery, theft, money, greed, God, Devil, good and evil, moral dilemma, satire, irony, human condition, conscience, moral choice, 1960s cinema, classic European cinema, classic French film, Julien Duvivier films, Alain Delon films, Louis de Funès films, Fernandel films, Charles Aznavour films, Michel Simon films
Julien Duvivier turns the Ten Commandments into the organising principle of an episodic examination of desire, guilt, faith, revenge, adultery, money and family obligation. The framing story follows Jérôme Chambard, an elderly man living among nuns whose persistent swearing becomes a source of consternation. When a visiting bishop proves to be an old acquaintance, Jérôme is given a penance centred upon learning the commandments, opening the film into a succession of stories in which apparently simple moral laws encounter the far less orderly realities of human behaviour.
One tale observes adultery through vanity, deception and an expensive necklace; another follows a seminarian whose sister's fate confronts him with the temptation of revenge. Elsewhere, a stranger arrives at an isolated household claiming to be God; a young man learns that the woman who raised him is not his biological mother and seeks out the celebrated actress connected to his birth; and a bank employee becomes entangled with a thief and stolen money. Duvivier moves deliberately between comedy, melodrama, moral drama and darker tension, allowing each episode to question rather than merely illustrate its corresponding commandment.
Michel Simon, Fernandel, Alain Delon, Charles Aznavour, Louis de Funès, Lino Ventura, Danielle Darrieux, Françoise Arnoul, Jean-Claude Brialy and Micheline Presle are among the remarkable ensemble brought together for the film. Their contrasting screen personae give the anthology its changing emotional register, from dry comedy to despair and philosophical irony. Rather than presenting morality as a tidy division between innocence and guilt, the film repeatedly returns to the contradictions between principle and circumstance, justice and vengeance, belief and doubt, making human frailty the connecting thread between its stories.
| Work Record | |
| Original Title | Le diable et les dix commandements |
| Title | The Devil and the Ten Commandments |
| Year | 1962 |
| Direction | Julien Duvivier |
| Countries of origin | France, Italy |
| Gender | Comedy, Drama |
| Colors | Black and White |
| Cast | Françoise Arnoul, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Claude Brialy, Danielle Darrieux, Alain Delon, Fernandel, Mel Ferrer, Micheline Presle, Madeleine Robinson, Dany Saval, Michel Simon, Lino Ventura, Georges Wilson, Louis de Funès, Lucien Baroux, Roland Armontel, Maurice Biraud, Jean Carmet, André Gabriello, Denise Gence, Germaine Kerjean, Roger Nicolas, Claude Nollier, Noël Roquevert, Henri Vilbert, Henri Tisot, Claude Dauphin, Edmond Ardisson, Yves Barsacq, Gaby Basset, Betty Beckers, Anne Beguet, René Clermont, Madeleine Clervanne, Mireille Darc, Jean Gras, Clément Harari, Dany Jacquet, Robert Le Béal, Jean Luisi, Claudine Maugey, Albert Michel, Gaston Modot, Jean-Paul Moulinot, Armande Navarre, Hubert Noël, Dominique Paturel, Pierre Paulet, Pierre Sergeol, Maurice Teynac, Josette Vardier, Sherry Young, Marc Arian, Marcel Dalio, Max Elloy, Pierre Fromont, Henri Guégan, René Lefèvre-Bel, Guy Mairesse, Philippe March, Raoul Marco, Bernard Musson, Nina Myral, Jimmy Perrys, Marie-France Pisier, Claude Piéplu, Claude Rich, Maria-Rosa Rodriguez, Hénia Suchar |
| Producer | Robert Amon, Claude Jaeger, Almos Mezo |
| Duration | 145 Min. |
| Original Language | French |
| Composer | Georges Garvarentz, Guy Magenta, Michel Magne |
| Cinematography | Roger Fellous |
| Editing | Paul Cayatte |
| Based on | Original stories and different literary sources by episode; David Alexander — novel; Richard Levinson and William Link — short story |
| Tagline | Thou Shalt! Thou Shalt Not! |
| Screenplay | Julien Duvivier, Maurice Bessy, David Alexander, Michel Audiard, René Barjavel, Henri Jeanson, Richard Levinson, William Link, Pascal Jardin |
| Edition Record | |
| Subtitle | English, French, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish |
| Editing Note | This edition presents the complete version of Le diable et les dix commandements, running approximately 145 minutes and containing the full structure of eight episodes. For decades, the film also circulated internationally in shortened editions, generally running between approximately 120 and 126 minutes, in which certain segments were removed or rearranged. The complete version restores the most extensive configuration of Julien Duvivier's film currently available, preserving episodes absent from the shorter French editions previously in circulation. The contemporary complete edition was prepared from a restoration with a new 4K master and brings together all eight sketches for the first time in this presentation. The material catalogued here runs approximately 2h24m45s, consistent with this complete version of around 145 minutes, while preserving the original French audio. It is therefore a particularly significant presentation for collectors interested in the most complete known and commercially recovered configuration of the film. |
Related Products
