Traveling Light (1944 film)

1944 film

Traveling Light

Directed by	Jean Anouilh
Screenplay by	Jean Anouilh
Based on	Le Voyageur sans bagage by Jean Anouilh
Produced by	Léon Carré
Starring	Pierre Fresnay Blanchette Brunoy
Cinematography	Christian Matras
Edited by	Jean Feyte
Music by	Francis Poulenc
Production company	Eclair-Journal
Release date	23 February 1944 (1944-02-23)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

Traveling Light (French: Le Voyageur sans bagage) is a 1944 French drama film directed by Jean Anouilh, starring Pierre Fresnay and Blanchette Brunoy.

Plot

The narrative is set in 1931, when a man with amnesia tries to recover his memories from World War I, in order to find out what kind of man he really is. The film is based on Anouilh's 1937 play with the same title.

Cast

Pierre Fresnay as Gaston
Blanchette Brunoy as Valentine
Pierre Renoir as Georges Renaud
Marguerite Deval as Countess Dupont-Dufort
Louis Salou as Maître Uspard)
Odette Barencey as une parente
Mercédès Brare
Jean Brochard as Marcel Berthier
Pierre Brûlé as the little boy
Jenny Burnay as Juliette

Production

Just like with Jean Cocteau, World War II gave Jean Anouilh the opportunity to advance in the French film industry. Anouilh had written dialogue for several films in the 1930s, but Traveling Light was his directorial debut. He would eventually direct one additional film, Two Pennies Worth of Violets from 1951. The screenplay for Traveling Light was based on Anouilh's own 1937 play Le Voyageur sans bagage. Filming began on 4 October 1943.

Reception

The film premiered on 23 February 1944. It was successful although the records of the release are fragmentary, because the theatrical run coincided with the Allied invasion of France. The film was criticized by the church for its "systematic ridicule of the family".

References

^ Crisp, Colin (2015). "Le Voyageur sans bagage". French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 2, 1940–1958, Volume 2. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 91–94. ISBN 978-0-253-01695-9.
"Le Voyageur sans bagage (1943) Jean Anouilh". bifi.fr (in French). Cinémathèque Française. Retrieved 2015-03-07.

v t e Jean Anouilh
Plays written	Y'avait un prisonnier Le Voyageur sans bagage Thieves' Carnival Léocadia Eurydice Antigone Invitation to the Castle Ardèle ou la Marguerite Colombe The Waltz of the Toreadors The Lark Médée Humulus le muet Becket Dear Antoine: or, the Love That Failed Les Poissons rouges ou Mon père ce héros Chers zoiseaux
Films written and directed	Traveling Light (1944) Two Pennies Worth of Violets (1951)
Films written only	The Citadel of Silence (1937) Love Cavalcade (1940) La Fiancée des ténèbres (1945) Anna Karenina (1948) White Paws (1949) Darling Caroline (1951) Crimson Curtain (1952) A Caprice of Darling Caroline (1953) The Knight of the Night (1953) The Passion of Slow Fire (1961) Circle of Love (1964) Trap for Cinderella (1965) A Time for Loving (1972)
Song lyrics	"Les Chemins de l'amour"

This article related to a French film of the 1940s is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: