A working-class auto mechanic and his wife become enrapt with an emergent vision and goal: that the wife should compete in an aviation contest and seek a women's flying record. The sweeping, luminous drama was seemingly well-suited to the Vichy period, with its themes of escape and freedom, and skirted official sanction with its covert deployment of those themes in a story of personal triumph.
16mm, b/w, in French with English subtitles, 105 min. Production: Les Films Raoul Ploquin. Distribution: Consortium du Film. Producer: Raoul Ploquin. Director: Jean Grémillon. Screenwriter: Albert Valentin, Charles Spaak. Cinematographer: Louis Page. Production Design: Max Douy. Editor: Louisette Hautecoeur. Composer: Roland Manuel. With: Madeleine Renaud, Charles Vanel, Jean Debucourt, Léonce Corne, Anna Vandenne.