Tempo felice

Titolo originale: The Happy Time

1952
Approved
1h 34min

VALUTAZIONE IMDb

6,7/10

593

LA TUA VALUTAZIONE

Charles Boyer, Linda Christian, Marcel Dalio, Bobby Driscoll, Louis Jourdan, and Kurt Kasznar in Tempo felice (1952)

Spring inspires lessons in love and life for a French family in 1920s Ottawa, especially for teenage Robert, who's blind to the attentions of an American neighbor girl, because he's infatuated with the beautiful new maid, fleeing life as a magician's assistant. Robert's mother bemoans some of the Bonnard family male role models available to Robert: his party animal grandfather, roguish traveling salesman uncle Desmond, and an uncle who carries a water cooler filled with wine everywhere while his wife does all the work. As Desmond's temporarily off the road, he also targets the maid.

Riproduci trailer2: 34

1 video

4 foto

Comedy

Aggiungi una trama nella tua linguaSpring inspires lessons in love and life for a French family in 1920s Ottawa, especially for teenage Robert, who's blind to the attentions of an American neighbor girl, because he's infatuat... Leggi tuttoSpring inspires lessons in love and life for a French family in 1920s Ottawa, especially for teenage Robert, who's blind to the attentions of an American neighbor girl, because he's infatuated with the beautiful new maid, fleeing life as a magician's assistant.Spring inspires lessons in love and life for a French family in 1920s Ottawa, especially for teenage Robert, who's blind to the attentions of an American neighbor girl, because he's infatuated with the beautiful new maid, fleeing life as a magician's assistant.

Vedi le informazioni sulla produzione su IMDbPro

VALUTAZIONE IMDb

6,7/10

593

LA TUA VALUTAZIONE

Vedi le informazioni sulla produzione su IMDbPro

Premi
- 2 vittorie e 5 candidature totali

Video1

Trailer 2:34

Official Trailer

Foto3

Recensioni degli utenti23

6,7593

Recensioni in evidenza

roncee

All-time favorite

I saw The Happy Time when it was first released, and I have never had the chance to see it again. Nevertheless, after a half century, I still remember it as a thoroughly delightful experience. The cast - Charles Boyer, Louis Jourdan, and especially Bobby Driscoll - is as memorable as the picture. I would be overjoyed to see it again, but a bit uneasy about whether it's as good as I remember it.

9Irene212

If this film has a flaw, I don't know what it is.

Except maybe the title. The film has been described as heartwarming in other posts, but it's more sophisticated than it is sentimental. It is funny and charming throughout, and strongly flavored with emotion. Frank words like erection and intercourse are never used (English is more naked than French, Boyer says at one point), but the moment when the young boy has his first sexual feelings, as he watches a magician's luscious blonde assistant, leaves no doubt about the movie's sexual theme, which is handled with exquisite tenderness.

There is nothing flashy about the film-making-- the stage play was opened up rather minimally, allowing the strength of the writing and the acting to shine. And both do. It's hardly worth singling out any one performer, the ensemble works so well together, though the three Bonnard brothers-- Boyer, Jourdan, Kasznar-- are particularly fine, especially when they gang up on the schoolmaster. This is an all but forgotten movie-- witty and wise, graceful and bold-- that has true greatness in it.

9theowinthrop

A Charming Film about Family Life in Quebec

I saw this film only once forty years ago, but I really enjoyed it. Charles Boyer is the head of a Quebecois family who has to face normal problems of his son's growing up, his brothers (Kurt Kazner and Louis Jourdan) and their problems. It was very heart warming. An example of this is towards the end when Boyer's son (Bobby Driscoll) has been somewhat framed by a rival at his school, and has been humiliated and punished by an unreasonable, martinet teacher (corporal punishment is allowed in Quebec in the 1920s, when the story occurs, and the teacher used a switch on Driscoll). Boyer goes to see the teacher, and discovers that the latter has made a mistake that can be misconstrued as illegal behavior. When Driscoll was whipped the teacher had insisted on him telling the truth. Grabbing the switch, Boyer starts demanding the truth from the teacher now. It was quite an enjoyable moment.

The film was later turned into a Broadway musical also called THE HAPPY TIME, starring Robert Goelet. Occasionally the theme song of that show is revived (usually Goelet's recording of it) on radio.

8cocgle

Not Quebec

this is a minor detail but the family is not Quebecois, the are actually French-speaking Ontarians.

The father and his brothers are French and (Protestant!!)immigrants to Ottawa (Ontario) and the mother is of Scottish descent. This explains in part why the film did not garner much enthusiasm among French Canadians who generally viewed being protestant and French as being akin to treason.

The movie is based on a series of short stories by Robert Lafontaine about his childhood in Ottawa's Lower Town. The stories were very popular in the 1940's and became a play. The play has since become a minor staple of high school productions.

