Parade en 7 nuits (1941)
Directed by Marc Allégret

Film Review

Parade en sept nuits is an early example of the portmanteau anthology film that was to become enormously popular with French cinema audiences in the 1950s, although its episodic format was the result of practical expediency rather than artistic choice.  (Previous French anthology films included Julien Duvivier's Un carnet de bal (1937) and Raymond Bernard's Cavalcade d'amour (1940).)  Immediately prior to this, director Marc Allégret had had to abandon a film adaptation of Marcel Achard's play Le Corsaire when most of his cast were mobilised at the start of WWII.  To minimise disruption and avoid another cancellation, Allégret's next film was conceived as a series of sketches linked by a common theme.  Actors would only be required for short periods of time, so Allégret could be sure to hire a star-studded cast which could only enhance the film's commercial possibilities.

Filming began at Pathé's rue Francoeur studios in Paris but, after just a few weeks, shifted to the famous Victorine studios in Nice, allowing Allégret to avail himself of a wide pool of acting talent in the Free Zone.  Joining a cast of established stars such as Jean-Louis Barrault, Raimu, Jules Berry and Micheline Presle, is a young Louis Jourdan at the start of his prominent screen career.  Here Jourdan is romantically partnered with Presle, prefiguring their unforgettable pairing in the director's later film, Félicie Nanteuil (1945).  Parade en sept nuits is not the most artistically inspired of Marc Allégret's films but the abundance of so many great actors (to say nothing of the talking dogs) makes it an irresistible treat.

Film Synopsis

Anicet, an employee in the municipal dog pound, has become so attached to the dogs under his care that he is convinced they can talk to themselves.  One night, one dog, Pipo, begins to tell his companions his life story.  His first owner was Freddy, a clown with the Romani circus.  Freddy was in love with Irène, but when she humiliated him he killed himself during his high-wire act.  Pipo was then adopted by a bourgeois family.  Convinced that his wife is having an affair with another man, Pipo's new owner, Édouard, recited all of the names of the saints so that the dog could identify his rival with a bark.  Édouard finally chose his wife over his dog, and Pipo ended up back in the street again...