Casque d'Or (1952)

Three gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful, golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.

Director:

Jacques Becker

Writers:

Jacques Becker (scenario), Jacques Companéez (scenario)

Stars:

Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Simone Signoret	...	Marie 'Casque d'Or'
Serge Reggiani	...	Georges Manda
Claude Dauphin	...	Félix Leca
Raymond Bussières	...	Raymond
Odette Barencey	...	La mère d'Eugène
Loleh Bellon	...	Léonie Danard
Solange Certin
Daniel Mendaille	...	Le patron de la guinguette / Guinguette
Dominique Davray	...	Julie
Jacqueline Dane
Paul Barge	...	L'inspecteur Juliani / Police Insp. Giuliani
Paul Azaïs	...	Ponsard
Jean Clarieux	...	Paul
Tony Corteggiani	...	Le commissaire / Superintendent
Émile Genevois	...	Billy (as Emile Genevois)

Storyline

In an open-air dance hall, the members of Leca's gang are relaxing with their ladies. One of them, Marie, aka "Casque d'Or" (Golden Helmet) meets Manda, a carpenter. Her man Roland belongs to the jealous kind, and Leca himself has his eye on her. A story of love, death, friendship and jealousy during the Belle Epoque.

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Plot Keywords:

ex convict | black and white | black and white film | underworld | paris underworld | 

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Taglines:

The Story of a Blonde

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 August 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Casque d'Or

Filming Locations:

Quartier de la Goutte d'Or, Paris 18, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Robert et Raymond Hakim, Spéva Films, Paris Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Optiphone)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on a real Paris underworld incident that took place in 1898.

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Quotes

Félix Leca: So? What do we tell Roland?
Marie 'Casque d'Or': Tell him to drop dead.
Roland Dupuis: [enters from other room] Say that again? Well, say it again.
Félix Leca: Will you leave us alone?
Roland Dupuis: I heard the bitch!

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Connections

Referenced in Národ sobe aneb Ceské more v osmnácti prílivech (2003)

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Soundtracks

Sobre Las Olas
(uncredited)
Written by Juventino Rosas
[This waltz plays in the scene where Georges Manda and Marie first meet]

User Reviews

A hymn to voluptuous, mature beauty

Despite the corsets and petticoats and horse-drawn cabs, this lush, richly textured film has more in common with the bleak, fatalistic modern-dress films of the period than with conventional historical romance. The action takes place over the course of only a few days, but in France that's long enough for a passion strong enough to change a life, or end it--more than one man dies because of the bewitching Marie and her golden hair that shines like the sun. The intensity of the characters' emotions and the suddenness of their violence is powerfully countered by the reserve of the playing--of the solemn, laconic toughs and of Simone Signoret as Marie. In moments of great emotion, her slight smile changes to a broad one, but with her lips still closed. There's none of the giggling and wriggling that marked the other blonde Fifties sex symbols, Bardot and Monroe, and countless others since, and obviously no nudity, total or partial, but in her morning-after scene with Serge Reggiani, you can practically smell smoke.

Like Zola's Nana, Marie is neither a villain nor a victim, simply an elemental force of nature. This elemental-woman business can, in French and non-French movies, be pretentious and unwittingly comic, but there's none of that here, because neither Signoret nor the director indulge in any fancy dialogue or vocal tricks to play up how alluring she is--they don't have to. We are always aware of Marie as a figure of enormous strength, with a broad, strong back, round shoulders spilling out of her blouse, and a mouth too wide for coyness.

In an otherwise favourable review, Pauline Kael said that the film's tone was slightly trashy, as if it were saying, of the low-life characters, "Look, they have feelings too." I disagree--the scene of the wealthy, slumming group in evening dress who find the characters "marvelously amusing" show us what Becker thinks of that viewpoint and implicitly reproaches anyone who shares it.