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

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

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 wh ...

and starring Raimu, Albert Bassermann and Germaine Dermoz. Goble p.233 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 ...

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 mig ...

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 An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

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 For ...

. 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 An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

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

Cast

* Raimu as Bernard Lefrançois * Albert Bassermann as Col. von Gelow * Germaine Dermoz as Suzanne Lefrançois *

Jacqueline Porel Jacqueline Porel (1918–2012) was a French stage and film actress.Edwards p.107 She was also a voice actor, dubbing foreign films for release in French-speaking markets. She was married to the actor Gérard Landry. Selected filmography * '' Le h ...

as Hélène Bardin *

Bernard Lancret Bernard Lancret (4 September 1912 – 5 September 1983) was a French film actor. He appeared in over thirty films between 1935 and 1956 in a mixture of leading and supporting roles. He played the composer Franz Schubert in the 1940 film '' Sér� ...

as Jean Lefrançois *

Paul Cambo Paul Cambo (1908–1978) was a French stage and film actor.Goble p.508 Selected filmography * ''Ramuntcho'' (1938) * ''Heroes of the Marne'' (1938) * '' The Gutter'' (1938) * ''The Chess Player'' (1938) * ''Sing Anyway'' (1940) * '' The Village o ...

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 Prosper Désiré "Georges" Péclet (27 July 1897 – 11 January 1974) was a French actor, director, and screenwriter. Career Between 1919 and 1957, Péclet played in ninety-five films (including several short films). He was an assistant directo ...

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 as L'officier allemand * Georges Paulais as Gallieni * Camille Bert 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