''The Village Priest'' (french: Le Curé de village) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

drama film, directed by

Paul Gury Paul Gury was the stage name of Loïc (Louis-Marie) Le Gouriadec (May 11, 1888 - November 13, 1974), a French-Canadian film and theatre actor, director and writer. He was most noted as the director of three significant films in the early Cinema of ...

and released in 1949.

Gerald Pratley Gerald Arthur Pratley (September 3, 1923 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian film critic and historian. Piers Handling"Gerald Arthur Pratley" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', September 18, 2011. A longtime film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Cor ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 231. The film stars

Ovila Légaré Ovila Légaré (21 July 1901 - 19 February 1978) was a French-Canadian actor and singer from Quebec. Life Légaré was born in Montreal on 21 July 1901, and died there on 19 February 1978. Career He was a folklorist, singer, actor, script-writer ...

as a smalltown

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest whose skills as a spiritual and moral leader of the community are tested when Leblanc (Paul Guèvremont), a criminal fugitive originally from the town, returns home to see his estranged daughter Juliette (Lise Roy) on the eve of her wedding to Lionel Théberge (Denis Drouin).Janis L. Pallister, ''The Cinema of Québec: Masters in Their Own House''.

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (FDU Press) is a publishing house under the operation and oversight of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the largest private university in New Jersey, which has international campuses in Vancouver, British Columb ...

, 1995. . pp. 376-377. The cast also includes Camille Ducharme, Guy Mauffette, Jeannette Teasdale, Eugène Daigneault, Blanche Gauthier, Jeanne Quintal, Arthur Groulx,

Fannie Tremblay Fannie Tremblay, the stage name of Stéphanie Massey (January 5, 1885 – January 18, 1970), was a Canadian performer based in Quebec. Tremblay first adopted the stage name Fannie Brémont. She performed with Georges Alba, Paul Cazeneuve's tr ...

and

Juliette Huot Juliette Huot OQ (January 9, 1912 - March 16, 2001) was a Canadian actress from Quebec. She was most noted for her role in '' The Plouffe Family (Les Plouffe)'', for which she was a shortlisted Genie Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress at ...

. The film was written by Robert Choquette as an adaptation of his own 1930s

CKAC CKAC is a French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial traffic information service branded as ''Radio Circulation 730''. Its studios are located at Place Bonaventure in ...

radio serial ''Le Curé de village''. The film was screened in competition for the 2nd Canadian Film Awards in 1950. The film itself was not named

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, but

Quebec Productions Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

, the studio of producer

Paul L'Anglais Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

and his business partner

René Germain René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...

, received a special citation "for sustained and creative effort in establishing a feature-length film industry in Canada", collectively based on the films ''The Village Priest'', ''

Whispering City ''Whispering City'' (also known as ''Crime City'') is a 1947 black-and-white film noir directed by Fedor Ozep and starring Paul Lukas, Mary Anderson, and Helmut Dantine.Gerald Pratley, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 23 ...

''/''

La Forteresse La Forteresse () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Geography La Forteresse is located in the valley of Rival, and is about 550 meters away from Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs. History La Forteresse belonged until 19 ...

'', ''

A Man and His Sin ''A Man and His Sin'' (french: Un homme et son péché) is a Canadian drama film, directed by Paul Gury and released in 1949.Charles-Henri Ramond"Un homme et son péché – Film de Paul Gury" ''Films du Québec'', August 6, 2012. Adapted from Cla ...

(Un homme et son péché)'' and '' Séraphin''. Quebec film historian Pierre Véronneau later characterized ''The Village Priest'', ''A Man and His Sin'' and ''Séraphin'' as a group of films about "

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

s in

cassock The cassock or soutane is a Christian clerical clothing coat used by the clergy and male religious of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, in addition to some clergy in certain Protestant denomi ...

s", which transplanted some of the heroic tropes of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

films onto priests in the church-dominated society of pre-

Quiet Revolution The Quiet Revolution (french: Révolution tranquille) was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in French Canada which started in Quebec after the election of 1960, characterized by the effective secularization of govern ...

Quebec.George Melnyk, ''One Hundred Years of Canadian Cinema''.

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

, 2004. . p. 81.

References

External links

* 1949 films 1940s French-language films French-language Canadian films Films set in Quebec Films shot in Quebec Canadian black-and-white films Canadian drama films 1949 drama films 1940s Canadian films Quebec films {{1940s-Canada-film-stub