''Fanfan la Tulipe'' is a 1952 French

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

adventure film directed by Christian-Jaque. It has also been categorized under

swashbuckler films Swashbuckler films are a subgenre of the action film genre, often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. Real historical events often feature prominently in the plot, morality is often clear-cu ...

. The film starred Gérard Philipe and

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As o ...

. The film was remade in 2003 with

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British ...

in Lollobrigida's role.

Plot summary

The film is set in France during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

. As the film begins, Fanfan (Gérard Philipe) is a charming, attractive young man who is trying to escape a shotgun marriage. At this vulnerable point in his life, he is approached by the daughter of a recruiting officer, Adeline (played by Gina Lollobrigida), who tells him that if he joins the army, he will find fame, fortune, and will marry the king's daughter. Accordingly, he joins the army, only to discover that she made the whole thing up in order for her father to get a recruiting bonus. Nevertheless, encouraged by a series of improbable circumstances, he accepts her prediction as his destiny. A series of events ensues which shows off to great advantage his athleticism and leadership ability. As the film progresses, we become aware of a developing attraction between himself and Adeline which however conflicts with his perceived "destiny" of marrying a king's daughter.

Cast

* Gérard Philipe as Fanfan la Tulipe *

as Adeline La Franchise * Marcel Herrand as

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

* Olivier Hussenot as Tranche-Montagne * Noël Roquevert as Fier-à-Bras * Henri Rollan as Le maréchal d'Estrées *

Nerio Bernardi Nerio Bernardi (23 July 1899 – 12 January 1971) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1918 and 1970. He was born in Bologna, Italy and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * ''Nero'' (1922) * '' The Shep ...

as La Franchise * Jean-Marc Tennberg as Lebel * Geneviève Page as La marquise de Pompadour * as Henriette de France * Lolita De Silva as La dame d'honneur * Irène Young as Marion *

Georgette Anys Georgette Anys (15 July 1909 – 4 March 1993) was a French film and television actress. A character actress, she appeared mainly in French productions, but also some American films which were shot in Europe including Alfred Hitchcock's '' To Ca ...

as Madame Tranche-Montagne * as Guillot *

Lucien Callamand Lucien Callamand born Lucien Marie Pascal Eugène Callamand (April 1, 1888, in Marseille – December 3, 1968, in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes) was one of the earliest French film actors whose career spanned six decades of French cinema. Between 1909 ...

as Le maréchal de Brandebourg

Production

The film was photographed in black-and-white by Christian Matras. A

colorized Film colorization (American English; or colourisation [British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome moving-picture image ...

version was created (supervised by Sophie Juin for Les Films Ariane) and issued in 2000 on DVD in Europe alongside the original version.René Chateau Vidéo (France), 2000.

Awards

;Won *1952

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

– Silver Berlin Bear *1952

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

– Best Director ;Nominated *1952 Cannes Film Festival – Grand Prize of the Festival

References

External links

* *
Bosley Crowther NY Times Review, 5 May 1953''Fanfan la Tulipe: En Garde!''
an essay by

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanfan La Tulipe 1952 films 1950s adventure comedy films French adventure comedy films 1950s French-language films Films directed by Christian-Jaque Films set in the 1760s Seven Years' War films French swashbuckler films Cultural depictions of Louis XV Cultural depictions of Madame de Pompadour French historical adventure films French historical comedy films 1952 comedy films French black-and-white films 1950s French films