La cage aux rossignols (1945)
Director:
Jean DrévilleWriters:
Georges Chaperot (story), Noël-Noël (adaptation)Stars:
Noël-Noël, Micheline Francey, Georges BiscotOriginally La Cage aux Rossignois could just as well have been titled "The Noel-Noel Show," inasmuch as the famed French actor is both star and co-screenwriter. Having completed a book about his experiences as a reform-school teacher, Clement Mathieu (Noel-Noel) is unable to interest a publisher in the project. To make ends meet, he takes a promotional job with toy-airplane manufacturer Raymond (Georges Biscot), who as a gesture of friendship serializes Mathieu's memoirs in the Paris Telegram. Astonished by the story, Mathieu's girlfriend Martine (Michel Francey) wants to know more -- whereupon Mathieu recalls how he was able to organize a group of the most incorrigible reform-school inmates into an angelic-voiced boys' choir (hence the film's title). His tale told, Mathieu is himself astonished to discover that Martine is the cousin of one of his former pupils! An overly melodramatic finale mars this otherwise sensitive comedy-drama.
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Grails
When you locate something you've been hunting for a long time, whether keys or a lost pet or an out of print book, there's a warm feeling of satisfaction separate from the object itself. An Oscar completest, I've been hunting for this 1947 writing nominee for almost a half century. Twice got ahold of unsubtitled versions which almost made me brush up on my high school French. Now Zeus has rendered that unnecessary. I like the movie, but I love that I own it, know what I mean? Many thanks.
