There's much here to remind us of The African Queen (made around the same time) in the two leads, a drunk living in filthy rags and a classy, well-dressed woman who together do something worthwhile. This is a wonderful melange of older and newer talents; Jean Aurenche and Michele Morgan had both enjoyed success in the thirties - Aurenche co-wrote Carne's Hotel du Nord whilst Morgan co-starred in Carne's Quai des Brumes - whilst Philippe and Allegret enjoyed THEIR first successes in the forties, in fact they worked together on Une si jolie petite plage as well as scoring separately with such titles as Dedee d'Anvers and Le Diable au corps. Together they make a formidable quartet in a story about redemption into which it's possible to read a religious subtext if you're so inclined. This is French film-making at its best and I can only endorse other commenters who have bewailed the (thankfully short-lived) emergence of the New Wave later in the decade. One to cherish.
Review of The Proud and the Beautiful
