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Jean-Paul Vignon, the romantic French vocalist and actor who impressed audiences on both sides of the Atlantic during an eight-decade career, died March 22 of liver cancer in Beverly Hills, his family announced. He was 89.

Performing a repertoire of contemporary pop and American standards, Vignon debuted in the U.S. in 1963 at the famed New York supper club The Blue Angel, where he opened for stand-up comic Woody Allen.

Ed Sullivan would soon showcase him on his Sunday night CBS variety show in eight appearances — including one in which he sang a duet with young Liza Minnelli — and he became a regular guest on Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin’s programs.

Signed to Columbia Records, Vignon released his first U.S. album, Because I Love You, in 1964. Three years later, he had a supporting role opposite William Holden and Cliff Robertson in the World War II film The Devil’s Brigade.

In...

Shotaro Ishinomori's classic manga Cyborg 009 has received many adaptations and crossovers over the decades. This spring, it will be moving to a new realm: the stage. Announced today, Cyborg 009 the Stage will adapt Ishinomori's tale of nine cyborgs fighting for world peace. Go Ueki, who oversaw the stage play adaptations of both Hypnosismic -Division Rap Battle- and Attack on Titan , directs. Shinjirou Kameda, who wrote the aforementioned Hypnosismic -Division Rap Battle- Rule the Stage , pens the script. Related: Ya Boy Kongming! Stage Play Trailers Introduce Main Cast Members Starring as 009, a.k.a. Joe Shimamura, will be singer and actress Hiroki Nanami, who can currently be heard as Abyss Razor in Mashle: Magic And Muscles . Joining her will be: 002/Jet Link: Shunichi Takahashi 003/Françoise Arnoul: Minori Otoha 004/Albert Heinrich: Masamichi Satonaka 005/Geronimo Jr.: Haruto Sakuraba 006/Chang Changku: Toshiya Sakai 007/Great Britain: Kazuma Kawahara 008/Pyunma: Toyotaka 0010 Plus,...

Veteran French helmer Bertrand Tavernier (“The French Minister”) is curating a 15-film retrospective of films by Henri Decoin (1890-1969), a larger-than-life character who before directing his first feature, at the age of 43, was an Olympic swimmer, Wwi pilot, sports journalist and novelist.

Decoin is one of the three directors – alongside Jean Grémillon and Max Ophuls – featured in the first episode of Tavernier’s “My Journeys Through French Cinema,” a follow-up project to his documentary “My Journey Through French Cinema”.

Tavernier believes that Decoin left a decisive mark on Gallic cinema due to the fluidity of his directing style, inspired in part by his sojourn in Hollywood in 1938, his innovative exploration of genres such as crime, espionage thrillers, historical sagas and psychological dramas, his remarkable adaptations of novels by George Simenon and his notable collaboration with actors such as Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet and his second wife, Danielle Darrieux.

The retrospective...

Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine' 1938: Jean Renoir's film noir (photo: Jean Gabin and Simone Simon in 'La Bête Humaine') (See previous post: "'Cat People' 1942 Actress Simone Simon Remembered.") In the late 1930s, with her Hollywood career stalled while facing competition at 20th Century-Fox from another French import, Annabella (later Tyrone Power's wife), Simone Simon returned to France. Once there, she reestablished herself as an actress to be reckoned with in Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine. An updated version of Émile Zola's 1890 novel, La Bête Humaine is enveloped in a dark, brooding atmosphere not uncommon in pre-World War II French films. Known for their "poetic realism," examples from that era include Renoir's own The Lower Depths (1936), Julien Duvivier's La Belle Équipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937), and particularly Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) and Daybreak (1939).[11] This thematic and...

Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, La Bête Humaine Jean Gabin on TCM: Grand Illusion, Pepe Le Moko, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Gueule D'Amour (1937) A retired cavalry officer discovers the woman who won his heart was in love with the uniform. Dir: Jean Grémillon. Cast: Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin. Bw-88 mins. 8:00 Am Remorques (1941) A married tugboat captain falls for a woman he rescues from a sinking ship. Dir: Jean Grémillon. Cast: Jean Gabin, Alain Cuny, Bw-83 mins. 9:30 Am Le Jour Se Leve (1939) A young factory worker loses the woman he loves to a vicious schemer. Dir: Marcel Carne. Cast: Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty. Bw-90 mins. 11:00 Am L'air De Paris (1954) An over-the-hill boxer stakes his fortune on training a young railroad-worker. Dir: Marcel Carne. Cast: Arletty, Jean Gabin, Roland Lesaffre. Bw-100 mins. 1:00 Pm Leur Derniere Nuit (1953) A schoolteacher...

Jean Gabin was France's answer to Humphrey Bogart, many (English-language) historians have claimed. Either that, or Gabin was France's answer to Spencer Tracy. Never mind the fact that Gabin was a major international star before either Bogart or Tracy achieved Hollywood stardom. In other words, if there was someone emulating someone else, it was Bogart and Tracy who followed the Frenchman's lead so as to become the American Jean Gabins. Turner Classic Movies is devoting a whole day to Jean Gabin's movies today, August 18, as part of its "Summer Under the Stars" series. [Jean Gabin Movie Schedule.] Right now, TCM is showing Julien Duvivier's Pépé le Moko (1937), the tale of a Parisian gangster (Gabin) hiding in Algiers' Casbah neighborhood, but who becomes careless after he falls for a beautiful woman (Mireille Balin, Gabin's co-star that same year in Jean Grémillon's Gueule d'amour / Lady Killer). Those whose idea of cinema begins...

Super 8 (12A)

(Jj Abrams, 2011, Us) Riley Griffiths, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler. 112 mins

With Steven Spielberg producing, neo-sci-fi superstar Jj Abrams harks back to the kid-friendly action fantasies of the 80s (Et, The Goonies) while adding a few modern monster-movie scares of his own. The two genres don't always sit well together, and the retro lens flare becomes wearing, but Super 8 has character and charm, especially in the three young leads, whose plans to make a super-8 zombie movie are scuppered by the arrival of a dangerous creature.

French Cancan (PG)

(Jean Renoir, 1954, Fr) Jean Gabin, Françoise Arnoul, Maria Félix. 104 mins

Digital restoration of Renoir's salute to the swinging, sensual Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec et al. Gabin stars as the ambitious entrepreneur whose plan to spice up his new nightclub, the Moulin Rouge, with dancing girls creates a new star, a new craze and a love triangle.

Knuckle (15)

(Ian Palmer,...

Jean Renoir's 1955 film, now on re-release, shows a palette and compositional sense that appear to be influenced by his father

The world of the Moulin Rouge and the cancan conjured up in Jean Renoir's 1955 film, now on re-release, is very different from Baz Luhrmann's wacky 2001 entertainment. For a start, the proceedings take place in a brightly lit salle, not mysterious nightclub darkness. Renoir's palette and compositional sense appear to be influenced by his father, and his emphasis is on commerce, loans, box office, bailiffs and debt, rather than the sleazy allure of prostitution and the consequent fascination of artists. Jean Gabin's impresario Henri Deglard is a bullish, worldly optimist; his dalliances with leading ladies are a mere bagatelle, compared to his passion for his great, yet fickle love: the audience. Nini (Françoise Arnoul) is the young washerwoman whom Henri turns into a star, with an inspired...

Two years after his sudden death, what may turn out be Anthony Minghella's final work, Nine – an all-star musical about a director in dilemma – is about to appear. David Thomson hymns his friend 'Ant'

Nine will open wide in America on Christmas Day, and it is certain to be a major contender in the Oscar race. It is the movie version of the musical (book by Arthur Kopit, music by Maury Yeston) that opened on Broadway in 1982, with Raul Julia in the lead role of Guido Contini. In a New York revival, Antonio Banderas played Guido, and when it was given in a concert performance in London Jonathan Pryce played the lead. This is the movie, from the Weinstein Company, and everything has been upscaled. Beyond the astonishing female cast (more anon), it has Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido. There is a hint that in this version, Guido has been upgraded just a little,...