Norton Simon Museum to screen Simone Signoret-starring ‘Casque d’Or’

Celebrated in its home country but almost never seen here, Jacques Becker’s 1952 “Casque d’Or,” one of the true glories of French cinema, gets a rare big screen appearance at the Norton Simon Museum as part of its “The Belle Epoque on Film” series.

The favorite role of star Simone Signoret (who won an Oscar for “Room at the Top”) this is a bravura period romance costarring Serge Reggiani that masterfully interweaves love, violence and fate in turn-of-the-century Paris. Signoret stars as Marie, a woman radiant with frank sensuality, whose waves of blond hair give the film its title. The characters’ intense feelings are complicated not only by misfortunes, miscalculation and misunderstandings, but also by the dynamics of crime, jealousy, personal honor and the implacable code of the underworld.