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The production as a whole is unpretentious, singularly free from novelty technique and obviously inexpensive. In no other country but France would such a theme be considered movie, and yet it teaches every producer in Britain and America the value of psychology and treatment in movie-approach. Apart from its general appeal, which should be wide, it is a film which I would like shown to every school-teacher and worker in child-welfare organizations. They would find much to learn.
Paul Roth a.
POIL DE CAROTTE
Production: Vandal and Delluc. Direction: Duvivier. Photograph): Thiraud and Monniot. Montage: Marthe Poncin. With Robert Lynen, Fetix-Baur, etc.
This is a film which is particularly hard to assess. It has much which gives pleasure and much which is ridiculous; an odd mixture of the vices and virtues of cinema. If I recommend it, it is because Duvivier has something which the makers of other child films at the moment lack. If I abuse it, it is because there is so much nonsense about its character-drawing and because the case which it puts is surely unique and bears little relation to the wide problem of child-psychology. From the beginning we feel that this eccentric family cannot exist, that such conditions as those which drive young Poil de Garotte to attempt suicide are falsely conceived. Yet, despite this unbelief, Duvivier has created such a background with his trees and clouds and animals that portions of the film draw breath and for a fleeting moment exist. There are some great moments, moments which will remain in your mind, such as the wedding-march across the sun-splashed meadows and the crazy drive home in the gig. But return to the studio and Duvivier returns to his crude background, his stupid, spoilt children, his bearish father, his good-natured uncle, his overdrawn, overacted and exasperating mother — all figures from a fairy book. Not for one moment can we pretend that he deals seriously with the complexities of childhood or that he creates in Poil de Carotte a believable child.
It is the same from a technical aspect. Some sequences are delightfully handled, simple and direct; others are absurdly pretentious with trick effects and double-exposures. A great deal has been made of Robert Lynen's performance. Much as I admire his expressive capabilities and undoubted charm, you cannot compare his artificial playing with the naturalness of young Paulette Flambert in La Maternelle. The two men give skilled performances.
Paul Roth a.
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