9klg19

A coming of age tale that is beyond charming

Three generations of French film charisma come together in this marvelous film about a family of French Canadians living in Ottawa (not Quebec!). Charles Boyer, in one of his earliest "character" roles after decades of being a leading-man lover, joins the up-and-coming Louis Jourdan and the old theatrical hand Marcel Dalio to make up the Bonnard family: Grandpere (Dalio) lives with Jacques (Boyer), his wife Susan (Hunt), and their son, Bibi (Driscoll). Jacques' bibulous, layabout brother Louis (Kasznar) lives across the street, with his shrewish, seamstress wife Felice and their possibly unmarriageable daughter. Desmonde, the third brother, is a traveling salesman with a rakish reputation--not unlike his father--who stays with Jacques' family when he's in Ottawa and who is a hero in the eyes of Bibi.

The story itself is small: Desmond comes to stay; Jacques, who plays violin and conducts the orchestra in a small burlesque and movie house, brings a sacked magician's assistant home to be the new maid; Louis storms out of his home and moves in on Jacques' porch; Grandpere falls ill; and Bibi deals with troubles at school and in the heart. But the writing and characterization are so true to life and moving that one gets utterly caught up.

The movie was based on a successful Broadway play (with Kasznar reprising his stage role, along with the young actress who plays girl-next-door Peggy), which in turn was based on a series of stories by Robert Fontaine about his own growing-up. The atmosphere is imbued with a certain French sophistication, but even more with the love and compassion all these members of the family have for each other. The conversation that the father, Jacques, has with his adolescent son, Bibi, as he tries to explain the tension between love and desire could be used successfully as a template for any such talk in any family on earth. But it is not just moving; much of the dialogue is as funny as in any family comedy you can think of.

I had never heard of this film, and only discovered it via Turner Classic Movies guest programmer. Sadly, it is not available in any video medium; I can't think of a better family film. If it comes around again on TCM, be sure to give it a try!

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Quiz
Marsha Hunt was offered the same role in the original Broadway production but turned it down. The part ultimately went to Leora Dana, who met and married Kurt Kasznar during the run of the play.

Citazioni
Jacques Bonnard: I think you and I should have a little talk. Sit down, Bibi. Well, there is no need to ask you why you did what you did. The reason is obvious: you did it because... why did you do it?
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: I had a desire to know what would happen... if I kissed Mignonette the way Valentino did.
Jacques Bonnard: You were curious.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: Oui, curious.
Jacques Bonnard: Nothing more.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: There is something more, but I don't know what it is.
Jacques Bonnard: Ah. Well. It is this 'something more' of which we shall speak. Now you see, Bibi, this... desire you have, it's a natural one, and since it is natural, it cannot be bad. It becomes bad only when the reason is bad. That is why so many people are mixed up
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: I, too, am mixed up.
Jacques Bonnard: Well, of course! So am I. Well, let's try to unmix ourselves, shall we? Now, Bibi, we speak now of love. And where there is love, there is also desire; they go together. Love must have the desire; I don't believe there can be love without it. But, it is possible to have the desire without love, and this is where the world falls apart. For instance, you don't understand why the principal of your school beat you.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: No, papa.
Jacques Bonnard: Well, it is because he has been brought up to believe that the desire is wrong. And since he himself has the desire, he's even more mixed up than we are! He has been brought up in a world where the desire has been used so badly-so badly, believe me-that it itself is thought to be bad; and this is wrong. This is wrong, Bibi. And you know the reason for this condition? It is because so many people are without love.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: Many people?
Jacques Bonnard: Many.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: Uncle Louis?
Jacques Bonnard: You love your Uncle Louis, don't you?
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: I love him strongly.
Jacques Bonnard: That's good. He has a great need of love. And without love, one is defeated.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: But this love is different. The love I have for Uncle Louis is different from the love I have for you; this also is different from the way I love maman. And then... Mignonette.
Jacques Bonnard: Eh, oui, Bibi. And this love we speak of now, when it is real, when it is true, it is the greatest love of all. I know; we have it here, in this house, Maman and I; it is the best, it is the most natural. In this way, the world comes down to a house, and a room, and a bed, and if there are two people in love there, then that is the whole world. Of course, you won't know this for many years. You know it is possible never to know it? I hope you will. If you are as lucky as I am, you will.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: I will look for someone like Maman!
Jacques Bonnard: Oh, no! No, no, no, no! On the contrary: the secret is not to imitate. Look for your heart's need, and then she will come. Well, I've talked enough, and still you don't know what I wish to say.
Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard: I think I do.
Jacques Bonnard: Well, perhaps, when we speak of this again, I will find better words.