Raymond Bernard 's final thirties effort ,released just before WW2,and anticipating on the future escapist film,one of the recurrent features of the Occupation days.This is a movie made up of sketches as well as a costume drama ,as was "Le miracle Des Loups" ,his silent swashbuckler of the twenties and as would be his overlooked "Le Jugement De Dieu"(1949).Michel Simon is featured in the three parts.
SEGMENT ONE:"I 'm going to be a comedian from today onwards"
in the Middle Ages....
A drama company arrives in a castle where the lord's daughter is to marry a man she has never met:as was often the case at the time,she only saw her fiancé's "picture"-"Les Visiteurs Du Soir"(1942) has a similar beginning-.The soon-to-be-husband can strike horror into the girl's heart:a half-wit who stammers and limps;Bernard was probably inspired by Von Sternberg's "Red Empress" (1934) for the ceremony of the wedding.The bride falls for one of the thespians and tries to escape from a doomed fate ...but in the castle they blow the Mort...
SEGMENT TWO:"I wish I could be the bride"
in the 19th century....
They say there's a curse on the marriages since the tragedy told in part one. Then again ,the lord of the manor's daughter is to marry a(handsome,this time)man;a little dressmaker's apprentice,Juliette (sic) is also in love with the fiancé:one night she puts on the wedding gown and the Young man catches her when she is wearing the white garment;the curse strikes.Later screenwriter Jean Anouilh would show a girl,not blessed by nature,dancing in a ball-gown,in "Pattes Blanches" (Grémillon,1948):as though,by wearing another person's clothes ,you would become her ,an obvious female fetishism.Simone Simon ("La Bête Humaine" "cat people" ) is touching.
SEGMENT THREE :"53 bedrooms in my new home"
in the present time (1939 ,that is).....
The subject is common in the French cinema: the bourgeoisie,the Nouveaux Riches ,buy the properties of the nobles who are broke :see "Le Bal" (Thiele,1931) "Le Roi " (Colombier,1936) "Les Nouveaux Riches "(Berthomieu,1938) and the best effort of the genre "Les Affaires Sont Les Affaires "(Dréville,1942).Not only the lord short of the readies wants his son to marry a rich heiress,but he also "hires" a noble dowager as a go-between.Although immoral to a fault,several reversals of situation lead to true love ..and perhaps the end of the curse.
In 1939 ,a year when the French masterpieces abounded,"Cavalcade D'Amour " is too overlooked ;"C'est La Vie Parisienne" (Rode ,1954) is a pleasant imitation of Bernard's 1939 lovely film.
SEGMENT ONE:"I 'm going to be a comedian from today onwards"
in the Middle Ages....
A drama company arrives in a castle where the lord's daughter is to marry a man she has never met:as was often the case at the time,she only saw her fiancé's "picture"-"Les Visiteurs Du Soir"(1942) has a similar beginning-.The soon-to-be-husband can strike horror into the girl's heart:a half-wit who stammers and limps;Bernard was probably inspired by Von Sternberg's "Red Empress" (1934) for the ceremony of the wedding.The bride falls for one of the thespians and tries to escape from a doomed fate ...but in the castle they blow the Mort...
SEGMENT TWO:"I wish I could be the bride"
in the 19th century....
They say there's a curse on the marriages since the tragedy told in part one. Then again ,the lord of the manor's daughter is to marry a(handsome,this time)man;a little dressmaker's apprentice,Juliette (sic) is also in love with the fiancé:one night she puts on the wedding gown and the Young man catches her when she is wearing the white garment;the curse strikes.Later screenwriter Jean Anouilh would show a girl,not blessed by nature,dancing in a ball-gown,in "Pattes Blanches" (Grémillon,1948):as though,by wearing another person's clothes ,you would become her ,an obvious female fetishism.Simone Simon ("La Bête Humaine" "cat people" ) is touching.
SEGMENT THREE :"53 bedrooms in my new home"
in the present time (1939 ,that is).....
The subject is common in the French cinema: the bourgeoisie,the Nouveaux Riches ,buy the properties of the nobles who are broke :see "Le Bal" (Thiele,1931) "Le Roi " (Colombier,1936) "Les Nouveaux Riches "(Berthomieu,1938) and the best effort of the genre "Les Affaires Sont Les Affaires "(Dréville,1942).Not only the lord short of the readies wants his son to marry a rich heiress,but he also "hires" a noble dowager as a go-between.Although immoral to a fault,several reversals of situation lead to true love ..and perhaps the end of the curse.
In 1939 ,a year when the French masterpieces abounded,"Cavalcade D'Amour " is too overlooked ;"C'est La Vie Parisienne" (Rode ,1954) is a pleasant imitation of Bernard's 1939 lovely film.