Film Review
Early in his filmmaking career Marc Allégret distinguished
himself with a series of literary adaptations that are now considered
his best work. Allégret's
Lac
aux dames (1934) and
Sous les yeux d'occident (1936)
are among the most inspired screen interpretations of novels by Vicki
Baum and Joseph Conrad respectively and almost as much praise is owed
to his adaptation of Hector Malot's epic 19th century novel
Sans famille. This popular
work of French literature had previously been adapted by Georges Monca
in 1913 and later by André Michel in 1958, but Allégret's
version is by far the one that is most faithful to Malot's original
work, not just in its rambling and implausible plot but also in its
unflinchingly child's eye view of the world's injustices. Those
not familiar with Malot's novel could easily mistake this for a casual
rip-off of Charles Dickens'
Oliver
Twist, complete with a decidely dodgy leader of a gang of child
pickpockets who can't make up his mind if he is Fagin or Bill Sikes.
The unenviable job of compressing Halot's monumental tome into a taut
ninety minute film went to André Mouézy-Éon, a
well-known author of operettas and stage comedy musicals who had
previously scripted Allégret's first comedy,
La Meilleure Bobonne (1930).
Although much of the original story is truncated or dispensed with
altogether, Mouézy-Éon constructs a beautifully coherent
narrative which provided ample scope for location filming, thereby
allowing Allégret to return to the naturalistic style of his
earlier Pagnol adaptation,
Fanny (1932). The
sequences set in sunny Provence in the first half of the film have a
familiar Pagnol-esque feel to them and when the action moves to the
slum districts of London there is then a noticeable shift towards
neo-realism. Perhaps because so much of it was filmed on
location,
Sans famille has a
modernity and raw immediacy that sets it apart from most other French
films of this period, and there is certainly no other film like it in
Allégret's oeuvre.
Sans famille is, unusually for
a 1930s French film, a melodrama that appeals equally to children and
adults, in a similar vein to the umpteen different screen adaptations
of Dickens'
Oliver Twist.
(Curiously, Allégret's film seems to go out of its way to
emphasise the similarities between the two novels, to the extent that
David Lean's
Oliver Twist feels almost like
a remake.) Even though the cast is awash with characterful
character actors (Dorville and Madeleine Guitty form a grotesque couple
who make the Thénardiers look like a pair of Good Samaritans),
most of the focus ends up being stolen by one cute little monkey (whose
demise will you have you in tears for days afterwards) and an even
cuter ensemble of child actors.
The star of the film is thirteen-year-old Robert Lynen, the most famous
child actor working in France at the time (and it is not hard to see
why he was so popular with both directors and audiences). Lynen
had his first break when Julien Duvivier gave him the title role in
Poil
de carotte (1932), the film him that made him an overnight
star. Lynen appeared in thirteen films but his career was
tragically cut short at the age of 23 when he was executed by the Nazis
for his Resistance activities during WWII. Watching him in
Sans famille brings home what an
incredible loss to French cinema his premature death was. He is
simply captivating.
The most distinguished member of the cast is Vanni Marcoux, an Italian
opera singer who had been a great star at the Opéra-Comique in
Paris. This was the last of his four film appearances and (as the
other three had been silent films) the only one to make use of his
formidable vocal talents. The most sublime element of
Sans famille is the extraordinary
on-screen rapport between Marcoux and Lynen There is a genuine
warmth and tenderness to their characters' friendship which exquisitely
counterpoints the abuse and brutality that little Rémi would
subsequently encounter when his guardian angel is taken from him.
So many of Marc Allégret's films take a bleak and cynical view
of human relationships (admittedly, not quite so bleak and cynical as
in his brother Yves' films). Here is one that reminds us that
there is good in the world as well as bad, but before Allégret
serves up the obligatory happy ending he has a few very nasty shocks in
store for us...
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Marc Allégret film:
Zouzou (1934)
Film Synopsis
London. After the funeral of Lord Mulligan, his brother James
intends that he will inherit his fortune. To do so, he hires a crook
named Driscoll to abduct and kill Mulligan's rightful heir,
three-year-old Robert. The kidnapper hasn't the heart to murder
the child in cold blood and instead he leaves him at the entrance of a
church in France. The abandoned boy is found by a passer-by and
ten years later he is living in a village in the south of France, under
the name Rémi. Unable to keep the child any longer,
Rémi's adopted father sells him on to a travelling performer
Vitalis, who welcomes the boy into his troupe. Over the ensuing
months, Rémi and Vitalis become inseparable and when Fate offers
the boy a chance to be adopted by Lady Mulligan he opts to stay with
his friend who, unbeknown to him, was once a great opera singer.
When winter comes, Vitalis dies suddenly. To avoid falling into
the hands of a cruel bar owner, Rémi flees with another boy and
is soon on his way back to England, believing that Driscoll is his real
father...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.