Beauties of the Night (1952)

A young composer has vivid dreams of the past that reflect, yet conflict with his waking life.

Director:

René Clair

Writers:

René Clair (scenario), René Clair (adaptation)

Stars:

Gérard Philipe, Martine Carol, Gina Lollobrigida

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gérard Philipe	...	Claude - un jeune compositeur rêveur
Martine Carol	...	Edmée 1900 / Edmée de Villebois
Gina Lollobrigida	...	La caissière du Grand Café / Leïla 1830
Magali Vendeuil	...	Suzanne - la fille du garagiste / Suzanne 1789
Marilyn Buferd	...	La postière / Madame Bonacieux (as Marylin Bufferd)
Raymond Bussières	...	Roger - le garagiste / le tambour
Raymond Cordy	...	Gaston / Le marquis
Bernard Lajarrige	...	Léon - le gendarme
Albert Michel	...	Le facteur / Un révolutionnaire
Palau	...	Le vieux monsieur qui critique toutes les époques
Jean Parédès	...	Paul - le pharmacien
Paolo Stoppa	...	Le directeur de l'Opéra
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Le Choeur Marguerite Mercier	...	Les choristes

Storyline

Young Claude, teacher by day, is a struggling composer by night. Alas, everyone around him seems to prefer noise to music. But in his dreams, he lives in other eras where he is appreciated, lionized, and the conquerer of delicious women (idealized forms of women he's seen in waking life). The dreams are suitably dreamlike, yet have a kind of reality, for he revisits them after waking. The conflict between waking and dream worlds leads to amusing, strange, even fantastic situations. Which world will prevail?

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Plot Keywords:

dream | composer | historical fiction | musician | double life | 

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Taglines:

A Bon Bon From the Master of Comedy

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French

Release Date:

April 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beauties of the Night

Filming Locations:

Studios de Boulogne-Billancourt/SFP - 2 Rue de Silly, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Franco London Films, Rizzoli Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Finnish censorship visa # 38333 delivered on 19-5-1953.

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Connections

Referenced in Chroniques de France: Chroniques de France N° 11 (1966)

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Soundtracks

Je vous reverrai chaque nuit
Written by Georges Van Parys

User Reviews

Dreams and reality struggle in this hilarious innovative comedy

This is a brilliant Frech-Italian comedy by René Clair. Extremely innovative, it divides the leading character's life in two moments: when he is awaken and while he sleeps. The former is - pardon the pun - a nightmare, as he hates to teach music in the school or in private classes. Even that is not regarded as something to be respected and his neighbors think that he should have another job, such as a car mechanic. His dream of being a successful musician and composing an acknowledged opera is far from coming true. Therefore, he wants to sleep all the time, as in his dreams his life is as interesting as he wants: not only he is a successful musician but also he has the most beautiful lovers in many different moments of History. That is the most remarkable achievement of the film: the dreams are exactly how we dream - crazy, incoherent, changing suddenly from a situation to another completely different, full of altered references of events in our daily life. Besides that, Gérard Philipe and all the actors do a great job. Gina Lollobrigida is particularly beautiful as the orientalist-style Algerian girl named Leïla. The unrealistic scenario works quite well in order to increase the environment of fantasy. Hilarious situations happen while Claude travels through French imaginary history in his dreams. This film makes me want to check out other movies made by René Clair.