Altitude 3.200

Jean Benoit -Levy and Marie Epstein would consider cinema teaching aids ;the titles spoke for themselves :"la maternelle" dealt with kindergarten, "itto" showed a doctor and his wife trying to win over people from Morocco ;oddly "la maternelle" "la mort du cygne "and this one (only one comment from an English user ) are more known abroad.

As Dylan would sing in the sixties "the times they are a changing, your sons and your daughters are beyond your command "; in 1938 , sick and tired of the elders' way of life ,some young people decides to leave a world they cannot relate to for the peace of the mountain (check the title) ; it may be ,from that point of view ,looked upon as the forerunner of André Cayatte's "avant le déluge "(1953), and too many "hippie-return -to -the -nature " films of the late sixties/early seventies .

The first pictures show Jean-Louis Barrault's outstanding gift for mime -an art he would resume in the later masterpiece "les enfants du paradis" where he would meet again Fabien Loris , his rival in "altitude 3200"-

A bunch of boys decide to shun the obsolete world of the grown-ups and to restore two chalets in order to create a ski resort (but where they would welcome tourists? The script is not clear for that matter ); they did not want girls with them ,but unfortunately ,the drifters have been in their new house all of five minutes when a group of lost female skiers knock on their door.....

The girls too have enough of the parents' , so boys and girls will work and in hand to build the new world it's never too late to build ; they could teach a lesson or two to people of the valley in the field of energy:hydro-electricity has no secrets for them. And it allows them to use their radio set ,but the news is so bad they do not regret the world they left behind (1938 was an ominous year anyway).

But soon cracks appear in the mirror:songs of fraternity are not enough to make up for the rivalries which begin to show up ,about the girls, the radio ,and authority ;there's always someone who wants to be the leader and to avoid the "civil war" , the team becomes two factions in two different chalet; but they had forgotten they had to reckon with the dangers of the mountain ,which are deadlier than their minor quibbles.

Completely ignored today , this movie, in spite of its naiveté ("the fathers' hell will slowly go by" ) ,displays qualities and concern at the time of the illusive Munich agreements , it can be considered a storm warning .

A true breeding-ground for young actors , some of whom would become famous later on: besides Barrault, Blier,Odette Joyeux and Blanchette Brunoy notably .Alternate title "nous les jeunes" : that's what the cast and credits read .

But it was made in 1938 when audiences were a whole less naive and better educated.

"Altitude 3,200 (aka Youth in Revolt)" asks the question and provides the premise of what would happen if a group of young people----poor, rich, discontented, bored--- were given an idyllic community in which to live.

Call it a colony. Call it a village. Call it one-world. Mainly call it a futile exercise in changing human nature, mores, culture and attitudes at any altitude. For t'ain't no time before clashing personalities, petty jealousy, violence and---that old demon---love create havoc. And isn't much longer before they become re-united in the face of an avalanche that threatens to destroy them. They all return to whence they came, sadder and wiser.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink.

First US showing at NYC's Fifth Avenue Theatre, in May, 1939, with French dialogue and English titles.