Die Nacht ist meine Welt (1951)

Die Nacht ist meine Welt: Directed by Georges Lacombe. With Jean Gabin, Simone Valère, Gérard Oury, Jacques Dynam. After an accident Raymond has gone blind. His family treats him like a child. Fortunately, a nun comes to his rescue. She works in a center where blind people learn to read with the Braille alphabet.

“Gabin won the Volpi Cup at the Venice film festival and he thoroughly deserved it.u0026quot;La Nuit est mon Royaumeu0026quot;,in spite of occasional snatches of melodrama,is a strong film about blind people .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe title tells the whole story:the night is my kingdom (and not my hell).In the film,all the blind people lead a normal life,they work,they love,they suffer ,but above all,they do not want any pity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat was Raymondu0026#39;s familyu0026#39;s first mistake:after an accident which made him a blind man,the hero is treated like a child .u0026quot;Heu0026#39;s going to break my glasses!u0026quot; mama says u0026quot;You should eat more .Do you want me to cut your meat?u0026quot;.But fortunately ,a nun comes to his rescue.She works in a center where blind people learn to read with the Braille alphabet,but,as the sister tells Raymond,they learn any job they like: cabinet-makers,mechanics,cooks,etc .She will play for Raymond the role Annie Sullivan played for Helen Keller.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd thereu0026#39;s another light that shines on Raymond :in the center,thereu0026#39;s a blind schoolteacher he falls in love with.But sheu0026#39;s the headu0026#39;s fiancée.This rivalry is perhaps the weakness of the film ,but it does produce a marvelous scene: Raymond and the girl are walking though the wood and he confides in her;the jealous suitor is here but of course they cannot see him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGeorges Lacombe was a talented director with a good sense of mystery (which surfaces in this film).He made the best of a good cast:Gabin,Simone Valère,Suzanne Dehelly,Gérard Oury -yes the director who hit the big time with his Bourvil/De Funès comedies-.His movie displayed humanism,close to that of Christian-Jaque and Jean-Paul Le Chanois :a splendid sequence shows a choir of blind people singing u0026quot;Ce Nu0026#39;Est Quu0026#39;un Au Revoir u0026quot; (=u0026quot;Should auld acquaintance be forgot?).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCharles Spaak u0026#39;s dialog ,by and large,rings true.Like his colleague Henri Jeanson,he laughed at the Legion du0026#39;Honneur .After his pompous speech about Raymondu0026#39;s courage,the minister is in a hurry to leave,much to the herou0026#39;s brother-in-lawu0026#39;s disappointment ,he who was counting on him to get a promotion in his bank.”