Fact 1:Claude Autant-Lara's mother was a pacifist activist.She was a thespian of la Comedy Française and she was fired because of her opinions in WW1.She was even jailed.
When it was released,"le Diable au Corps" caused a scandal;well-meaning people were saying that the Army ,the Red Cross,the soldiers and their wives were dragged through the mud.Autant Lara was a rebel at the time:conformism was not his way ,as such works as "Douce" had already shown.Raymond Radiguet's novel was tailor made for him.
Gerard Philipe was too old for the part:he was supposed to be 17,and he was actually born the same year as his co-star Micheline Presles!That's why such lines as "When you're young,I'll be old" cannot be taken too seriously by those who know the two French actors.But anyway Philippe's youthful looks can delude people quite well.
The film is a long flashback,with a prologue ,a scene in the middle of the film and an epilogue in the present.François attends her lover's funeral .Autant-Lara ,who was first a film editor ,makes the best of the sound effects and the fuzziness of the pictures when he introduces the three long flashbacks.This woman was married to a soldier gone to war.
Lines have warned us before the cast and credits;in brief,this is par excellence a romantic movie;some scenes are quite remarkable:
-The lovers in front of the fireplace,then boating on the lake where they are not sheltered from the outside world .
-The landing-stage ,which plays a prominent part in the story:when she leaves,it may be the last goodbye;the night they pretend they did not come to the rendezvous (and they both did).
- Marthe's coffin taken out of the church,when the crowd cries out of joy ,rejoices and applauds.Is it to celebrate the Armistice or to the adulteress 'death."Now,it's women's turn to die" a man yells.
FACT2: in the late fifties ,A.L.,who had not yet lost his bite,planned to make a movie about a burning subject:the contentious objector "Tu ne tueras Point".Gerard Philippe had agreed to play the lead,but he died before the movie could begin to be filmed (the censorship was harsh in the Algeria War years)and was replaced by Laurent Terzieff.
As an user points out,"Le Diable Au Corps" seems to have vanished into thin air.It has not been screened for years (more than 20 years).Is it because of the remake?Or like "Tu ne Tueras Point" which was never broadcast,is the subject still too scandalous?
FACT 3:A.L could never get over the Nouvelle Vague's (and others)attacks and if my memory serves me well,he gave some of his works to the Swiss government -"cause there(France) they ignore me,they despise me"-As an user wrote,he did support the far right wing circa 1980 till his death.(in spite of such works as "Le Franciscain de Bourges" (1967) an extraordinary performance by Hardy Kruger playing a Nazi priest,a saint in a living hell)
