''Heroes of the Marne'' (French: ''Le héros de la Marne'') is a 1938 French

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular 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 ...

directed by

André Hugon André Hugon (17 December 1886 – 22 August 1960) was a French film director, screenwriter and film producer best known for his silent films from 1913 onwards, particularly of the 1920s and into sound. Hugon was born in Algiers in 1886 w ...

and starring

Raimu Jules Auguste Muraire (18 December 1883 – 20 September 1946), whose stage name was Raimu, was a French actor. He is most famous for playing César in the 'Marseilles trilogy' ('' Marius'', '' Fanny'' and '' César''). Life and career Born in T ...

Albert Bassermann Albert Bassermann (7 September 1867 – 15 May 1952) was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous Iffland-Ring. He was married to Elsa Sch ...

and

Germaine Dermoz Germaine Dermoz (born Germaine Deluermoz, 30 July 1888 – 6 November 1966) was a French film and theatre actress of the early-to-mid twentieth century. She performed in over twenty theatre productions, frequently in the Théâtre Réjane. H ...

. Goble p.233 The film's sets were designed by the art director Émile Duquesne.

Synopsis

Bernard Lefrançois is a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

whose land is close to the

River Marne The Marne () is a river in France, an eastern tributary of the Seine in the area east and southeast of Paris. It is long. The river gave its name to the departments of Haute-Marne, Marne, Seine-et-Marne, and Val-de-Marne. The Marne starts in ...

. His son Jean enlists as an aviator with the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

. On leave he meets up with Hélène, a daughter of another local farmer, but Bernard refuses to let them marry even when Hélène becomes pregnant. She goes to

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

to have her baby, but when

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

breaks out the city is occupied by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

. She courageously works undercover as a

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

for the Allies while Jean becomes a fighter ace in the skies above. Bernard himself voluntarily enlists to drive out the invaders.

Cast

as Bernard Lefrançois *

as Col. von Gelow *

as Suzanne Lefrançois * Jacqueline Porel as Hélène Bardin * Bernard Lancret as Jean Lefrançois * Paul Cambo as Pierre Lefrançois *

Denis d'Inès Denis d'Inès, real name Joseph-Victor-Octave Denis, (1 September 1885 - 25 October 1968) was a French actor and theatre director for some plays. He entered the Comédie-Française in 1914, was a sociétaire from 1920 to 1953, and General admin ...

as L'abbé Ribon * Georges Péclet as Jules Védrines *

Fernand Fabre Fernand Fabre (1899–1987) was a French stage, television and film actor.Goble p.49 Selected filmography * ''The Queen's Necklace'' (1929) * '' The Indictment'' (1931) * ''Luck'' (1931) * ''The Weaker Sex'' (1933) * ''Madame Bovary'' (1934) * '' ...

as L'officier prisonnier *

Jean Toulout Jean Toulout (28 September 1887 – 23 October 1962) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1911 and 1959. Selected filmography * ''La Digue'' (1911) * '' The Mask of Horror'' (1912) * '' The Tenth Symphony'' ( ...

as L'officier allemand *

Georges Paulais Georges Paulais (16 September 1884 – 12 December 1967) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born in Guimps, Charente, France and died in Chabanais, Charente, France. Selected filmograp ...

as Gallieni *

Camille Bert Camille Bert (1880–1970) was a French actor. Born Camille Léon Louis Bertrand in Orléans, he died in Paris in 1970. Selected filmography * ''Le secret de Rosette Lambert'' (1920) * ''The Thruster'' (1924) * '' The Lady of Lebanon'' (1926) * ' ...

as Hans * Fransined as Le Marseillais *

Catherine Fonteney Catherine Fonteney (23 June 1879– 29 April 1966) was a French film actress.Goble p.386 Catherine Fonteney was born Marie Alexandrine Catherine Fontaine in Paris and died in Dijon. Selected filmography * '' Romain Kalbris'' (1923) * '' The Sec ...

as L'infirmière *

Édouard Delmont Édouard Delmont (5 December 1883 – 22 November 1955) was a French actor born Édouard Marius Autran in Marseille. He died in Cannes at age 72. Filmography *1930 : '' L'Arlésienne'' de Jacques de Baroncelli *1930 : ''Maison de danses'' de ...

as Le père Bardin

References

Bibliography

* Bessy, Maurice & Chirat, Raymond. ''Histoire du cinéma français: 1935-1939''. Pygmalion, 1986. * Crisp, Colin. ''Genre, Myth and Convention in the French Cinema, 1929-1939''. Indiana University Press, 2002. * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Rège, Philippe. ''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Volume 1''. Scarecrow Press, 2009.

External links

* 1938 films French war drama films 1938 war films 1930s French-language films Films directed by André Hugon French black-and-white films 1930s French films French World War I films {{1930s-France-film-stub