The French musical: swing and Big Bands in the cinema of the 1940s and 1950s

Abstract

Most film histories do not recognize the musical as a typically French genre. Directors who made musicals, such as René Clair and Jacques Demy, are more often than not seen as auteurs rather than as contributors to a specific genre. It is generally forgotten that musicals were as popular in the French cinema during the 1940s and 1950s as they were in Hollywood. The films of Tino Rossi, Luis Mariano and Ray Ventura were amongst the bestselling films of the 1935–55 period. This essay will focus on the films of Ray Ventura, which echo the swing and Big Band films of Hollywood, but which have a distinctively French flavour, given their links with French vaudeville and music hall traditions. It will outline the codes of the genre in their French context, with a particular emphasis on the interaction between narrative and musical numbers, and show how the films demonstrate a tension between the old and the new, the romantic couple and the community, and between France and the USA. It will finally focus on a single case study, the best-selling French film of 1950, Nous irons à Paris/We Will All Go to Paris (Jean Boyer).

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