Péchés de jeunesse (1941)

Director:

Maurice Tourneur

Writers:

Michel Duran (adaptation)
Michel Duran (dialogue)

Release Date:

24 January 1944 (Sweden)

Plot:

Cast

Harry Baur	...	Monsieur Lacalade
Guillaume de Sax	...	Le docteur Pelletan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pierre Bertin	...	Gaston Noblet
Jean Bobillot	...	Lucien Noblet
Jean-Marie Boyer	...	Philippe
Jean Buquet	...	Frédéric
Georges Chamarat	...	Fernand Noblet
Andrée Champeaux	...	Simone, la serveuse
Yvette Chauviré	...	Gabrielle
Suzanne Dantès	...	Louise Noblet
Bernard Daydé	...	André
Lise Delamare	...	Madeleine
Henri de Livry	...	Le placeur à l'opéra
Carmen Deraisy	...	La chiromancienne
Lucien Desagneaux	...	Un admirateur
Marguerite Ducouret	...	Emma Vacheron
Gabrielle Fontan	...	L'habilleuse
Mona France	...	Une admiratrice
Michel François	...	Maurice
Jeanne Fusier-Gir	...	Henriette Noblet
Janie Grazia	...	Un serveuse
Hennery	...	Un spectateur
Monique Joyce	...	Miss Florence
Palmyre Levasseur	...	La cuisinière
Marcel Maupi	...	Le commissaire (as Maupi)
Marcel Melrac	...	Le chauffeur
Clary Monthal	...	Marthe Noblet
Marcelle Monthil	...	Mademoiselle Archimbaud
Noëlle Norman	...	L'infirmière
Julienne Paroli	...	La couturière
Fred Pasquali	...	Edmond Vacheron (as Pasquali)
Marcel Pérès	...	Le bonimenteur
Marcelle Rexiane	...	Jeanne Noblet
Robert Rollis	...	Le groom
Nina Sinclair	...	Adèle, la servante
Eugène Stuber	...	Un forain
Jacques Varennes	...	Firmin, le maître d'hôtel
Jules Vibert	...	Delormel, le critique
Yvonne Yma	...	La grosse spectatrice

Also Known As:

Sins of Youth (USA)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Continental Films

Adam Had Four Sons

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

this was the last film that the great Harry Baur made in France and the next-to-last film he made anywhere for having completed it he was conned into travelling to Germany to shoot what would prove to be his 79th and last movie after which he was tortured to death by the Nazis. Given these tragic circumstances one may be tempted to praise the final French film irrespective of whether or not it was up to snuff but I'm delighted to say that it is an excellent effort even if a tad derivative - a few years earlier Julien Duvivier had made one of his finest films as well as one of the finest of the thirties, Un Carnet de bal, in which a middle-aged woman sets out to trace the partners on her first dance card; now,with a little spin Harry Baur, acutely aware of time's winged chariot drawing near, sets out on a similar quest but in this case his quarries are the four sons he fathered by four separate women in his salad days. Predictably things don't go to plan but we do get four well-crafted stories for the price of one and as if that weren't enough the ubiquitous Gabrielle Fontan is on hand to add a touch of class. Baur was a credit to the French film industry and is as irreplaceable as Raimu, Michel Simon or Gabin and his final French film leaves an enduring memory