Dance Program
(1937)
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Dance Program
(1937)
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| Credited cast: | |||
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Harry Baur | ... |
Alain Regnault
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Marie Bell | ... |
Christine Surgère
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Pierre Blanchar | ... |
Thierry Raynal
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| Fernandel | ... |
Fabien Coutissol
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Louis Jouvet | ... |
Pierre Verdier, dit Jo
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Raimu | ... |
Francois Patusset
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Françoise Rosay | ... |
Marguerite Audié
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Pierre Richard-Willm | ... |
Eric Irvin
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Maurice Bénard | ... |
Brémond
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Robert Lynen | ... |
Jacques Dambreval
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Milly Mathis | ... |
Cécile Galtéry
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Sylvie | ... |
La maîtresse de Thierry
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Andrex | ... |
Paul
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Jeanne Fusier-Gir | ... |
La marchande de journaux
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| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Alfred Adam | ... |
Fred
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After the death of her husband, Christine realizes she has possibly wasted her life by marrying him instead of the man towards whom, in her youth, she had a stronger inclination. To overcome these dreary thoughts, she decides to find out about him and the other men who danced with her during a ball that was a turning point in her life, many years ago. She pays a visit to those forgotten acquaintances one after the other; Christine is not only surprised to see how they have fared, but also discovers the impact she had, unknowingly, on the feelings and the destiny of these persons. Written by Eduardo Casais <eduardo.casais@research.nokia.com>
This is one of the quintessential films of the classic age of French cinema. One just has to look at the credits: directed by Duvivier, with Fernandel, Baur, Jouvet (one of his best roles), Marie Bell, Francoise Rosay... all of them at the peak of their form. And held together musically by Jaubert's haunting theme melody, which I can still hum in the nostalgia cupboard of my memory fifty years after I first heard it.
The story is slight. Actually it is a series of vignettes, strung together by the bittersweet pilgrimage of a woman who sets out to find again the men who signed her first dance card. But that is just a pretext for a marvelous set of character sketches played by a marvelous cast of character actors served by a great character director.