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Et la vie continue

Original title: The Human Comedy
  • 1943
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
Mickey Rooney in Et la vie continue (1943)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:38
1 Video
13 Photos
Coming-of-AgeTeen DramaComedyDramaFamilyRomanceWar

Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in small-town Ithaca to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in small-town Ithaca to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in small-town Ithaca to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.

  • Director
    • Clarence Brown
  • Writers
    • William Saroyan
    • Howard Estabrook
    • Herman J. Mankiewicz
  • Stars
    • Mickey Rooney
    • Frank Morgan
    • James Craig
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    2.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Clarence Brown
    • Writers
      • William Saroyan
      • Howard Estabrook
      • Herman J. Mankiewicz
    • Stars
      • Mickey Rooney
      • Frank Morgan
      • James Craig
    • 66User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 7 wins & 5 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Human Comedy
    Trailer 1:38
    The Human Comedy

    Photos12

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    Top cast76

    Edit
    Mickey Rooney
    Mickey Rooney
    • Homer Macauley
    Frank Morgan
    Frank Morgan
    • Willie Grogan
    James Craig
    James Craig
    • Tom Spangler
    Marsha Hunt
    Marsha Hunt
    • Diana Steed
    Fay Bainter
    Fay Bainter
    • Mrs. Macauley
    Ray Collins
    Ray Collins
    • Mr. Macauley
    Van Johnson
    Van Johnson
    • Marcus Macauley
    Donna Reed
    Donna Reed
    • Bess Macauley
    Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins
    Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins
    • Ulysses Macauley
    • (as Jack Jenkins)
    Dorothy Morris
    Dorothy Morris
    • Mary Arena
    John Craven
    John Craven
    • Tobey George
    Ann Ayars
    Ann Ayars
    • Mrs. Sandoval
    Mary Nash
    Mary Nash
    • Miss Hicks
    Henry O'Neill
    Henry O'Neill
    • Charles Steed
    Katharine Alexander
    Katharine Alexander
    • Mrs. Steed
    Alan Baxter
    Alan Baxter
    • Brad Stickman
    Darryl Hickman
    Darryl Hickman
    • Lionel
    Barry Nelson
    Barry Nelson
    • Fat Dana
    • Director
      • Clarence Brown
    • Writers
      • William Saroyan
      • Howard Estabrook
      • Herman J. Mankiewicz
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews66

    7.02.6K
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    Featured reviews

    8larry41onEbay

    I love this forgotten piece of American nostalgia with it's family values, patriotism and sweet sentimentality.

    I first saw this film on TV as a child in the 1960s and thought it delightful and sad. All the characters learn about the values of life, family, honesty and love. Yes it's packed with whole-kernel corn but what's wrong with that? I enjoy a good film noir, screwball comedy or even classic horror film but every once in a while it is good to think about the hopes our grandparents had for a better world after WWII and why we fought that war.

    So if you don't like the WALTONS style of family values, please skip it and take in a modern film calculated by accountants and marketing departments to separate your money from your pocket.

    But if you like a good story packed with an ensemble of very talented actors delivering charming home-spun dialogue in a near dream like world of hope, check this out.

    My favorite line is delivered by the stunningly beautiful Marsha Hunt (who is still a beauty today!) when she tries to convince handsome James Craig they are both really in love, "You do love me, don't you? Yes you do, you know you do." Of course he walks away with his head in the clouds, and in love. You will be too when you give this dated cookie a bite!
    albanyaquarium

    Just like where I grew up.

    I moved to Fresno, California in 1948 when I was 4. I was welcome at all the gardens to plug a melon. That meant to cut a triangle and then remove that piece to be sure the melon was ready. A scary old man showed me how to do that. Then I learned a person was not scary just because they were not known and old. Yes I grew up a few miles south of town. And everybody knew everybody else. I vividly recall Rhoeding Park where the hot and weary travelers stopped amidst the large trees to cool from the summers heat. Air Conditioning was new. It was called 'cooled by refrigeration'. Swamp coolers were the norm and created a lot of humidity. Days in the 100s were the normal occurrence. Many many groups of various nationalities picknicked there. This movie may seem unreal to someone from more recent times and other places. But it sure reminds me of my childhood home. Families were a lot closer then. I lived there 5 years after the movie was made and possibly 5-8 after it was set. I too waved at the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific trains. I rode a bicycle for miles from home. I didn't know bad people existed. All adults were friendly and helpful. I knew a man like the old telegrapher. Others problems were my problems. The Korean war took our beloved doctor that made housecalls and knew everyones first name. Mothers worried about their husband returning Children did not understand. I attended the Presbyterian Church. I miss those times. I miss the trust we had with strangers. I miss the safety we felt at night. I even miss the names like Zahigian and Kechaloian. It is a shame younger people feel this was not a real place and time. Roger
    8teeseller

    Homefront USA

    Author William Saroyan had a special love for America — a special kind of love that seems to be reserved for us fortunate ones who are immigrants to this great country. Or, at least, that's how it was a generation or two ago.

