This came up in another thread yesterday because it included a nude scene in an era when little nudity was to be found. American films were just about nudity-free for nearly 30 years starting in the summer of 1934, but other parts of the world were less inhibited.
This is a French drama created by two of the giants of cinema in the 30s and 40s – Marcel Carné (director) and Jacques Prévert (writer). Although acclaimed as one of the greatest films of the 1930s, and considered the prototypical example of French poetic realism, there was a time when it was nearly lost to us forever.
Le jour se lève was released in France in June 1939 and shown in the US the following year. In France, however, the film was banned in 1940 by the Vichy government on the grounds it was demoralizing. After the war’s end, the film was shown again to wide acclaim.
In 1947, it was again suppressed when RKO Radio Pictures wanted to remake the film in Hollywood (as The Long Night). The company acquired the distribution rights of the French film and sought to buy up and destroy every copy of the film that they could obtain. For a time it was feared that they had been successful and that the film was lost, but it re-appeared in the 1950s and has subsequently stood alongside Les Enfants du paradis as one of the finest achievements of the partnership of Carné and Prévert.
The plot:
Francois, a sympathetic factory worker, kills Valentin with a gun. He locks himself in his furnished room, awaits his fate, and starts to remember how he was led to murder. He met once Francoise, a young fleurist, and they fell in love, but Francoise was apparently seduced by Valentin a cold, machiavellian guy. Alone in his room and out of cigarettes, François realizes he has no hope of escape. The police decide to throw tear gas into François’s room in an attempt to subdue him, but just before they do, François commits suicide by shooting himself in the heart.
So … a comedy?
The nudity:
Arletty (Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat) is often cited for her famous response to accusations of collaboration with the German occupation by having an affair with a Luftwaffe officer: “My heart is French, but my ass is international.” Her wit didn’t help her avoid a conviction and jail sentence. She was found guilty of treason, but served only two months in the calaboose, after which she managed to work in French films for another decade or so, until failing eyesight forced her into retirement. Her eyes may have given out, but the rest of her body seemed to be pretty healthy, since she was still alive in the 1990s.
I’ve always wondered how common nudity was in Nazi German movies considering 3 of the most well known German movies of that era: “Olympia”, “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”, and “Jud Suss” all feature nude scenes. I’ve tried to look up if nude scenes in Nazi era movies has ever been documented anywhere on the internet but can never find anything.
Every summer In the late 1930s, the Nazis held a Night of the Amazons parade. The parade featured many beautiful topless German women as a celebration of the German nation. I remember seeing video from it on a documentary years ago, but I forget the name of the documentary. Night of the Amazons has a Wikipedia page and images from the event can be found by searching.
Also, Eva Braun’s sister was well known to enjoy nude sunbathing and Eva Braun’s home videos can be found containing footage of her naked sister. No one seems to be sure as to whether any of the nude images are actually of Eva herself as they do look very similar.
Germans did invent modern nudism – also, Hitler died a virgin with one ball
Here’s Münchhausen (1943) in 4K