The Happy Road

I dislike children's movies like "The Happy Road" which romanticise the experiences of runaway children. In kids' movies, runaways tend to have lots of fun and get into little or no danger, having adventures with picturesque hobos and indulgent old ladies. I dread the thought of what might happen to a mildly troubled child nowadays who sees one of these unrealistic old movies and decides to solve his (or her) problems by running away from home... into the clutches of crack addicts and perverts.

Gene Kelly was an ardent Francophile who seriously compromised his great career at MGM by doing several dodgy projects which gave him an opportunity to work in his beloved France. "The Happy Road" is one such project. It's a decent little film, proficiently made ... but if Kelly had decided not to make this movie, there would probably be one more great or near-great MGM musical among his credits.

The movie opens nicely with the distinctive voice of Maurice Chevalier on the soundtrack, singing the indifferent title song. (We never see Chevalier in this movie, and we never hear him again after the opening credits.) Kelly plays Mike Andrews: a widowed entertainer, an American in Paris (oops, wrong movie!) who is the star of a big nightclub act ... although, judging from the seedy little nightclub where we see him rehearsing, maybe he's not such a big star after all. Mike has a son Danny, about 10 years old, whom he's dumped in a boarding school in Switzerland. (I wonder if this is the same boarding school in Switzerland where Sylvester Stallone hid from the draft board during the Vietnam war.) One of Danny's schoolmates is Janeane Duval, a French girl his own age. Conveniently, Janeane has no father because her mother is divorced. (Hmm: a single father, a single mother ... I wonder how this movie will end.)

Mike decides to run away to Paris so he can live with his father, not bothering to realise that his father chose to get rid of him in the first place. (Kelly's screen character here is less sympathetic than perhaps Kelly intended.) Janeane wants to run away to Paris too, so she can be with her mother. But Janeane is afraid to run away by herself (smart girl); she wants to come along with Danny so he can protect her (stupid girl). Danny is in the 'girls have cooties' stage, so he wants nothing to do with Janeane ... but she speaks French and he doesn't (this is a boy attending school in Switzerland, remember), so he reluctantly decides to let Janeane come with him ... especially since she kindly baked him a chocolate fairy cake. (Which he immediately scoffs at the very beginning of their journey.)

When the school notifies Danny's dad and Janeane's mum that their brats have taken French leave, the two parents join forces to find their children. Along the road, Danny and Janeane meet other Eurobrats who help them. Most of the plot devices in this movie are both extremely implausible and highly predictable. Also, the child actors are given some annoyingly "wise" dialogue about global politics and other deep subjects. Michael Redgrave gives a semi-comic performance as the commander of a British regiment on field manoeuvres, and Roger Van Doude is quite funny as a Clouseau-like gendarme. There's a truly bizarre performance by a small boy in the brief role of an English peer. The child actors who play Danny and Janeane are surprisingly competent. Gene Kelly's direction is workmanlike: not nearly as skillful as his direction on some later big-budget Hollywood films.

I'll rate 'The Happy Road' 4 points out of 10. I recommend it for children, but only if an adult guardian explains to them that runaway children in the REAL world usually have a lot less fun and a lot more danger.

UPDATE: IMDb reviewer 'Hemingway and the Sea' calls me 'under-educated with an innate dislike for this type of movie'. Actually, I'm SELF-educated, and I've an innate dislike for any movie (such as this one) which depicts runaway children having romantic adventures with helpful strangers and picturesque tramps. The children in the audience need to know that running away from an abusive environment (to anywhere but to the authorities) can put them in deadly danger.

Also, 'Hemingway' accuses me of making 'political statements' about Gene Kelly. I merely called Kelly a Francophile: that's a social statement. Gene Kelly was very clear about why he left the Arthur Freed unit at MGM: by spending a year in France and London, Kelly was able to take lawful advantage of a loophole in the U.S. tax code. But in that wretched year, Kelly made two very weak French films and an unfinished British production. If he had stayed at MGM, we might now have one more Gene Kelly masterpiece on a par with "Singin' in the Rain" or "An American in Paris" (which, despite its title, was filmed entirely in Culver City). My opinion of 'The Happy Road' remains unchanged.

What a delightful movie this is. "The Happy Road" was made by and starred Gene Kelly. But this comedy and somewhat family adventure shares the lead roles with two very good child actors, Bobby Clark and Brigitte Fossey. Their characters, Danny Andrews and Janine Duval, are the core of the story that centers around their sneaking away from an exclusive Swiss school to go to Paris. That's where Danny's widower father, Mike, has moved from America to set up a business. And, where Janine's mother, Suzanne, is whom she hasn't seen for three months.

The plot technique switches back and forth between the two kids and the two adults. Danny and Janine make their way across the Swiss border and then into the French countryside. Mike and Suzanne meet at the school after being called and told that their children have run away. They begin their trek together to try to find their children. The kids get help, mostly from other children after they meet a young boy who's on a family picnic. When they tell him that they have run away from a school to get to their parents, he sets into motion an amazing network of cousins and their friends who help them avoid the police and get on their way through the next couple of towns.

The parents, in their interspersing scenes, get into one funny situation after another. Their escapades account for much of the laughable comedy, but the movements of the kids provide for many smiles and much warm humor. They are always a step or two ahead of the parents and authorities who are in pursuit.

The film has some nice scenes in the French countryside, and a kaleidoscope of local people. It also has a couple of anomalies in the setting. Mike says the school is more than 400 miles from Paris which would mean it would have to be in the far northeast corner of Switzerland, near the Austrian border. They would have had a long way to go across northern Switzerland first. The second anomaly is a field exercise in France with British and American Army units, under the command of British General Medworth, played by Michael Redgrave. This segment adds some more humor to the film.

