{"id":15751,"date":"2011-01-28T18:01:57","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T01:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15751"},"modified":"2021-01-31T11:34:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T18:34:33","slug":"thomas-the-impostor-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15751","title":{"rendered":"Thomas the Imposter (1964)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The princess was quite right: the name of Fontenoy was a magic word, the &#8216;Open Sesame&#8217; of the war ministry.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster-224x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-67368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster-224x300.png 224w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster-764x1024.png 764w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster-96x128.png 96w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster-768x1029.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster-201x270.png 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-the-Imposter-Poster.png 835w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nDuring World War I, a teenager (Fabrice Rouleau) pretending to be the nephew of an esteemed general helps a widowed princess (Emmanuelle Riva) with her humanitarian efforts, and falls in love with her daughter (Sophie Dares).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Georges Franju Films<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken Identities<\/li>\n<li>World War One<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs I noted in my review of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=8127\"><em>Therese Desqueyroux<\/em> (1962)<\/a>, French director Georges Franju only made a handful of films seen in the United States &#8212; and among these, his undisputed masterpiece is <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2939\"><em>Eyes Without a Face<\/em> (1960)<\/a>, a haunting classic of psychological horror. Unfortunately, neither <em>Therese<\/em>&#8230; nor this later literary adaptation (of a 1923 novel by surrealist Jean Cocteau) are nearly as successful. According to Wikipedia&#8217;s article on the director, Franju himself noted that he did <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Georges_Franju\">&#8220;not have the story writing gift&#8221;<\/a>, instead preferring to focus on the visuals of a film &#8212; and to that end, <em>Thomas<\/em>&#8230; is  certainly arresting throughout. But ultimately, most films are only as captivating as the stories they attempt to tell, and this one &#8212; about a young man so desperate to see action on the front that he adopts a false identity &#8212; should be much more compelling than it is. While this is ostensibly Thomas&#8217;s story (per the title), the screenplay primarily focuses on Riva&#8217;s do-gooding princess &#8212; an intriguing character (nicely played by Riva) who we wouldn&#8217;t mind learning even more about. Unfortunately, the film&#8217;s events &#8212; Riva&#8217;s dedication to helping wounded soldiers access medical care; her tentative romance with an insistent newspaper editor (Jean Servais); Thomas&#8217;s budding romance with Dares &#8212; fail to cohere or leave a lasting impression, and by the film&#8217;s end, we wonder what the point of it all was, exactly. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Emmanuelle Riva as the Princesse de Bormes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Riva.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Riva.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15755\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Riva.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Riva-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Riva-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some memorable imagery<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15756\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery2.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery2-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Thomas-Imposter-Imagery2-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Georges Auric&#8217;s musical score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; this one is only must-see for Franju completists. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0058650\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/thomas-limposteur\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The princess was quite right: the name of Fontenoy was a magic word, the &#8216;Open Sesame&#8217; of the war ministry.&#8221; Synopsis: During World War I, a teenager (Fabrice Rouleau) pretending to be the nephew of an esteemed general helps a widowed princess (Emmanuelle Riva) with her humanitarian efforts, and falls in love with her daughter (Sophie Dares). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: French Films Georges Franju Films Mistaken Identities World War One Review: As I noted in my review of&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15751\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67369,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15751\/revisions\/67369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}