Act of Love (1953)
"Un acte d'amour" (original title)

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Alfred Hayes (novel), Joseph Kessel (French dialogue),

Stars:

Kirk Douglas, Dany Robin, Gabrielle Dorziat

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Kirk Douglas	...	Robert Teller
Dany Robin	...	Lise Gudayec / Madame Teller
Gabrielle Dorziat	...	Adèle Lacaud
Barbara Laage	...	Nina
Fernand Ledoux	...	Fernand Lacaud
Robert Strauss	...	Sgt. Johnny Blackwood
Marthe Mercadier	...	La fille de la terrasse
George Mathews	...	Henderson
Richard Benedict	...	Pete
Leslie Dwyer	...	Le sergent anglais
Sydney Chaplin	...	Un soldat
Brigitte Bardot	...	Mimi
Nedd Willard
Serge Reggiani	...	Claude Lacaud

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

suicide | melodrama | prostitution | refugee | based on novel

---

Taglines:

WANTED for desertion! WANTED for questioning!...WANTING only each other!

---

Genres:

Drama | War | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

17 December 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Act of Love

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Benagoss Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min 106 min (TCM Print)

Sound Mix:

Magnaphone Western Electric

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kirk Douglas met his German wife-to-be, Anne Douglas, when she applied for a job as his assistant on the French location shoot for this film.

---

Quotes

Robert Teller: The River Seine. All my life I wanted to see it. Finally I saw it, with a gun in my hand. Travel, twentieth-century style.

---

Connections

Featured in Welcome to Veraz (1991)

User Reviews

A real find

More than any other movie I've seen, this one draws a dark picture of what the statistical enormity and bureaucratic obscenity of WWII did to individuals during (and after) the Second World War. This is a love story set against the new way of dealing with the logistics of millions of people on the move in wartime Europe -- on either side. The big point is that it's difficult to draw a line between the sides in the brutal impersonality of the events that crush people like the characters in this story.

Kirk Douglas is great, of course, and the direction in the film is always intersting. Hard to believe this was made as late as 53.

See this if you can -- I saw it on TCM recently in a Kirk Douglas festival. For that matter, watch all the Kirk Douglas flicks you can -- the guy had either great taste or great luck.