Le Chemin de l'honneur (1939)
Directed by Jean-Paul Paulin

Film Review

Le Chemin de l'honneur exemplifies the legionnaire melodrama that was highly popular in France throughout the 1930s but now looks like a painful relic of the colonialist age.  Although it is hardly the best example of its genre - Jacques Feyder's Le Grand jeu (1934) and Julien Divivier's La Bandera (1935) are far superior - it is a slick production which benefits from a strong cast and some impressive location photography in North Africa, both of which add to the film's verisimilitude and prevent it from looking too much like a bag of well-worn clichés.  The previous year, its director - Jean-Paul Paulin - had made another solid legionnaire film - Trois de Saint-Cyr - a more realistic offering that is nearer to a full-on propaganda film than a melodrama.  Despite the fact that both of these films went down well with the cinema-going public, Paulin has since fallen into obscurity (along with just about every film he made) - obscurity that he patently does not merit given the quality and consistency of his work.

Le Chemin de l'honneur was the only film that was made by Les Productions Henri Garat, a production company set up by Henri Garat, one of the biggest French stars of the 1930s.  Garat naturally cast himself in the film's dual role, but in doing so encumbered himself with a challenging part that cruelly revealed the limitations of his acting ability.  In his musical comedies - such as Louis Mercanton's Il est charmant (1931) - Garat gets by with his likeable cheery persona.  As a serious dramatic actor he struggled, and his lack of range is all too apparent in Paulin's film, in which he is eclipsed in just about every scene by the more capable supporting artistes - Roland Toutain, André Lefaur, Pierre Brasseur and, especially, an excellent Renée Saint-Cyr.  After making allowance for Garat's unimpressive lead performance and the somewhat far-fetched story, Le Chemin de l'honneur is an entertaining piece that, to its credit, doesn't make the mistake of dwelling on its all too predictable ending.  Instead, it wraps things up with a neat little coda depicting a military funeral that provides a suitably respectful tribute to the Légion Etrangère.

Film Synopsis

Georges Imbert is a sergeant in the French Foreign Legion who has served with distinction for five years.  Now, to his surprise, he finds his services are no longer required.  It seems that he must now leave the Legion after a former criminal allegation has come to light.  Meanwhile, Georges's twin brother Paul has sustained a near-fatal injury in fierce fighting in the desert.  Pursued by the police, Georges goes on the run and turns to his convalescing brother for help.  To allow his brother to evade capture, Paul lends him his uniform and identification papers, but dies not long afterwards.  Georges returns to his home in France and convinces both his mother and Paul's fiancée Renée that he is in fact his twin brother.  It isn't long before Renée realises something is amiss and Georges feels he must reveal to her his true identity.  Knowing that it is only a matter of time before the police catch up with him, Georges returns to the Legion in Morocco and requests a posting from which he is unlikely ever to return...