It may be hard to believe today but Le
Voile bleu was a phenomenal box office hit when it was first
released in France during the Nazi occupation. Audiences were
enraptured by this creaking, overly sentimental melodrama which offered
Gaby Morlay the greatest film role of her career. A shameless
tear jerker, this is the French equivalent of the schmaltzy women's
pictures that stars such as Bette Davis had been churning out on the
other side of the Atlantic, presumably to keep the manufacturers of
pocket handkerchiefs in business. It is a sign of how much
audiences have changed over the past half a century that this kind of
film now fails to have any real emotional impact and feels false and
excruciatingly contrived.
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Film Synopsis
France, 1914. Not long after her husband is killed in the war,
Louise Jarraud gives birth, but her newborn baby lives only a few
hours. The experience has a profound effect on Louise and, her
maternal instinct aroused, she decides to dedicate the rest of her life
to caring for children. She finds a position as a nurse with a
solitary widower, Emile Perrette, but when he offers to marry her she
leaves and works for another household. Louise knows that
she can never marry again, that she lives only for the infants who are
placed in her trust...
Cast:Gaby Morlay (Louise Jarraud),
Elvire Popesco (Mona Lorenza),
André Alerme (Ernest Volnar-Bussel),
Fernand Charpin (Émile Perrette),
Aimé Clariond (Le juge d'instruction),
Pierre Larquey (Antoine Lancelot),
Marcelle Géniat (Madame Breuilly),
Georges Grey (Gérard Volnar-Bussel),
Jeanne Fusier-Gir (Mademoiselle Eugénie),
Renée Devillers (Madame Forneret),
Denise Grey (Madame Volnar-Bussel),
Francine Bessy (La jeune danseuse),
Jean Clarieux (Henri Forneret),
Pierre Jourdan (Dominique),
Camille Bert (Le médecin),
Noël Roquevert (L'inspecteur Duval),
Marcel Vallée (L'impressario de Mona Lorenza),
Jean Bobillot (Julien),
Mona Dol (L'infirmière-chef),
Camille Guérini (d'Aubigny)
Country: France
Language: French
Support: Black and White
Runtime: 105 min
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