Si tous les gars du monde
France / West Germany,
1955, 110 min
Shown in 1957
CREDITS
- dir
-
Christian-Jaque
- scr
-
Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jean Ferry
- cam
-
Armand Thirard
- mus
-
Georges van Parys
- cast
-
André Valmy, Jean Gaven, Georges Poujouly, Doudou Babet, Marc Cassot, Pierre Goutas, Jean Daurand, Hélène Perdrière
- prod co
-
Les Films Ariane; Filmsonor S.A.; Cinétel
- source
-
Buena Vista Pictures (dubbed)
-
COMMENTS
Based on a story by Henri-Georges Clouzot; Christian-Jaque is a hyphenated first name; he went by first name only.
OTHER
Directed by Christian-Jaque with a nice feeling for detail as well as for movement, the picture is concerned with the remarkably successful cooperation among individuals in a crisis which knits them together, although they are spread out from Africa to the North Sea. The story tells of some French fishermen on a ship three days out from shore who are suddenly stricken with food poisoning. Their radio refuses to function and the worried captain decides to try sending short wave call for help. A radio ham in Africa hears the plea, and summons a doctor to the transmitter to give medical advice. He tells the captain that serum must be obtained within 12 hours or all who are poisoned will be dead. A hysterical crew member illogically blames the ship’s predicament on the fact that the have an Arab on board whom he considers bad luck. The Muslim, however, is the only person spared from the poisoning since his religion forbade him to eat the same as the others. This fact helps save their lives. Based on a true story, the film was previously a Golden Laurel winner at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
—Theresa Loeb Cone, Oakland Tribune
FACTOID #14
The longest film at the Festival, Sátántangó directed by Béla Tarr, screened in 1995. This Hungarian black comedy clocked in at 435 minutes (just over seven hours).
