- Country: France
- Genres: Drama
- Release: 1938-10-28
- Director: Fernand Rivers
- Writers: Jean Guitton , Ludovic Halévy , Georges Marret
- Language: French
- Stars: Lys Gauty , Constant Rémy , Jean Martinelli , Marguerite Pierry , Francine Bessy , Dorville , Carlotta Conti , Solange Varenne , Liliane Lesaffre , Arthur Devère
- Runtime: 90 min
- Awards: N/A
- AKA: La goualeuse , Street Singer , O vorvoros (Greece) , La goualeuse (France, French Republic) , La alondra y el milano (Mexico)
- Plot: "La goualeuse " bears more than a distant resemblance to Raymond Bernard's "le coupable"(1936);both were remakes of silent movies ;both are ,of course,melodrama, nothing but melodrama.A "goualeuse" (an obsolete word) is a female street singer , who sings to earn her daily bread : Edith Piaf began her career as a goualeuse ,but many of those gals were in dire straits ,often starving.Lys Gauty only appeared twice on the silver screen and was essentially a successful singer: cine buffs will remember she sang "le chaland qui passe" ,the song featured in Jean Vigo's classic "l'Atalante "(1933-34),included against the director's will.As she was not really a professional actress,Lys Gauty copes well with this part of a doomed gal , living on a barge -another similarity with Vigo's masterpiece .For people who love melodramas,it's a real guilty pleasure ,and in spite of Fernand Rivers' flat direction ,it grabs the viewer from start to finish.There's a fine colorful depiction of the banks of the river Marne where a wedding is to take place ,but the less-than-attractive fiancés stays aside , the main characters are Pierre Duchemin, a young man with a chip on his shoulder and his lover,la goualeuse.Whereas she's resigned to her fate ,he rebels against a society who left him by the wayside .His resentment is intense.In spite of the melodramatic effects ,there's an anarchist side to "la goualeuse"; In the laws court where they are summoned , the humble people who often live on a barge feel the gap between them, humble uneducated people ,and the magistrates ,the wealthy man's lawyer .They are worlds apart .During the trial ,they often involuntary turn the questionings into a farce .For the wealthy man,there's always a providential world; for the illegitimate son and for the girl born in the gutter , the ending leaves no hope; whereas "le coupable" featured a (not very plausible) happy end , "la goualeuse " denouement is close to film noir at its darkest.
- IMDB:tt0169963
Street Singer Cast · · · ALL
Fernand Rivers
Director
Lys Gauty
Marie-Jeanne, la Goualeuse
Constant Rémy
André Laubier
Jean Martinelli
Pierre Duchemin
Marguerite Pierry
Adélaïde Pastoureau
Francine Bessy
Marcelle Laubier
Dorville
Carlotta Conti
Solange Varenne
Liliane Lesaffre
Arthur Devère
Rivers Cadet
Roger Monteaux
Armand Lurville
André Marnay
Marcel Loche
Hugues de Bagratide
Henri Trévoux
Robert Tourneur
André Carnège