Pontcarral

Some directors did not want to give up struggling in an occupied France.So they used the Middle Ages ("Les Visiteurs Du Soir") or the Restoration (this movie) to tell their compatriots they had to carry on the fight.They say the audience used to applause during the last scenes ,when the colonel was reinstated in his French army and was leaving for Algeria .After two hours of resistance against the new kings ,Louis the Eighteenth and Charles the Tenth ,Louis -Philippe (who was not king of France anymore ,but king of the French,do you see the difference ?Napoleon,Pontcarral's icon,was Emperor of the French too)told him he needed men of his value.

An aging Pierre Blanchar with a mustache,who sometimes resembles Noel Roquevert , has a good screen presence ,but I must confess I found Delannoy's movie deadly dull.75% of the movie is given over to Pontcarral's love affairs and they are a big bore.Several lines were cut by the German censorship: " it's time to get France out of its humiliation and a bit of its glory!"