Transatlantico

The luxury liner "Normandie" is to sail across the Atlantic ocean .Destination New York.And I mean luxury:they have a nice swimming-pool I'd love to dive in.

The passengers:the who's who of the French cinema of the forties:Gaby Morlay,Michel Simon,Claude Dauphin,Jules Berry....Like in the disaster movies ,there are many subplots most of them independent.The difference is that there is NO disaster ;do not expect a wreckage:the "Normandie" is not another "Titanic" .

Some of the subplots:

1)A detective (Simon) is in charge of an invaluable diamond ;well,diamonds may be a girl's best friend,but this precious stone story is not the best thing in the movie.Disappointing ending .

2)A man travels with his missus and his secretary who is also his mistress.Against all odds ,the two women become good friends.A menage à Trois well before Truffaut's "Jules and Jim".

3)A poor journalist wants to meet again a girl he 's known in France.But he discovers she is a rich girl and the papa says no to the union .One evening ,dad disappears.What do you suppose that means?Unlike the diamond stuff,the ending of this plot is a bit unexpected and makes sense.

What the movie lacks is unity and a great writer.One can only wonder what Julien Duvivier and Henri Jeanson would have done with this subject.

A rather funny movie; the plot is not very important with the trivial love affair between a poor journalist and the girl of a rich banker and others anecdotes. The movie largely depends on good actors (Michel Simon is delightful)and witty dialogs. In fact, the most interesting thing is that the action takes place on the famous french liner Normandie, with good views of the decks, swimming pool and art deco furniture and decoration. But, it's difficult to be sure that the whole film was effectively made on the Normandy. Also, beautiful sights of Manhattan in the 30' and the international exhibition of 1939 (french pavilion).