Directed by:
Christian-JaqueScreenplay:
Charles SpaakCinematography:
Armand ThirardCast:
Harry Baur, Renée Faure, Raymond Rouleau, Fernand Ledoux, Héléna Manson, Bernard Blier, Lucien Coëdel, Robert Le Vigan, Jean Parédès, Georges Chamarat (more)Plots(1)
This was the first film that the Nazis allowed to be made in France after the occupation and installation of the Vichy government. Many denounced its director as a collaborator because he made a film sanctioned by the Nazis. But to the discerning eye, this unusual film does anything but cooperate with the enemy. In its fairy-tale setting, the various characters appear as symbols in a constantly shifting allegory of good and evil. The literal-minded Nazi censors apparently didn't get the message, because any particular character might appear in one scene as a symbol of the collaborators, and in the next as a loyalist and supporter of resistance. Even as the symbolic alignments shifted too rapidly for the Nazis to detect them (much the way resistance fighters themselves often had to) the message of hope and patriotism and faith remained quite clear. The story concerns an old globe-maker who is mysteriously killed while going through the town portraying Pere Noel ("Father Christmas" aka Santa Claus). The unraveling of the mystery is entwined with a love story concerning an aloof nobleman who might be a scoundrel, or might be Prince Charming. But the story is little more than a pretext for the message and the pervasive sense of magic that the film weaves.; Of special note is the performance of Harry Baur, the famous Yiddish actor, as the Globemaker. His subtly Jewish Santa Claus is, in and of itself, a bold act of resistance. This was the next to last film Baur made. He was soon taken prison by the Nazis and reportedly died at the hands of the Gestapo. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Harry Baur
France
Best movies:
Les Misérables (1934) (series)
Behold the Man (1935)
The Legend of Prague (1936)
Renée Faure
France
Best movies:
The President (1961)
The Charterhouse of Parma (1948)
Angels of Sin (1943)
Raymond Rouleau
Belgium
Best movies:
The Crucible (1957)
The Scheming Women (1954)
Last Refuge (1947)
Fernand Ledoux
Belgium
Best movies:
Le Glaive et la balance (1963)
Les Misérables (1958)
To Each His Hell (1977)
Héléna Manson
Venezuela
Best movies:
Le Glaive et la balance (1963)
A Trap for Cinderella (1965)
Les Misérables (1982)
Bernard Blier
Argentina
Best movies:
Agence matrimoniale (1952)
Les Misérables (1958)
Marie-October (1959)
Lucien Coëdel
France
Best movies:
L'Idiot (1946)
The Charterhouse of Parma (1948)
Remorques (1941)
Robert Le Vigan
France
Best movies:
Behold the Man (1935)
Port of Shadows (1938)
La Bandera (1935)
Jean Parédès
France
Best movies:
Fearless Little Soldier (1952)
If Paris Were Told to Us (1956)
Violette (1978)
Georges Chamarat
France
Best movies:
The Wing and the Thigh (1976)
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Anthony Gildès
France
Best movies:
Les Misérables (1934) (series)
Marie-Hélène Dasté
Denmark
Best movies:
La Métamorphose des cloportes (1965)
Angels of Sin (1943)
Race for Life (1955)
Marcel Pérès
France
Best movies:
Le Glaive et la balance (1963)
Order of the Daisy (1967)
Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale (1963)
Marcelle Rexiane
France
Best movies:
Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)
The Devil's Hand (1943)
Jean Brochard
France
Best movies:
The Impossible Mr. Pipelet (1955)
Way of Youth (1959)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Mona Dol
France
Best movies:
A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1963)
Le Joueur (1958)
Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949)
Marcelle Monthil
Monaco
Best movies:
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)
Last Refuge (1947)
The Devil's Hand (1943)
Arthur Devère
Belgium
Best movies:
Daybreak (1939)
Le Plaisir (1952)
Sinoël
Best movies:
The Congress Dances (1931)
Remorques (1941)
Jenny Lamour (1947)