My Gleanings

Saturday, February 23, 2008

When I had originally published this post, I had not been able to find any evidence in Cahiers du Cinema that either Until They Sail or This Could Be the Night both Wise films and both released in the USA in 1957 and in Europe about a year later had ever been released in France. Since then, while trying to run down the release of William Wyler's The Children's Hour, I found that This Could Be the Night had been released in France in late 1961 some four after its release in America and three after it was released in Europe, And then, while trying to find information about the film critic Raymond Borde, I was lead to the site for the Cinématheque de Toulouse which he founded and there I discovered the Cineressources site, where I was able to find the French release date for Until They Sail which had been released in France in the spring of 1961, likewise long after its USA and European release.

Until They Sail

The "Films released in Paris" section of the May 1961 issue of Cahiers du Cinema capsulize this film:

The romantic adventures (with GIs) of four Englishwomen in New Guinea (sic). Wise abandons his customary tricks in favor of undiluted platitiude.

On the conseil des dix, two Cahiers critics - Eric Rohmer and André Labarthe - gave the film 1 star and two others - Jacques Rivette and Jean Douchet - bulleted the film. Four non-Cahiers critics - Jean de Baroncelli, Morvan Lebesque, Claude Mauriac and Georges Sadoul - gave it 1 star for a total of 6 stars while the other non-Cahiers critics - Michel Aubriant and Pierre Marcabru - bulleted the film.


This Could Be the Night
Not reviewed in Cahiers. The comment in the "Films released in Paris" section in September 1961 read:
A virginal schoolteacher becomes a secretary in a nightclub and wishes to remain so. This standard situation and these standard characters have found an adequate director.

In the conseil des dix that month, Jean Douchet gave the film 1 star while Jacques Rivette, Bertrand Tavernier, and Michel Mardore all bulleted the film. Luc Moullet, Fereydoun Hoveyda, and André Labarthe all abstained. (End of summer conseils were usually dominated by Cahiers regulars.) Henri Agel gave the film 2 stars.