Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1936 • France
Considered Sacha Guitry's masterpiece, this fleet, witty picaresque about a gambler and petty thief is a whimsical delight. Guitry himself stars as the tricheur looking back fondly on a life of crime, which he narrates with an effervescence matched by that of the film's skillful editing and cinematography. With its rapid storytelling and novel use of voice-over, The Story of a Cheat has influenced filmmakers from Orson Welles to François Truffaut.
Up Next in Directed by Sacha Guitry
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The Pearls of the Crown
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1937 • France
Sacha Guitry plays four roles--including François I and Napoleon III--in this multilingual whirlwind of pageantry investigating the history of seven pearls, four of which end up on the crown of England and three of which go missing. The Pearls of the Cr...
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Desire
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1937 • France
Sacha Guitry exchanges his usual top hat for a uniform in Désiré, playing a cavalier valet embroiled in an awkward flirtation with his new employer (played by the actor-director's real-life wife, Jacqueline Delubac), who is involved with a stuffy politi...
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Quadrille
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1938 • France
A sparkling four-way affair overflowing with dialogue that showcases writer-director Sacha Guitry's wit, Quadrille stars Guitry as a magazine editor whose longtime girlfriend, to whom he plans to finally propose, is uncontrollably drawn to a handsome Am...
