''The Damned'' (french: Les Maudits) is a 1947 French drama war film directed by

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. Life and career Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed hi ...

. It was entered into the

1947 Cannes Film Festival The 2nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 25 September 1947. The new building that was meant to host the festival, the Palais du Festival, was still not ready, and the festival was held amid many technical and financial problems. In 1947, ...

. The film is notable for its depiction of the interior of a wartime submarine and for its tracking shots through the length of the U-boat.

Plot

As Germany is in the throes of losing World War II, a number of wealthy Nazis and some French sympathizers head for South America in a German submarine leaving from Oslo. The film's narrator is a French doctor (

Henri Vidal Henri Vidal (26 November 1919 – 10 December 1959) was a French film actor. Film career Henri Lucien Raymond VidalSource Les Gens du cinéma/ref> was first noticed after he won the "Apollo of 1939" contest in Paris. He was spotted by Éd ...

) who has been kidnapped to tend a sick woman, Hilde Garosi ( Florence Marly), the wife of one man and the lover of another, both aboard. The doctor realizes he will be murdered at any point once the woman has recovered so he tries various stratagems to escape. All fail. The mission slowly disintegrates as the war ends and its reasons for being dissipate, with some passengers either trying to escape or committing suicide. Forster (

Jo Dest Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

) tries to continue the mission even after Berlin has fallen and orders have gone out for all U-boats to surrender at the nearest port. Part of the crew finally mutinies against the insane ones still fighting the war. The doctor ends up alone on the Nazi sub for days writing his memoirs until an American ship rescues him and finally sinks his infamous abode at sea.

Cast

Marcel Dalio Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and ''The Rules of the Game'' (1939). ...

as Larga (as Dalio) *

as Docteur Guilbert * Florence Marly as Hilde Garosi * Fosco Giachetti as Garosi * Paul Bernard as Couturier *

as Forster (as Jodest) * Michel Auclair as Willy Morus * as Ingrid Ericksen *

Andreas von Halberstadt Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...

(as A. Von Halberstadt) * Lucien Hector as Ericksen *

Jean Lozach Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Je ...

(as Lozach) *

Karl Münch Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

(as Karl Munch)

Restoration

In 2013, the

Cohen Film Collection The Cohen Film Collection is a film archive currently held by Cohen Media Group. Containing several hundreds of rare and classic movies spanning from the silent film era to the present day, it was previously referred to as the Rohauer Library pri ...

released ''The Damned'' on Blu-ray and DVD in the US, using a restoration carried out by the French distributor, Gaumont.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Damned, The 1947 films 1947 drama films 1940s French-language films 1940s German-language films French black-and-white films French drama films Films directed by René Clément World War II submarine films Palme d'Or winners 1940s French films