Le due orfanelle

Even though the ending is somehow predictable, this story about two girls who grew up as sisters, are separated and finally meet again is quite well directed and performed. The script is good as well, far better than the majority of the italian-french films of the epoch. It is very enjoyable, though not really a collector's item. However I wouldn't mind to have a copy of it. The parts played by the countess and Marianna are exceptional. If ever you get the chance, watch it!

..of Adolphe D'Ennery's tearjerker melodrama from the nineteenth century .It was first filmed by D.W.Griffith as "Orphans of the storm" (the best even if it does not closely follow the book,including the French Revolution) in the silent age ,then remade by Maurice Tourneur in the early thirties with some success.

Riccardo Freda,who was certainly fond of French old melodramas ,cause he also remade "Roger la Honte" (which André Cayatte made in the forties),does a passable job .However,the only scenes that are really happening are Alice Sapricht's ,ideally cast as La Frochart.Michel Morgan's late son ,Mike Marshall plays the romantic male lead