''The Heroes Are Tired'' (French: ''Les héros sont fatigués'', German: ''Die Helden sind müde'') is a 1955 French-West German

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Yves Ciampi Yves Ciampi (; 9 February 1921 – 5 November 1982) was a French film director. He was married to Japanese actress Kishi Keiko from 1957 to 1975. His 1965 film '' Heaven on One's Head'' was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Fest ...

and starring

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held stron ...

María Félix María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and ...

and Curt Jürgens.''Halliwell's Film Guide'' p.522 It was shot at the

Joinville Studios The Joinville Studios were a film studio in Paris which operated between 1910 and 1987. They were one of the leading French studios, with major companies such as Pathé and Gaumont making films there. A second studio was added to the original ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and on location in

Anduze Anduze (; oc, Andusa) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.Anduze", Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. II, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1878, p. 24 . The village is at the foot of the Cevennes range, in the limesto ...

, Génicourt and at the Pontoise – Cormeilles Aerodrome. The film's sets were designed by the art director

René Moulaert René Moulaert (1901–1965) was a Belgian art director who worked on designing stage and film sets.Thys p.316 Selected filmography * '' The Marriage of Mademoiselle Beulemans'' (1932) * '' Strange Inheritance'' (1943) * '' Night Shift'' (1944) ...

. For his performance Jürgens was awarded the

Volpi Cup for Best Actor The Volpi Cup for Best Actor ( it, Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile) is the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the Venice Film ...

at the 16th Venice International Film Festival. It is also known by the

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

''Heroes and Sinners''.

Synopsis

In a country in Africa, a former French fighter pilot (Yves Montand) who became a bush pilot realises that he is smuggling a significant quantity of diamonds. He decides to sell them for his own benefit. Meanwhile, the diamond owner gets a former German fighter pilot (Curt Jürgens) to recover them. The two men become friends when they discover that they fought in the same place. They drink together and relive the good times of the war where they were heroes.

Cast

as Michel Rivière * Curt Jürgens as Wolf Gerke *

as Manuella *

Jean Servais Jean Servais (; 24 September 1910 – 17 February 1976) was a Belgian film and stage actor. He acted in many 20th century French cinema productions, from the 1930s through the early 1970s. He was married to Gilberte Graillot, and later act ...

as François Séverin * Elisabeth Manet as Nina * Gert Fröbe as Hermann * Hans Verner as Olsen * Manolo Montez as Pépé * Rudy Castell as Rudi *

Gordon Heath Gordon Heath (September 20, 1918 – August 27, 1991) was an American actor and musician who narrated the animated feature film ''Animal Farm'' (1954) and appeared in the title role of ''The Emperor Jones'' (1953) and ''Othello'' (1955), both l ...

as Sidney * Gérard Oury as Villeterre * Harry-Max as Harry-Max

References

Bibliography

*Walker-Morrison, Deborah. ''Classic French Noir: Gender and the Cinema of Fatal Desire''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. * Miller, John (ed.) ''Halliwell's Film Guide''. Scribner's, 1996.

External links

* 1955 films 1950s adventure drama films French adventure drama films Films directed by Yves Ciampi Films set in Africa 1955 drama films German adventure drama films French black-and-white films German black-and-white films 1950s French films 1950s German films 1950s French-language films French-language German films Pathé films Films scored by Louiguy {{1950s-France-film-stub