Le Jour de gloire (1976) Directed by Jacques Besnard
Comedy / War
Film Synopsis
A detachment of German soldiers manages to get itself holed up in a
small French village. Fearing bloody reprisals, the inhabitants
of the village do everything they can to avoid provoking their
unwelcome guests. All goes well until the terrible day when a
group of children, playing with a hand grenade, cause the death of a
Nazi officer. As the Germans threaten to avenge the killing the
villagers appeal to Grégoire, the only stranger in the
community, to offer himself up...
Script: Richard Balducci, Jacques Besnard, Alphonse Boudard, Jacques-Henri Marin
Cinematographer: Marcel Grignon
Music: Darry Cowl
Cast:Jean Lefebvre (Grégoire),
Pierre Tornade (Le maire),
Darry Cowl (Le curé),
Jacques Marin (Le bistrot),
Robert Rollis (Gaston Machu),
Pierre Doris (Etienne Machu),
Chantal Nobel (Mlle Verger),
Corinne Lahaye (Claire),
Hans Verner (Müller),
Frantz Wolf (Le lieutenant Dietrich),
Tony Rödel (Otto),
Jean Rougerie (Von Bach),
Jacques Bézard
Country: France / West Germany
Language: French
Support: Color (Eastmancolor)
Runtime: 94 min
The very best French thrillers
It was American film noir and pulp fiction that kick-started the craze for thrillers in 1950s France and made it one of the most popular and enduring genres.
From its birth in 1895, cinema has been an essential part of French culture. Now it is one of the most dynamic, versatile and important of the arts in France.
In the 1940s, the shadowy, skewed visual style of 1920s German expressionism was taken up by directors of American thrillers and psychological dramas, creating that distinctive film noir look.
Science-fiction came into its own in B-movies of the 1950s, but it remains a respected and popular genre, bursting into the mainstream in the late 1970s.