Le blé en herbe (1954)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Claude Autant-Lara

Writers:

Jean Aurenche (adaptation)
Jean Aurenche (dialogue)

Release Date:

14 December 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Love | Brittany | Summer Vacation | Beach | Coming Of Age

Cast

Edwige Feuillère	...	La dame en blanc
Nicole Berger	...	Vinca Ferret
Pierre-Michel Beck	...	Phil
Robert Berri	...	Le brigadier
Simone Duhart	...	La femme du forain
Hélène Tossy	...	La mère de Vinca
Charles Dechamps	...	L'oncle
Louis de Funès	...	Le forain
Renée Devillers	...	La mère de Phil

Also Known As:

The Game of Love (USA)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Magnétique)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Franco London Films

Movie Connections:

Featured in Louis de Funès ou Le pouvoir de faire rire (2003) (TV)

Why has this film been disappeared?

I saw this film in early 1955 at the Golden Bough Theater in Carmel CA. I was a GI stationed in Monterey, studying Russian in the Army Language School. The film simply poleaxed me. It offered Edwige as the ultimate "older Continental Woman" and a deliriously gorgeous young woman in competition over a young French nerd even less knowing and commanding as anyone in my cohort. Later, in European Military Intelligence, I met a few kindred who had seen La Ble en Herbe. Their reaction was identical to mine. Yet it is impossible to see it today. Why? I hear that Autant-Lara and his star were considered politically embarrassing. And that it was not in the aesthetic line of Godard and Truffaut. Now really: who cares? When you see the garbage that is now given superb DVD immortality -- how can this film be denied even VHS recognition of its existence? I remain furious over the disappearance of this film.