The life and exploits of firefighters seen first from the mischievous perspective of a village, then in the sometimes moving atmosphere of Parisian barracks.
Also evocation of the interventions of the firefighters during the Occupation....
Aka "les joyeux conscrits" ( the happy draftees" ) ,a dumb title;one can prefer " la bataille du feu " , (fire fight); this is an interesting forgotten movie which several mingled subplots
1) A welcome tribute to the firefighters , long before "sauver ou périr" (2018); the viewer attends their hard training ,then their first battles ;their professional solidarity is deeply moving in the last scenes; of course their methods seem obsolete today ,but their bravery doesn't.
2)A look at the collaborators during WW2 . Pierre Larquey's last line ("keep my lentils warm ,I'll eat 'em when I come back ) before leaving ,given away to the Gestapo , is harrowing; his adoptive son will go out of his way to find the informer
3)A melodrama : the dashing young firefighter ,born an illegitimate son, is denied his union with a girl whose father is not prepared to accept such a shame
One of Jean Carmet's first important parts ,as a foil to the principal.
