Figure 1.--Most pf the boys wear sneakers (plimsols) or sandals. HBC believes that it is unlikely that this was part of the costuming.

This interesting little French film is set in a run-down suburb of Paris. There are few cars on the road and the ones you do see are pretty old-fashioned. It's about a group of bored children making mischief to fill the days (eg sticking a cat up a tree and then calling the fire brigade so they can watch them get it down!) One of them has a Chinese kite, with a message on a piece of paper in Chinese on it. His mates try to grab it to sell to an antique shop. One night, one of the boys and his sister are visited by a mysterious Chinaman and are promptly floated off on their bed to China in their pyjamas. The Chinaman clicks his fingers and they appear once again in their everyday clothes, and have all sorts of adventures in China. As for clothes details; it's much clearer on the telly than in these grabs. Footwear: mostly plimsoles and various varieties of brown sandals. Trousers: mostly shorts....interestingly, many German-style leders, sometimes rolled up at the bottom. One kid wears jeans, and as is so often the case, age seems to have nothing to do with it; he's by no means the oldest. Shirts: a variety of t-shirts and normal button-up shirts with collars. Headwear: only the Chinese kids seem to go in for that, and then not very often.

Setting

This interesting little French film has two settings, it begins in France and then shifts to China.

Figure 2.--Most of the boys wear short pants even though it is cool enough to wear jackets and sweaters. Shorts were common in the 1960s, but perhaps not as universal as suggested by the film. The director might have suggested that the boys all wear shorts to emphasize their youth.

France

China

The second part of the film is set in China where the French children are magically transported to and have many adventures. Thus the film also has information on the clothes wore by French children. Some of the films also so Chinese boys in their Young Pioneer uniforms.

Story

The film is about a group of bored children making mischief to fill the days (eg sticking a cat up a tree and then calling the fire brigade so they can watch them get it down!) One of them has a Chinese kite, with a message on a piece of paper in Chinese on it. His mates try to grab it to sell to an antique shop. One night, one of the boys and his sister are visited by a mysterious Chinaman and are promptly floated off on their bed to China in their pyjamas. The Chinaman clicks his fingers and they appear once again in their everyday clothes, and have all sorts of adventures in China.

Figure 3.--Notice the sneakers this boy wears. They were similar to the ones worn by British boys, but very different than those worn by American boys.

Filmography

No information is available on the filmography of this movie.

Costuming

HBC believes that there was not a lot of costuming in this movie. The clothes you see are probably the clothes French boys actually wore. Perhaps they were given instrucions to wear short pants to emphasize their childhood. HBC would be interesting in input from French readers who might know how such movies were made.

An HBC contributor reports: "I don't agree with your supposition that the director of the French film may have exaggerated the number of boys in shorts to emphasise their youth; I suspect that as you're in America you may not fully realise the extent to which boys wore shorts by default across Europe, regardless of the weather, up until the early 1980s. (In some cases, the late 80s.)" On the continent in the 70s I remember boys as old as 14 wearing shorts (and I mean very short shorts) all year round, even in the bitterest of winter weather. As far as the films go, the reverse of what you say is often true: I've noticed films where the main characters are in long trousers, but extras, children appearing in the background just passing by and children in crowd scenes are nearly all in short trousers.

HBC reply: It is true that European boys wore shorts much more than American boys. And I do think that the clothes that the boys were weraing were representative. My only point is that by 1958 it was not universal. Even in the 1920s-50s there were some French boys that wore long pants. This was also true in England, although lets keep the focus on France here. (The contributor also describes his English/Belgian experiences.) Certainly shorts were very connon in the 1950s and 1960s, but this began to change in the 1970s both in England and on the Continent. [For newcomers to HBC, it is our practice to upload comments even if they question HBC's assessments. HBC believes that out of these exchanges were come a better undersdtanding of fashion trends.]

Figure 4.--Many of the boys do not wear socks with their sneakers. Most boys do wear socks with open toe sandals. Click on the image to see a boy who rolled down his kneesocks.

Clothing

As for clothes details; it's much clearer on the telly than in these grabs. Note how muted the colors are. Only one boy wears a bright red shirt.

Headwear

Note none of the boys wear berets or for that matter other types of caps. Only the Chinese kids seem to go in for that, and then not very often.

Jackets

A few boys wear casual jackets. One boy appears to wear a suit jacket. Suit jackets would have been more common in the 1940s as many boys didnt have extensive wardrobes with casual jackets. It looks sunny, but the jackets suggest it is a little chilly. Even so, almost all the boys wear short pants.

Sweaters

Many boys wear sweaters, both sleeved sweaters or sleeveless types. The sweater vests worn by several of the characters were interesting and very characteric of this period. Note that the boys wear sweaters with short pants.

Figure 5.--The length of the short pants in this film were fairly standard. This suggests that this was a widely accepted style in France. Click on the image for another scene.

Shirts

Shirts: a variety of t-shirts and normal button-up shirts with collars.

Trousers: mostly shorts....interestingly, many German-style lederhosen, sometimes rolled up at the bottom. The shorts appear to have a bit of a cuff or are rolled up slightly. One kid wears jeans, and as is so often the case, age seems to have nothing to do with it; he's by no means the oldest.

Footwear

Many boys wear sneakers (plimsoles). They look forward to the black plimsols wore in England, but are quite different than American sneakers. Many boys wear varieties of brown (not colored) sandals. They wear open toed styles, always worn with socks. Another boy wears sandals with crossing straps. The dark blue shoes worn by at least one of the characters look rather like a very French style of shoe, the espadrille. These are the slip-ons with a rounded front and rather low near the back. The heel is low, too. Men and women both wear this shoe, which I believe is from Provence.

Socks

Note that none of the boys wear kneesocks, at least none wear them pulled up. Some boys seem to roll them down. HBC believes this was probably not a costuming decission, but the way boys were actually wearing them. The socks worn by the boys are for the most part ankle socks, and mostly white. straps.

Figure 6.--An occasional boy wears long pants. This boy weas longs with sandals. Click on the image for another view.

Figure 7.--THe boys seem to be having a fight over their kite. Click on the image for another view.

Created: August 21, 2000
Last updated: August 23, 2000