Le Bataillon du ciel

Le Bataillon du ciel (Sky Battalion) is a 1947 French film in two parts by Alexander Esway about the Second World War. The film, written by Joseph Kessel, became the biggest box office success in France that year with more than 8 million tickets sold.[1]

Sky Battalion
Directed byAlexander Esway
Written byJoseph Kessel
Produced byWilfrid Baumgartner
Raymond Borderie
Adrien Remaugé
StarringRaymond Bussières
Howard Vernon
Pierre Blanchar
CinematographyNicolas Hayer
Edited byLéonide Azar
Music byManuel Rosenthal
Maurice Thiriet
Distributed byPathé
Release dates
8 March 1947 (I, They are no Angels)
April 1947 (II, The land of France)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

The first part, Ce ne sont pas des anges (They are no Angels) was released on 8 March 1947, the second part Terre de France (The land of France) one month later. The total length is 3 hours and 20 minutes. It tells the story of French parachute troops who train in Free France and then land in Brittany the day before the Normandy landings to fight against the Germans.[2][3]

Despite being one of the few films to deal with the resistance against the German occupation from within Free France (the most important other one being Taxi for Tobruk), it was cited a lot less in studies of French films dealing with the Second World War than films about either the resistance within occupied France, or the efforts by the Allies.[4]

Cast

Notes
  1. Fournier Lanzoni, René (2004). French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present. A&C Black. p. 432. ISBN 9780826416001.
  2. "Le bataillon du ciel" (in French). Allociné. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  3. Gheorghiu-Cernat, Manuela (1983). Arms and the Film: War-and-peace in European Films. Meridiane. p. 229.
  4. Muracciole, Jean-François (2013). Les français libres, l'autre résistance. Tallandier. ISBN 9791021002302.

Further reading
  • Lindeperg, Sylvie (1997). Les écrans de l'ombre: la Seconde Guerre mondiale dans le cinéma francais (1944-1969). CNRS éditions. ISBN 9782271054517.
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