''Babette Goes to War'' (french: Babette s'en va-t-en guerre) is a 1959 French CinemaScope film starring

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

. It was Bardot's first movie since becoming a star where she did not take off her clothes.

Plot

In 1940, during the German invasion of France, a young woman called Babette flees on a boat to England. She is desperate to help the Free French, who end up parachuting her back into the country on a mission to thwart the German invasion of England.

Cast

as Babette *

Jacques Charrier Jacques Charrier (born 6 November 1936) is a French actor in both film and the theater, a film producer, and an artist in painting and ceramics. He was married to film actress Brigitte Bardot from 1959 to 1963. Biography In 1980 he returned to ...

as Lt. Gérard de Crécy-Lozère *

Francis Blanche François Jean Blanche, known as "Francis Blanche" (20 July 1921 – 6 July 1974) was a French actor, singer, humorist and author. He was a very popular figure on stage, radio and in films, during the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Blanche was ...

as Commander Obersturmführer aka "Papa Schulz" * Hannes Messemer as General Franz von Arenberg * Ronald Howard as Colonel Fitzpatrick * Yves Vincent as Cpt. Darcy * Pierre Bertin as Duke Edmond de Crécy-Lozère * Viviane Gosset as Duchess Hélène de Crécy-Lozère * Mona Goya as Madame Fernande * Noël Roquevertas Cpt. Gustave Brémont * Michael Cramer as Heinrich *

Jean Carmet Jean Carmet (25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor. Life and career Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internatio ...

as Antoine *

René Havard René Havard (20 December 1923 – 7 December 1987) was a French film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1946 and 1985. He was born and died in Paris, France. Selected filmography * ''That's Not the Way to Die'' (1946) - L'assistant * ...

as Louis *

Günter Meisner Günter Meisner (18 April 1926 – 5 December 1994) was a German film and television character actor. He is remembered for his several cinematic portrayals of Adolf Hitler and for his role as Arthur Slugworth in ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate F ...

as the first Gestapo officer *

Jacques Hilling Jacques Hilling (26 May 1922 – 16 February 1975) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1949 and 1975. Selected filmography * ''Return to Life'' (1949) - Un soldat (segment 4 : "Le retour de René") (uncredite ...

as the French captain *

Charles Bouillaud Charles Bouillaud (1904–1965) was a French actor. Selected filmography {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouillaud, Charles 1904 births 1965 deaths French male stage actors French male film actors French male television actors 20th-century French male ...

as Pierrot * Alain Bouvette as Emile * Max Elloy as Firmin * Robert Berri as Sgt. Hill * Jenny Orléans as a girl *

Philippe Clair Prosper Charles Bensoussan professionally known as Philippe Clair (14 September 1930 – 28 November 2020) was a Moroccan-French actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and popular humorist. Along with fellow French directors Max Pécas and Ri ...

as Un résistant

Production

Bardot had meant to make a film in Hollywood called ''Paris by Night'' with Frank Sinatra and

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...

but did not want to go to America. Producer Raoul Levy came up with another idea, a film about a young girl who becomes involved with the Resistance called ''Babette Goes to War''. Levy assigned Vadim to work on the script with an American writer. Vadim's film '' The Night Heaven Fell'' was released and performed poorly, so Levy replaced Vadim as director with Christian Jacques. In September 1958 it was announced

Peter Viertel Peter Viertel (16 November 1920 – 4 November 2007) was an author and screenwriter. Biography Viertel was born to Jewish parents in Dresden, Germany, the writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel. In 1928, his parents mov ...

was working on the script. By October Christian Jacque was attached as director.

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

was mentioned as a possible co star. The film was the first in a three-picture deal Levy had with Columbia, two of which were to star Bardot. The studio would invest $2.5 million. (Columbia helped finance the hugely successful Bardot-Levy movie '' And God Created Woman''.) Gerard Philippe was the original co star announced. This deal later expanded to cover three years. Levy said he came up with the idea of Bardot keeping on her clothes because it was unexpected. "Everything there is to show has been shown," said the producer. Filming took place in February and March 1959. Bardot and

had an affair during filming that led to Bardot falling pregnant and them getting married. Bardot was briefly ill during filming.

Reception

The film had its world premiere at the Moscow Film Festival. It was a big hit with admissions in France of 4,657,610. It was the fourth most popular film at the French box office in 1959, after '' The Cow and I'', ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' and ''

The Green Mare ''The Green Mare'' () is a humorous novel by French writer Marcel Aymé first published by Gallimard in 1933. Aymé probably wrote ''La Jument verte'' during 1932 and early 1933. The novel was published to great success in June 1933, but provo ...

''. (It was followed by '' Some Like It Hot'', '' The Four Hundred Blows'', '' The Magnificent Tramp'', ''

North by Northwest ''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture ...

'', ''

Solomon and Sheba ''Solomon and Sheba'' is a 1959 American epic historical romance film directed by King Vidor, shot in Technirama (color by Technicolor), and distributed by United Artists. The film dramatizes events described in The Bible—the tenth chapter of ...

'' and ''

Black Orpheus ''Black Orpheus'' ( Portuguese: ''Orfeu Negro'' ) is a 1959 romantic tragedy film made in Brazil by French director Marcel Camus and starring Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello. It is based on the play ''Orfeu da Conceição'' by Vinicius de Mora ...

''.

References

External links

*
''Babette Goes to War''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

1959 films Films directed by Christian-Jaque Films with screenplays by Michel Audiard Columbia Pictures films French war comedy films CinemaScope films 1950s French-language films 1950s French films {{1950s-France-film-stub