A Cage of Nightingales (French: La Cage aux rossignols) is a 1945 French film directed by Jean Dréville. It was the second most popular movie at the French box office that year and gained a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Story.
Its plot is directly inspired by that of an actual educational centre, called Ker Goat, where Jacques Dietz, Roger Riffier and their teams worked to help children in difficulty through choral singing and innovative teaching methods. The film later served as an inspiration for the film The Chorus (2004), starring the French actor Gérard Jugnot and directed by Christophe Barratier.
Contents
Synopsis
Clement Mathieu seeks to publish his novel without success. With the help of a friend who is a journalist, his story about the 'Cage of Nightingales' is slipped surreptitiously into a newspaper...
In France, in the 1930s, a supervisor at a rehabilitation house awakens difficult teens' inner musical tendencies by forming a choir, despite the director's skepticism. Later, this experience is reported in a novel in a major newspaper.
Cast
Noël-Noël as Clément Mathieu
Micheline Francey as Micheline
Georges Biscot as Raymond
René Génin as Father Maxence
René Blancard as Monsieur Rachin
Marguerite Ducouret as Micheline's mother
Marcelle Praince as the President
Marthe Mellot as Marie
Georges Paulais as Monsieur Langlois
André Nicolle as Monsieur de la Frade
Richard Francoeur as Monsieur de Mézères
Jean Morel as the director
Roger Vincent as the Academician
Michel François as Lequerec
Roger Krebs as Laugier
Choir - Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois