Futures vedettes

Above all, 'Futures vedettes' (= French for 'future stars') is a very 19-Fifties-film. It must have done well, I guess, in the many local movie-houses of the era -- providing entertainment in anyone's neighborhood before television was around. The charm of those days, a truly great period in the history of film, radiates off undiminished.

While watching 'Futures vedettes', one should realize that its attraction is for a large part provided by our knowledge of what came after wards: we see a young Brigitte Bardot in an early stage of her impressive career. One year before BB's break-through in 'Et Dieu creea la femme', to be exact, the film that catapulted her to world fame.

'Futures vedettes' already gives us a taste of well-known Bardot-trademarks: love for dancing (you may know that Brigitte qualified as a professional ballet dancer), love for animals (bathing in a pond between Chinese fish), and putting up anyone's temperature by modestly appearing naked.

Another catching feature of 'Futures vedettes' is its large amount of melodrama -- even when measured to 19-Fifties-standards. This adds a flavor that some may like and others may not. Anyway, it suits well with this film's setting in Vienna.

In BB's case it's thoroughly true: a future star;she would become France 's most famous actress of all time ;but what's the point of casting her as an academy of music student ,for, as she is obviously dubbed for singing ,it sounds ridiculous for the audience who knows her recordings of ditties or (which is best) her pop songs written by the great Gainsbourg?She was never born to be an opera star.

This is a poor movie,with a thin screenplay ,the interest of which lies in its actors :a breeding -ground ;around Jean Marais ,who seems to be bored to death as a handsome music professor ,we encounter young Yves Robert (who would direct "la Guerre Des Boutons" (1961) " la Gloire De Mon Père" and its sequel),young Guy Bedos (a future famous stand-up comic and also a movie star in Robert's "Un Elephant Cà Trompe Enormément" and its sequel,Marielle Demongeot (who would change her first name for "Mylène")and more...Isabelle Pia was less lucky :her only memorable movie was Duvivier's "Marianne De Ma Jeunesse" (German and French versions).

I almost fell asleep halfway through ;Marc Allégret was more inspired with his drama school and his professor Louis Jouvet in "Entrée Des Artistes" (1938);one should note that the screenplay of that movie was written by Henri Jeanson and André Cayatte whereas "Futures Vedettes" is based on a Vicky Baum's novel adapted by ...Roger Vadim!