El coronel Chabert

A good adaptation of the Balzac novel.Raimu -who forgets for a while his Provençal accent- was not exactly the character but the last sequence in the old people home where he meets again the Grognards,the campaigners of Napoleon's army is one of his finest signatures.

In several respects ,this is a political story: under Louis the Eighteenth's reign,there was no room anymore for the nobility Napoleon the First had created from start to finish :consequence of the French Revolution when all the nobles emigrated ,since July 1789.

When Chabert who was reported missing after a battle,emerged again,he was burdensome for his "widow" (Marie Bell) who got married again,and with a count ,a descendant of the old aristocracy at that.

Le Henaff was to direct again Raimu in "les Gueux Aux Paradis" (1945)