I don't know when it was that I saw this film on television. Many years ago. And I'm now 72. But I always remembered this film, hoping to see it again. It was only now that I found it on You Tube, the whole, unedited film. Not a great print, but still my only chance of seeing it again.
I was surprised how many things in the film I remembered after decades -- particularly the toy at the end, the elephant, and the admission by the laundress that she had lied in order to get the boy adopted. Obviously this film made quite an impression on me all those years ago.
This is one of Bing's most serious roles. No light comedy here. It's NOT a musical, although a couple of songs are mixed in that have a purpose and so they don't seem very out of place. It's a fine performance, despite that Bing's age -- he was about 50 at the time -- was too old for the role...but that didn't bother me at all. He's that good here.
This is very much Bing's picture. He is the sole focus...aside from the little boy who's lost. That little boy seems right for the role...lost in what must have been a maze following the war with no parent and only an orphanage. Claude Dauphin plays a friend of Crosby's character and does fine, but it's in some of Crosby's exchanges with Dauphin's character when we see just how dramatic Crosby can be with just a look. Some will say it's because Crosby's first wife was dying at the time; difficult to say, but the looks he gave here were very effective. Gabrielle Dorziat was excellent here as the Catholic mother superior who ran the orphanage. We don't see much of Nicole Maurey here as the love interest...she dies fairly early in the film..but she did well.
Really a small, but excellent film, and yes, filmed mostly in Paris.
I was surprised how many things in the film I remembered after decades -- particularly the toy at the end, the elephant, and the admission by the laundress that she had lied in order to get the boy adopted. Obviously this film made quite an impression on me all those years ago.
This is one of Bing's most serious roles. No light comedy here. It's NOT a musical, although a couple of songs are mixed in that have a purpose and so they don't seem very out of place. It's a fine performance, despite that Bing's age -- he was about 50 at the time -- was too old for the role...but that didn't bother me at all. He's that good here.
This is very much Bing's picture. He is the sole focus...aside from the little boy who's lost. That little boy seems right for the role...lost in what must have been a maze following the war with no parent and only an orphanage. Claude Dauphin plays a friend of Crosby's character and does fine, but it's in some of Crosby's exchanges with Dauphin's character when we see just how dramatic Crosby can be with just a look. Some will say it's because Crosby's first wife was dying at the time; difficult to say, but the looks he gave here were very effective. Gabrielle Dorziat was excellent here as the Catholic mother superior who ran the orphanage. We don't see much of Nicole Maurey here as the love interest...she dies fairly early in the film..but she did well.
Really a small, but excellent film, and yes, filmed mostly in Paris.