    This film displays this love for America in the special way of the home front milieu of the 40s. No doubt, it's a sentimental, even maudlin look at the meaning of "home." Homer McCauley (Mickey Rooney) is a telegraph runner for his boss, the wonderful Frank Morgan, in the small California town of Ithaca, where he must deliver telegrams to the folks who have lost a loved one in the war. The film shows in many touching ways what it was like to be on the sidelines (keep your chin up; do the best you can) while the boys where fighting "over there."

    As a small boy growing up in Germany during this time, it was one of the first American films I ever saw. It, more than any other thing, made me understand what it would be like to be somewhere where the little things in life are important, while the 'big stuff' takes care of itself. A place where small, unimportant folks count for as much as, or even more than, the ones hogging the news.

    Watch this film if you can (shown on Turner Classic Movies) and see what we have lost and what we must find a way to get back into our lives.
    jbpink101

    A fable from another time.

    Way, way back in the 9th grade, in the early 60's, our principal canceled all our afternoon classes and had the entire 9th grade meet in the assembly room (lunchroom without the tables) so he could show us this movie on a 16 mm projector. That's how strongly he felt about this movie. He pointed out, afterwards, that this is a fable, about how life could be if...

    After a few decades I bought the video and watched it - not from the viewpoint of comparing it to today's movies, but in the context of what my old principal told us. Just to see if the old impressions held up in light of today's jaded world. It did, and I was surprised at how thoroughly I enjoyed it.

    Note that the name of the town is Ithica, that two of the main characters are named Homer and Ulysses, & that the story is introduced from a "heavenly voice from above". All mythological references.

    It is showing us how life could be, maybe should be, even with life's tragedies. Not too often, even back then, do you see a family saying their prayers, then discussing them. And, yes, it'd be great if male macho rivalries were settled that easily. And it'd be great if non-relative adults would take the time to help young adults improve (without worrying about ulterior motives). It's all what-ifs, but great what ifs.

    Mickey Rooney was never better, and most of the cast was excellent. I highly recommend this movie only if you are aware of what you are really watching. 4/5
    luannjim

    A gentle glimpse into another time

    While the years may not have been entirely kind to "The Human Comedy," they have certainly been kinder than some of the comments I've seen here, the venom and churlish malice of which frankly astonish me.

    In 1943, M-G-M commissioned author William Saroyan to develop a screen story about the World War II homefront. The result was this, which Howard Estabrook turned into a screenplay and Saroyan himself expanded into a novel -- which explains why the film was released before the book was published.

    Yes, "The Human Comedy" is propaganda, but with a difference. Most of the propaganda of WWII arose from anger and grim determination, and films like "Air Force" and "Operation Tokyo" look excessive and embarrassing now that passions have cooled. The propaganda of "The Human Comedy" rises not from anger but from fear -- the fear that the crucible of war might be too harsh for the spirit of small-town America to survive.

    To be honest, much of "The Human Comedy" also looks excessive and embarrassing now the fears have been alleviated. But few films struck such a chord in audiences of the time by showing them, if not as they were, then at least as they liked to picture themselves.

    The film's appeal now is more than just as a historical curiosity, however. Despite the Andy Hardy sentimentality and Saroyan's blue-collar pseudo-poetry, "The Human Comedy" has much to recommend it if you can resist viewing it through the prism of our own time, with the war safely won these 50 years. It has, for example, one of Mickey Rooney's best and most restrained performances and a charming performance by Jackie "Butch" Jenkins as his baby brother -- he became a child star on the strength of this film, but was never this good again.

    Frank Morgan, too, is first-rate as a sad old man taking pride in his work and refuge in his bottle; Morgan was an idiosyncratic actor, but he was capable of great depth and deserves to be known for something besides "The Wizard of Oz." Director Clarence Brown, now sadly neglected, shows once again his sure touch with Americana and his sensitive handling of child and teen actors.

    "The Human Comedy" is a bit cloying, perhaps, but it's also a compassionate and generous-spirited film. It deserves to be regarded with the same generosity.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Marsha Hunt (1917-2022) and Darryl Hickman (1931-2024) were the last surviving cast members.
    • Goofs
      Near the end of the film when Homer and his friends walk to the telegraph office Homer's tie is tied up short (the tail below the broad part of the tie) but when Homer enters the office and in the following scenes, the tie is tied correctly.
    • Quotes

      Mr. Macauley: I am Matthew Macauley. I have been dead for two years. So much of me is still living that I know now the end is only the beginning. As I look down on my homeland of Ithaca, California, with its cactus, vineyards and orchards, I see that so much of me is still living there - in the places I've been, in the fields and streets and church and most of all in my home, where my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions still live in the daily life of my loved ones.

    • Alternate versions
      Also available in a computer colorized version.
    • Connections
      Featured in MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992)
    • Soundtracks
      My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night
      (1853) (uncredited)

      Music and Lyrics by Stephen Foster

      Sung a cappella by Ernest Whitman

      Also sung by Mickey Rooney and Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 25, 1944 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • La comedia humana
    • Filming locations
      • North Hollywood High School - 5231 Colfax Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(athletic field)
    • Production company
      • Loew's
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $1,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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