Le Blé en herbe (1954 film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Le Blé en herbe

| image = le-ble-en-herbe.jpg

| caption =

| writer = Jean Aurenche
(adaptation et dialogue de)
Pierre Bost
(adaptation et dialogue)
Claude Autant-Lara
(adaptation et dialogue de)

| based_on = Colette
(D'après le roman de)

| starring = Edwige Feuillère
Nicole Berger
Pierre-Michel Beck

| music = René Cloërec

| cinematography = Robert Lefebvre

| editing = Madeleine Gug

| color_process = Black and white

| studio = Franco London Films
William Shelton Films Inc.

| distributor = Gaumont Distribution

| released = {{film date|df=yes|1954|01|20|}}

| runtime = 109 minutes

| country = France

| language = French

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Le Blé en herbe (English title: The Immature Grain) is a 1954 French drama film by Claude Autant-Lara based on the 1923 novel of the same name by French novelist Colette. The film stars Edwige Feuillère, Pierre-Michel Beck (as Philippe), Nicole Berger (as Vinca Ferret), Robert Berri and Louis de Funès. It is black and white with a monaural soundtrack.

Plot

The plot involves the relationship between a young man and an older woman,{{cite news | work = New York Times | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | date = May 18, 1954 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/05/18/83333517.pdf | title= Controversial Film Honored }} or in one critic's summary, "an older woman ... introduces a teenager ... to the mysteries of love".{{cite news | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/movies/02movies.html | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | date= July 1, 2010 | title =Film Series and Movies Listings }}

Cast

Edwige Feuillère as Madame Dalleray / la dame en blanc-the lady in white
Nicole Berger as Vinca
Pierre-Michel Beck as Phililippe
Robert Berri as Le brigadier
Simone Duhart as La femme du projectionniste / projectionist's wife
Hélène Tossy as Madame Ferret / la mère de Vinca
Charles Dechamps as Monsieur Ferret / o'oncle
Louis de Funès as projectionist
Renée Devillers as Madame Audebert / la mère de Philippe
Claude Berri as projectionist's son

Marketing

Promotional materials for the film presented it as "the story of two adolescents' love affair and its interruption by an older woman" and called attention to the controversy the film had generated in France.{{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/11/28/96510474.pdf | work = New York Times | date = November 28, 1954 | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | title = Of Pictures and People | first = A.H. | last = Weiler }} Feuillère was born in 1907, Beck in 1938.

Awards

The film was awarded the 1954 {{ill|Grand Prix du Cinéma Français|fr|Grand prix du cinéma français}}

Controversy

In the United States it was subject to a series of attempts to prevent its screening. It received a Class C or "condemned" rating from the Roman Catholic National Legion of Decency.{{cite news | work = New York Times | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | date = January 28, 1955 | title = Of Local Origin | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/01/29/84144835.pdf}} The film was banned in Massachusetts until a court ruling in July 1955 considering the case of Miss Julie, a 1951 Swedish film, held the state's motion picture censorship law unconstitutional.{{cite news | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/07/07/80775833.pdf | work = New York Times | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | date = July 7, 1955 | title = Censoring of Films in Bay State Voided }} Boston officials were unable to ban it but termed it "unwholesomely immoral".{{cite news | work = New York Times | date = August 2, 1955 | title = Boston Passes Film }} A similar ban in Baltimore was overturned by a Maryland court. The film's distributors sued unsuccessfully in federal court to overturn Chicago's ban. Eleven of the twelve jurors who viewed the film with U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Sam Perry supported his assessment that the film was "immoral and obscene".{{cite news | work = New York Times | date = March 22, 1956 | title =U.S. Judge Upholds Chicago Ban on Film }} After the Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, the distributors, the Times Film Corporation, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in November 1957 that the film did not meet the standard the Court used for determining obscenity, that is, appealing to prurient interest. The justices viewed the film and upheld Chicago's obscenity statute but objected to its application to this film.{{cite news | work = New York Times | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | date= November 13, 1957 | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/11/13/84781601.pdf |first= Luther A. | last = Huston | title = High Court Voids Chicago Film Ban }}{{cite news | work = New York Times | accessdate = May 3, 2017 | first = Anthony | last = Lewis | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/11/14/91173133.pdf | date = November 24, 1957 | authorlink= Anthony Lewis | title = Justices Viewed Censored Movie}}