''Box of Dreams'' (French: ''La boîte aux rêves'') is a 1945 French

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Yves Allégret Yves Allégret (13 October 1905 – 31 January 1987) was a French film director, often working in the film noir genre. He was born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine and died in Paris. He was an assistant to film directors such as his broth ...

and

Jean Choux Jean Choux (1887–1946) was a French/Swiss film director and producer born in Geneva. Filmography * '' La Vocation d'André Carel'' (1925) * '' La Terre qui meurt'' (1926) * '' Le Baiser qui tue'' (1927) * '' Espionnage ou la guerre sans armes'' ...

and starring

Viviane Romance Viviane Romance (born Pauline Ronacher Ortmanns; 4 July 1912 – 25 September 1991) was a French actress. Viviane Romance was born in Roubaix, France. She began her career as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and was elected Miss Paris of 193 ...

Henri Guisol Henri Guisol (12 October 1904 – 11 May 1994) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than seventy films from 1931 to 1980. He enjoyed a career in French '' who done its'' and film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily t ...

and

Frank Villard Frank Villard (24 March 1917 – 19 September 1980) was a French film actor.Goble p.121 He was born François Drouineau in Saint-Jean-d'Angély. Selected filmography * ''The Last of the Six'' (1941) - Un homme (uncredited) * ''Cartacalha, reine ...

Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a ...

had a small role in the film but would go on to marry Allégret and make several films with him which would contribute to her rise to stardom.Hayward p.7 Filming originally began in 1943 during the

Italian occupation of France Italian-occupied France (; ) was an area of south-eastern France and Monaco occupied by the Kingdom of Italy between 1940 and 1943 in parallel to the German occupation of France. The occupation had two phases, divided by Case Anton in November ...

but was not released until after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

s Auguste Capelier and

Georges Wakhévitch Georges Wakhévitch (russian: Георгий Леонидович Вахевич; Georgy Leonidovich Vakhevich; August 18, 1907 in Odessa, Russian Empire – February 11, 1984 in Paris) was a Russian-born French art director. The son of a naval ...

. It was shot at the Cimex-controlled

Saint-Laurent-du-Var Studios The Saint-Laurent-du-Var Studios were film studios located in Saint-Laurent-du-Var on the French Riviera, in the suburbs of Nice. They were one of two studios in the city along with the nearby Victorine Studio complex. Constructed in 1920 the st ...

on the outskirts of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. The film had admissions of 2,792 in France.

Cast

as Nicole Payen-Laurel *

as Pierre Forestier *

as Jean * René Lefèvre as Marc *

Pierre Palau Pierre Palau (13 August 1883 – 3 December 1966), often known simply as Palau, was a French actor. Palau was born Pierre Palau del Vitri in Paris and died at age 83 in Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine, France. Partial filmography * '' When Do You Commi ...

as Payen-Laurel *

Roland Armontel Roland Armontel (21 December 1901 – 15 March 1980) was a French actor. Born Auguste Louis Magnin in Vimoutiers, Orne, France, he died in Paris. Selected filmography * ''Fun in the Barracks'' (1932) * ''Let's Touch Wood'' (1933) * ''Les Mis ...

as Amédée *

Gisèle Alcée Gisele or Gisèle may refer to: Persons * Gisele (given name) Gisele or Gisèle is a given name. The name is from Old German gesel meaning to "pledge" and variant of Giselle, Gisela etc. Notable people with the name include: Gisele * Gisele B ...

as Gisèle - la nouvelle bonne des quatre bohèmes *

Henri Bry Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mon ...

as Pépito * Mathilde Casadesus as L'Agitée *

Léonce Corne Léonce Charles Corne (18 March 1894 – 31 December 1977) was a French film actor. He appeared in 120 films between 1931 and 1974. Selected filmography * ''The Girl and the Boy'' (1931) * ''Luck'' (1931) * ''The Premature Father'' (1933) ...

as Le parent * Pierre-Louis as Alain *

Marguerite Pierry Marguerite Pierry (26 December 1887, Paris – 20 January 1963, Paris) was a French actress. Selected filmography * ''On purge bébé'' (1931) * '' The Two Boys'' (1936) * '' The Citadel of Silence'' (1937) * '' Southern Mail'' (1937) * '' Con ...

as Tante Lucie *

Robert Pizani Robert Pizani (26 April 1896 – 17 June 1965) was a French stage and film actor whose 45-year career encompassed leading roles in numerous plays, revues and operettas as well as dozens of films. In operetta Pizani's roles in operetta and musical ...

as Oncle André * Gaston Orbal as M. Lafont *

as Une femme *

Gérard Philipe Gérard Philipe (born Gérard Albert Philip, 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. Active in both theatre and cinema, he was, until his early death, one of the main ...

as Un homme

References

Bibliography

* Hayward, Susan. ''Simone Signoret: The Star as Cultural Sign''. Continuum, 2004.

External links

''Box of Dreams''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

1945 films French comedy-drama films 1945 comedy-drama films French black-and-white films 1940s French-language films Films directed by Yves Allégret Films directed by Jean Choux 1940s French films {{1940s-France-film-stub