While the Army exercise may seem a strange thing to have in this movie, such training by NATO countries was frequent in Western Europe during the early years of the Cold War. I was a paratrooper in the U. S. Army in Germany, from early 1962 to late 1964. In that time we had several military field exercises. In two large NATO operations, we jumped in Denmark and Turkey.

This is a very good film that many people should enjoy. But, modern audiences who need constant fast-action may find it too slow. Here are some favorite lines from the film.

Danny Andrews, "Look, Janine. To get to Paris I'll have to walk, hitch rides, hop freight cars. Well, you're smart... for a girl. But you can't do all that." Janine Duval, "I speak French." Danny, "All right, so you speak French, for Pete's sake." Janine, "And I want to be with you."

Janine Duval, "Why do they have frontiers, Danny?" Danny Andrews, "I don't know. So we can tell one country from another, I guess."

Janine, "I don't think it's good for parents to be left alone too much."

Mike Andrews, after a crammed car ride with three French relatives, "Well, I'm glad they brought the food along. It wouldn't have been as much fun without it."

Mike, "That's over 400 miles to Paris. They don't have any money or food." David, the young Earl of Boardingham, looking at a list he has, "Oh, yes, Danny has 82 francs and 30 centimes. And he has five sandwiches - two ham, one cheese, two cucumber. He's bound to make it to Paris." Mike, "I wouldn't bet on it." David, "I already have."

Mike, after their several transport problems, "You know, our kids are smart - they're WALKING to Paris."

Mike, "For Pete's sake, wouldn't you know it - lunch time? City hall, the police station, everything's gotta close at lunch time. There's no calling. The whole place becomes a ghost town. Look! Look! Not a soul in the street. I wonder what happens if there should be a fire during lunch. No, no, don't tell me. Everybody grabs a leg of lamb and roasts it over the burning building. Hah! The French!"

Mike, "I'm a father." Suzanne Duval, "How did you keep your temper long enough to become a father?"

Mike, to the motorcycle cop giving them a ride, "Hey, what are you - a French policeman or a Japanese suicide pilot?"

Mike, "Your daughter, may I remind you, speaks French. She's getting them in and out of these towns like the Scarlet Pimpernel."

Mike, to a policeman who can't speak English, as they leave, "You big clod. You couldn't find your own nose with both hands, a full moon and radar."

Gen. Medworth, "I do assure you then, the little nippers'll be in our hands, safe and sound. Ah, tea."

Mike, "General, if you could get us a car and let us have a look..." Suzanne, "Oh yes, please general." Gen. Medworth, "My dear sir...and madame, 18 cars, 10 tanks, six weapon carriers, a dozen scout cars, hundreds of men and six aircraft are covering the area now."

Suzanne, "I'm not French - I'm alone. Just as you're not an American, but also alone. We're human beings and we're alone. Nationality doesn't help us there."

Mike, "I'm over here trying to start a business, all I'm starting is an ulcer." Sgt. Morgan, "That's funny. I had an ulcer on the way, when the Army took me. Since I've been in France, something's happened - no more ulcer. Yeah, I learned something. Maybe it was just how to relax."

The Happy Road was Gene Kelly's next to last film on his MGM contract and this was a personal project in which he not only starred in, but directed and produced as well. Probably something to pass the time of day while he was waiting for his final full blown musical Les Girls.

The film is best however when the kids are in front of the camera. The very simple story involves Kelly's son Bobby Clark who runs away from the Swiss boarding school his father has put him in to go to Paris and be with him. He also wants to prove how self reliant is. His good friend Brigette Fossey decides to join him on the odyssey and prove the same to her divorcée mother Barbara Laage.

Whatever else they do, the kids prove they're self reliant, they have the French police totally at their wits end, not to mention a bunch of NATO troops out on maneuvers, embarrassing their commanding officer Michael Redgrave no end.

Kelly is a concerned father, but he's also a poster child for the ugly American. He wasn't doing all that much for Franco-American relations with his exasperation about the French way of doing things. Laage kind of smooths out the rough edges in him by the time film ends.

With a title song sung over the opening credits by Maurice Chevalier and the film shot in France, The Happy Road will not rank as one of Gene Kelly's great films. But it's a pleasant diversion and very good for juvenile audiences.

Danny Andrews is running away to Paris from his Swiss boarding school. He's joined by Janine Duval. Danny's widowed father Michael Andrews (Gene Kelly) is struggling to renovate his Paris office. Suzanne Duval (Barbara Laage) is Janine's divorced French mother. The two parents put their differences aside to look for their two kids.

I like the kids' adventures. The adults are less fun even though they have Gene Kelly. The military is ridiculous. This alternates between bland silliness and fun. I want the kids to stay together more than the adults.

This film is a comedy adventure story about an American boy and a French girl who escape their Swiss boarding school and set off for Paris, where their parents live. Gene Kelly plays the boy's father, Mike, and Barbara Laage plays Suzanne, the mother of the girl.

Directed and produced by Gene Kelly, "The Happy Road" is just that--a happy story about life on the road. There is never any real angst over the missing children. The film plays as a farce among the small towns and back roads of France. In some parts there is little dialogue, reminiscent of Mr. Hulot. This is another example of Mr. Kelly creatively branching out from the traditional format of musicals.

Thrust together by circumstance, the two parents, trade barbs about Americans and French, but learn to cooperate as their children thwart the efforts of gendarmes and generals trying to intercept their path.

Children might enjoy this film as much as, or more than, adults.