Les grandes manoeuvres (1955)

Note Générale:

6,8/10   

Réalisateur:

René Clair

Scénaristes:

René Clair (screenplay) &
Jérôme Géronimi (adaptation) ...

Date de sortie:

25 octobre 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Comedie | Drame | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Milliner | Wager | Seduction | Truth | Courtship

Récompenses:

3 wins

Avis des utilisateurs:

TRAGEDY FROM THE HEART OF COMEDY

Ensemble

Michèle Morgan	...	Marie-Louise Rivière
Gérard Philipe	...	Le lieutenant Armand de la Verne
Jean Desailly	...	Victor Duverger
Pierre Dux	...	Le colonel
Jacques Fabbri	...	L'ordonnance d'Armand
Jacques François	...	Rodolphe
Yves Robert	...	Le lieutenant Félix Leroy
Brigitte Bardot	...	Lucie
Lise Delamare	...	Juliette Duverger
Jacqueline Maillan	...	Jeanne Duverger, une soeur de Victor
Magali Noël	...	Thérèse, la chanteuse (as Magali Noel)
Simone Valère	...	Gisèle Monnet (as Simone Valere)
Catherine Anouilh	...	Alice, la fille du préfet
Madeleine Barbulée	...	La dame au chapeau jaune
Dany Carrel	...	Rose-Mousse

Autre(s) titre(s):

Grandi manovre (Italy)
Summer Manoeuvres (UK)
The Grand Maneuver (USA)

Durée:

106 min

Pays:

France | Italy

Langue:

Français

Couleur:

Couleur (Eastmancolor)

Rapport de forme:

1,37 : 1

Son:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Classification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Lieux de tournage:

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

Société:

Filmsonor

Anecdotes:

Italian censorship visa #20434 delivered on 22 December 1955.

TRAGEDY FROM THE HEART OF COMEDY

This is one of the most finely crafted films of cinema's short history. Period atmosphere, costumes, sets, indoor and outdoor photography, pacing and editing are all superb. The music by Georges Van Parys is poignantly nostalgic and at the same time entertaining and light. The biggest attraction of this film, though, is the wit of its script, which could rival any comedy of Shaw or Wilde or Colette, and top them all for sheer virtuosity in the art of depicting the many faces of love, and its delivery by one of film history's most finely cast troupe of comedians. `Les Grandes Manoeuvres' is ostensibly a Gérard Philipe vehicle, full of his inimitable monologues, which lets Michèle Morgan do what she does best: suffer coldly, remotely, nobly, silently and elegantly. It is peopled by actors the likes of which this planet has rarely seen brought together, namely Jacqueline Maillan and Lise Delamare as Jean Desailly's wicked, two-faced, possessive sisters who marry the feline elegance of beasts of prey with the evil but colourful personality of Walt Disney's Cinderella's wicked stepmother. It features some of the most beautiful women of the planet: Morgan, Bardot, Dany Carrel, Magali Noël. The men are also physically and mentally highly idealized. This film is rarely shown and therefore largely unappreciated. It is only available on DVD in a pristine transfer in French only on a Brigitte Bardot boxset from Quebec (imavision.com) comprising seven films of various worth ranging from this unqualified masterpiece to more lowly efforts to Fellini-Malle-Vadim's `Histoires extraordinaires'. This film is so good it is probably worth learning French to understand all its subtleties and absorb its unique charm. It makes all of René Clair's preceding efforts, even the most poetically imaginative like `Beauties of the Night', look like immature doodles or preliminary sketches.