La marseillaise (1938)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Jean Renoir (screenplay)
Carl Koch (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 April 1938 (Finland)

Genre:

History

Plot:

A news-reel like movie about early part of the Frensh Revolution, shown from the eyes of individual people...

Plot Keywords:

La Marseillaise | French Revolution | France

Cast

Pierre Renoir	...	Le Roi de France Louis XVI
Lise Delamare	...	La Reine Marie-Antoinette (as Lise Delamare de la Comédie Française)
Léon Larive	...	Picard, le valet du roi
William Aguet	...	La Rochefoucauld
Elisa Ruis	...	La princesse de Lamballe
Germaine Lefébure	...	Madame Élisabeth, soeur du roi (as G. Lefebure)
Louis Jouvet	...	Roederer
Georges Spanelly	...	La Chesnaye (as Spanelly)
Jaque Catelain	...	Le capitaine Langlade
Pierre Nay	...	Dubouchage
Edmond Castel	...	Leroux (as Castel)
Aimé Clariond	...	Monsieur de Saint Laurent (as Aimé Clariond de la Comédie Française)
André Zibral	...	Monsieur de Saint Merri (as Zibral)
Jean Aymé	...	Monsieur de Fauguerolles (as Jean Ayme)
Irène Joachim	...	Madame de Saint Laurent

Also Known As:

La Marseillaise (USA)
La marseillaise - Chronique de quelques faits ayant contribué à la chute de la monarchie (France) (long title)
The Marseillaise (UK)

Runtime:

135 min | USA:130 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Alsace, France

Company:

Société d'Exploitation et de Productions Cinématographiques "La Marseillaise"

Trivia:

Filmed in the fall of 1937.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Musique ancienne

Aristocrats aren't the only ones with stories to tell!

Aside from being a brilliant film, at different times humorous and moving, LA MARSEILLAISE is hands down the most accurate film out there when it comes to the French Revolution.

Some have noted it's "one-sided" aspect, but allow me to make an observation: when royalists want to make a one-sided film on the French Revolution, they... make stuff up! Usually utter bilge, such as THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL or A TALE OF TWO CITIES, films (and original books) whose only basis in historical fact can be summed up as, yes, there was a revolution in France in 1789, and yes indeed, Britain and France are on opposite sides of the Channel. Those who support the republic, on the other hand, have typically had the scruples to actually *do their research* before setting out to mold the public's impressions of so momentous an historical event. Such is the case with LA MARSEILLAISE, where a large percentage of the dialog is taken from historical records. (In fact, the only real complaint one could have as far as historical accuracy goes is costuming, but I've yet to see any film from that era--1938, in this case--that had accurate costumes.)

All this is not to suggest that LA MARSEILLAISE is dull. Far from it! As mentioned before, LA MARSEILLAISE is witty and often poignant. In showing the Revolution from the point of view of ordinary citizens instead of aristocrats or well-known revolutionary leaders, the film shows to what point common citizens were dedicated to the ideals of the Revolution, as well as showing a human side to the "mob" so frequently portrayed.