Land Without Stars (1946)
"Le pays sans étoiles" (original title)

Simon's life is troubled by images of a crime which happened in his family a hundred years ago. While traveling in south France, he finds the landscape familiar. That's when he meets ... See full summary »

Director:

Georges Lacombe

Writers:

Georges Lacombe (adaptation), Pierre Véry (adaptation),

Stars:

Jany Holt, Pierre Brasseur, Gérard Philipe

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jany Holt	...	Catherine Le Quellec / Aurélia Talacayud
Pierre Brasseur	...	Jean-Thomas Pellerin / François-Charles Talacayud
Gérard Philipe	...	Simon Legouge / Frédéric Talacayud
Marthe Mellot	...	Anaïs Talacayud
Jane Marken	...	La secrétaire (as Jeanne Marken)
Guy Favières	...	Le père d'Aurélia
Hélène Tossy	...	Bérengère
Edmond Castel	...	Le cousin
Paul Demange	...	Le clerc de notaire
Lucien Daubrel
Denise Bonal
Henri Niel
Léon Berton	...	Le notaire de 1838
Eugène Frouhins
Arlette Thomas

Storyline

Simon's life is troubled by images of a crime which happened in his family a hundred years ago. While traveling in south France, he finds the landscape familiar. That's when he meets Catherine and falls in love. But her lover comes back and his strong personality attracts her again.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

3 April 1946 (France)

Also Known As:

Het land zonder sterren

Company Credits

Production Co:

Société Parisienne de Cinéma (SPC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Déjà Vu

Once upon a time there was a land where they made movies where a good story to tell,beautiful pictures and wonderful actors were the only things that counted.Some day -must be the early sixties I can't remember- a wicked fairy came and said:

"Listen to my magic spell

Listen carefully , listen well You old lousy directors

Prick your fingers

And sleep for a hundred years!"

That was the way many a movie from the late forties and the fifties became sleepers,still waiting for the prince who would wake them....or an IMDb reviewer: "La Foire aux chimères" by Pierre Chenal ,"La Fete à Henriette" by Duvivier ,"la Neige Etait Sale "by Saslavsky and many more..

"Le Pays sans Etoiles" is one of these sleepers!To think that many Gerard Philipe fans do not even know that this movie exists.Oddly ,and although he plays the main character ,his name does not appear at the top of the credits ,because he was relatively unknown in the world of cinema whereas he was already famous on stage.

Gerard Philippe is perfectly cast as the romantic young lead of a movie which is crying to be seen.The director ,George Lacombe,is not considered an "auteur" in France ,but he did give an excellent thriller ("Le Dernier Des Six" which owed a lot to Clouzot's screenplay though)and two interesting works :"Martin Roumagnac" and "Les Musiciens du Ciel" .

"Le Pays Sans Etoiles" is easily Lacombe's peak;like "Dernier Des Six" ,it 's got a brilliant screenplay by Pierre Very.Very was excellent when it came to introducing a sense of mystery in a detective story: one remembers "L'Assassinat Du Père Noel " and "Les Disparus De Saint-Agil" both classics by Christian-Jaque.

"Le Pays Sans Etoiles" (what a beautiful title!"starless land")features an unusually inventive screenplay ,brillantly blending present and past . Here,Lacombe 's directing is almost in the same league as the best of Jacques Tourneur when he conjures up fear and mystery in the places he depicts :the train ,the "cliff" ,the old mansion,the cemetery

The hero coming to the village of Tournepique has a deja vu sensation.It seems to him he was here in ancient times ,he feels something threatening over him.He meets a schoolteacher (Jany Holt)who, in the village, has a bad reputation cause she used to play around with the first to come .She hates her mother (the always reliable Madame Sylvie)and her mother treats her like dirt.Simon falls in love with her and discovers there's something strange about her too:doesn't she resemble the woman of a painting of the last century? Up comes Simon's brother (Pierre Brasseur,at his most cynical).

This woman of long ago used to write a diary :Aurelia was some kind of Cinderella ,divested of her inheritance by her wicked uncle and her vicious cousin.

The two stories are told in parallel and finally becomes one in the last scenes.It's difficult to summarize such a movie ,but just one word:if you are interested in the French cinema ,you should watch this.

Like this?try these......

"Portrait of Jennie" (Dieterle,1949)

"The French lieutenant's woman" (Reisz,1981)

"Dead Again " (Branagh,1991)