La belle équipe (1936)

Director:

Julien Duvivier

Writers:

Julien Duvivier (writer)
Charles Spaak (writer)

Release Date:

31 May 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Those five are unemployed penniless workers. Together they win 100,000 Francs with the national lottery...

Plot Keywords:

Riverside | River | Friendship | Marne River | Song

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	Jean dit Jeannot
Charles Vanel	...	Charles dit Charlot
Raymond Aimos	...	Raymond dit Tintin
Viviane Romance	...	Gina
Jacques Baumer	...	Monsieur Jubette
Marcelle Géniat	...	La grand' mère
Raymond Cordy	...	L'ivrogne
Charles Granval	...	Le propriétaire
Micheline Cheirel	...	Huguette
Rafael Medina	...	Mario (as Raphaël Medina)
Charles Dorat	...	Jacques
Robert Lynen	...	René
Robert Ozanne	...	Le patron du bistrot
Robert Moor	...	Un locataire
Marcel Maupi	...	Un copain (as Maupi)

Also Known As:

Jours de Pâques (France) (working title)
They Were Five (International: English title)
Jean Pariisista (Finland) [fi]
La bella brigata (Italy) [it]
La belle équipe (Austria) [de]
O pothos tis amartias (Greece) [el]
Vier Freunde (Austria) (reissue title) [de]
Zünftige Bande (Germany) [de]

Runtime:

Germany:100 min | France:101 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA High Fidelity)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Germany:16

Company:

Ciné-Arys

Dream Team

One for nostalgia buffs. One of a handful of movies that epitomise French cinema in the thirties. Gabin, Charles Vanel and Viviane Romance proved durable, indeed, Romance was something of a French Jeanne Crain/Linda Darnell in the forties while Vanel scored heavily in La Salaire du Peur and Les Diaboliques. Gabin, of course, proved most durable and iconic; this was made around the time of Pepe Le Moko and still to come were Quai des Brumes, Le jour se leve, and then the great post-war stuff, Touchez pas au grisbi, Le Chat, La Traversee de Paris,etc. First and last this is a Depression movie, made and released in the heart of the international slump. But it's also about comaraderie, how strong it is yet how fragile. When they don't have change of a match the 5 friends ARE strong but once they hit the numbers on the National Lottery it all begins to crumble from the inside. It's a curious mixture of the lyrical - the pastoral scenes along the Marne that would be echoed in Casque d'Or, the sentimental songs, and Gabin in full throat is something to hear - and the pragmatic - money corrupts and frailty, thy name is woman - but against the odds it works. Duvivier doesn't get too much attention today yet he remains a key player in French cinema.