The Grand Maneuver

The Grand Maneuver is a 1955 French comedy-drama romance film written and directed by René Clair, and starring Michèle Morgan and Gérard Philipe. It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Summer Manoeuvres, and in the United States under the title The Grand Maneuver. It is a romantic comedy-drama set in a French provincial town just before World War I, and it was René Clair's first film to be made in colour. Plot Armand de la Verne, a lieutenant in the French cavalry and a notorious seducer, undertakes a bet that he will "obtain the favours" of a woman selected secretly by lot, before his company departs for its summer manoeuvres in a month's time. His target turns out to be Marie-Louise Rivière, a Parisian divorcée who runs a milliner's shop, and who is also being courted by the serious and respectable Victor Duverger. Marie Louise's growing attraction towards Armand is tempered by her discoveries about his reputation, while Armand's calculated strategy becomes undermined by his genuine emotions. A subplot follows the parallel but simpler courtship of Armand's friend and fellow officer Félix and Lucie, the young daughter of a photographer. Cast Michèle Morgan as Marie-Louise Rivière Gérard Philipe as Le lieutenant Armand de la Verne Jean Desailly as Victor Duverger Pierre Dux as Le Colonel Jacques Fabbri as L'ordonnance d'Armand Jacques François as Rodolphe Yves Robert as Le lieutenant Félix Leroy Brigitte Bardot as Lucie Lise Delamare as Juliette Duverger Jacqueline Maillan as Jeanne Duverger, une soeur de Victor Magali Noël as Thérèse, la chanteuse (as Magali Noel) Simone Valère as Gisèle Monnet (as Simone Valere) Catherine Anouilh as Alice, la fille du préfet Madeleine Barbulée as La dame au chapeau jaune Dany Carrel as Rose-Mousse Gabrielle Fontan as Mélanie, la bonne des Duverger Viviane Gosset as La colonelle Judith Magre as Emilienne Arlette Thomas as Amélie, la bonne de Marie-Louise Raymond Cordy as Le photographe Olivier Hussenot as Le préfet Jacques Jouanneau as L'ordonnance de Félix Jacques Morel as Monsieur Monnet Palau as Arthur (as Pierre Palau) Claude Rich as Le fiancé d'Alice Daniel Sorano as Le maître d'armes Production In René Clair's own words, "Love is the only concern of Les Grandes Manœuvres", and he added that the film was one of the countless variations to be made on the inexhaustible theme of Don Juan.