''L'Arbre de Noël'' (internationally released as ''The Christmas Tree'') is a 1969 French
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
Terence Young. It was defined as "the most tearful film of sixties".
[Laura, Luisa and ]Morando Morandini
Morando Morandini (21 July 1924 – 17 October 2015) was an Italian film critic, author, journalist and occasional actor.
Born in Milan, Morandini began working as a film critic in 1952 for the ''La Notte'' newspaper. Between 1965 and 1998 he wa ...
. ''Il Morandini: dizionario dei film 2001''. Zanichelli, Bologna, 2000. p. 34. . The film was co-produced by Italy where it was released as ''L'albero di Natale''.
Plot
The story follows a Frenchman named Laurent and his son Pascal, who live somewhere in France. Along the way, the widower Laurent meets and falls for the beautiful Catherine, but also learns that his son is dying after witnessing the explosion of a plane with a nuclear device inside. Finding this out, Laurent and Pascal have a string of adventures with Catherine along.
Cast
*
William Holden
William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...
as Laurent Ségur
*
Virna Lisi Verna or Virna may refer to:
People
* Verna Aardema (1911–2000), American author of children's books
* Verna Bloom (1939–2019), American actress
* Virna De Angeli (born 1976), Italian former sprinter
* Virna Dias (born 1971), Brazilian reti ...
as Catherine Graziani
*
Bourvil
André Robert Raimbourg (; 27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil (), and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis ...
as Verdun
*
Brook Fuller as Pascal Ségur
*
Mario Feliciani
Mario Feliciani (12 March 1918 – 11 August 2008) was an Italian actor and voice actor.
Life and career
Born in Milan, after completing his classical education Feliciani attended the Accademia dei filodrammatici obtaining the diploma. He ...
as Paris doctor
*
Madeleine Damien as Marinette
*
Friedrich von Ledebur
Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln ( – ) was an Austrian actor who was known for ''Moby Dick'' (1956), ''Alexander the Great'' (1955) and ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' (1972).
Early life
Ledebur was born in Nisko, ...
as Vernet
*
Georges Douking
Georges Douking (born Georges Ladoubée; 6 August 1902 – 20 October 1987) was a French stage, film, and television actor. He also directed stage plays such as the premier presentation of Jean Giraudoux's ''Sodom and Gomorrah'' at the Thé ...
as Pet owner
*
Jean-Pierre Castaldi
Jean-Pierre Castaldi (born 1 October 1944) is a French actor. He is the father of French TV presenter
A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television program ...
as The motorcycle policeman
*
Yves Barsacq
Yves Barsacq (17 June 1931 – 4 October 2015) was a French film actor, who appeared in more than 150 films. He is the son of the French-Russian production designer Léon Barsacq and the nephew of the French theatre director André Barsacq. ...
as Charlie Lebreto
See also
*
List of Christmas films
References
External links
*
1969 films
1960s Christmas drama films
1960s Christmas films
English-language French films
English-language Italian films
Films shot in Corsica
Films set in Corsica
Films directed by Terence Young
Films scored by Georges Auric
Films produced by Robert Dorfmann
Films about death
Films about aviation accidents or incidents
Films set in France
French Christmas drama films
1960s French-language films
1960s French films
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