Babette Goes to War | |
---|---|
Directed by | Christian-Jaque |
Written by | Raoul Lévy Gérard Oury Michel Audiard |
Starring | Brigitte Bardot |
Cinematography | Armand Thirard |
Music by | Gilbert Bécaud |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Country | France |
Language | French |
Box office | 4,657,610 admissions (France) [1] |
Babette Goes to War (French : Babette s'en va-t-en guerre) is a 1959 French CinemaScope film starring Brigitte Bardot. It was Bardot's first movie since becoming a star where she did not take off her clothes. [2]
In 1940, during the German invasion of France, a young woman called Babette flees on a boat to England. She is desperate to help the Free French, who end up parachuting her back into the country on a mission to thwart the German invasion of England.
Bardot had meant to make a film in Hollywood called Paris by Night with Frank Sinatra and Roger Vadim but did not want to go to America. Producer Raoul Levy came up with another idea, a film about a young girl who becomes involved with the Resistance called Babette Goes to War. Levy assigned Vadim to work on the script with an American writer. Vadim's film The Night Heaven Fell was released and performed poorly, so Levy replaced Vadim as director with Christian Jacques. [3]
In September 1958 it was announced Peter Viertel was working on the script. [4] By October Christian Jacque was attached as director. [5] David Niven was mentioned as a possible co star. [6]
The film was the first in a three-picture deal Levy had with Columbia, two of which were to star Bardot. The studio would invest $2.5 million. (Columbia helped finance the hugely successful Bardot-Levy movie And God Created Woman .) Gerard Philippe was the original co star announced. [7] This deal later expanded to cover three years. [8]
Levy said he came up with the idea of Bardot keeping on her clothes because it was unexpected. "Everything there is to show has been shown," said the producer. [9]
Filming took place in February and March 1959. Bardot and Jacques Charrier had an affair during filming that led to Bardot falling pregnant and them getting married. [1] Bardot was briefly ill during filming. [10]
The film had its world premiere at the Moscow Film Festival. It was a big hit with admissions in France of 4,657,610. [1] It was the fourth most popular film at the French box office in 1959, after The Cow and I , Sleeping Beauty and The Green Mare . (It was followed by Some Like It Hot , The Four Hundred Blows , The Magnificent Tramp , North by Northwest , Solomon and Sheba and Black Orpheus . [11]
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot, often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best known sex symbols of the late 1950s and 1960s. Although she withdrew from the entertainment industry in 1973, she remains a major popular culture icon.
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Gérard Philipe was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. Active in both theatre and cinema, he was, until his early death, one of the main stars of the post-war period. His image has remained youthful and romantic, which has made him one of the icons of French cinema.
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Christian Marquand was a French actor, screenwriter and film director. Born in Marseille, he was born to a Spanish father and an Arab mother, and his sister was film director Nadine Trintignant. He was often cast as a heartthrob in French films of the 1950s.
Henri Decaë gained fame as a cinematographer entering the film industry as a sound engineer and sound editor. He was a photojournalist in the French army during World War II. After the war he began making documentary shorts, directing and photographing industrial and commercial films. In 1947 he made his first feature film.
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Jacques Charrier is a French actor in both film and the theater, a film producer, and an artist in painting and ceramics. He was formerly married to film actress Brigitte Bardot.
Julietta is a 1953 French romantic comedy film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Dany Robin, Jean Marais and Jeanne Moreau. The film was based on a novel of Louise de Vilmorin. In United Kingdom the film was known under the title "Julieta" (Mexico), "Biljett till Paris" (Sweden), "Il peccato di Giulietta" (Italy), "Ștrengărița" (Romania).
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Love on a Pillow is a 1962 French film starring Brigitte Bardot and directed by Roger Vadim.
Les Novices is a 1970 French film starring Brigitte Bardot.
Raoul Levy was a French film producer, writer and director best known for a series of movies he made starring Brigitte Bardot. He was born in Antwerp.
Bardot is an upcoming French drama television series about the actress and model Brigitte Bardot. It is created and directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, and stars the newcomer Julia de Nunez in the title role. The six 52-minute episodes are scheduled to be broadcast on France 2 in 2023.