Figure 1.--Boys are pictured here wearing both long and short pants suits. Notice how baggy the long pants are. |
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The original French title of this film is Les Diaboliques. I think that would translate as The Devils. The film was released in 1954 and the clothes worn by the children are a good reflection of French boys' clothes at mid-decade. It is a very good thriller set in a seedy French boarding school. The tale involves the headmaster and his wife in a murder plot. A film guide discribes it as "A sadistic headmaster's wife and mistress conspire to murder him; but his body disappears and evidence of his presence haunts them." The film appeared in a German version as Die Tauflischen.
The original French title of this film is Les Diaboliques. I think that would translate as The Devils. The film was released in 1954. It is a very good thriller, a classic in French cinma. It was made by ???, the French Alfred Hitchcock, It is set in a seedy private French boarding school. The film appeared in a German version as Die Tauflischen.
The cast included some of France's best known actors: Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot Paul Maurisse, and Charles Vanel. One of the instructors, Monsieur Raimond, is played by Michel Serrault, familiar to many film watchers as the flamboyant Albin of the "La Cage Aux Folles" films. I'm not sure about the children. A bit of trivia: one of the schoolboys in "Les D" also appeared in "The Happy Road". He's the fellow in "The Happy Road" who throws the soccer ball with Danny and schemes to bring Danny and Jeannine food from the family picnic. He is the boy seen here The boy in the striped shirt, seen between the boy in the lab-type smock and the boy in dark shorts (figure 2). The young actor's name is Yves-Marie Maurin (1944- ) who plays Moinet. He was uncredited in "The Happy Road".
Only basic inforamtion is available on the plot of the film. The tale involves the headmaster and his wife in a murder plot. A film guide discribes it as "A sadistic headmaster's wife and mistress conspire to murder him; but his body disappears and evidence of his presence haunts them." A reader writes, "In an institution intended for the education of the young boys, Christina and Nicole, respectively wife and mistress of the
director Michel Delasalle, join in order to assassinate the man that they ended up hating. But a few days after their misdeed, the body of Michel disappears."
"Les Diaboliques" is set at a boys' school, the
Institute Delasalle, run by Headmaster Michel
Delasalle and his wife, Christina, an instructor.
Everything about the school suggests decay, physical
and moral. Delasalle is a petty tyrant to the
instructors, staff, and boys. He runs the school on
the tightest of budgets. Christina and a colleague,
Nicole Horner, have had enough of Michel and plot to
kill him as the film opens.
Christina and Nicole leave together for a long weekend
at Nicole's home in another town. To carry out their
scheme, Christina phones Michel at the school,
demanding a divorce, a pretext for luring him to his
death. The Headmaster refuses and goes to confront
Christina and Nicole. The women carry out their plan
to drug Michel, then to drown him in the bath tub.
They take the corpse back to the Institute and dump it
in the swimming pool to make it appear that Michel had
accidentally drowned.
Tension rises for Christina and Nicole when events
suggest that Michel may be alive. The suit he was
wearing when he was killed comes back from the dry
cleaners. Moinet, a schoolboy, claims that M.
Delasalle had punished him just him for breaking a
window. After a bit of intrigue, the pool is drained,
and there is no corpse!
Guilt and a weak heart begin to crack Christina's
facade of courage. A retired detective offers his
services to solve the case and is allowed to
investigate. Several more apparent sightings of Michel
follow, before the climax of the film. The last of
these happens to be in the Delasalles' bath tub, when
Michel emerges from a full tub of water and shambles
toward Christina. The shock is too much for her, and
she dies. Now it's clear: Michel and Nicole are lovers
and drove Christina to her death. They have time for
one brief kiss before the retired detective walks in
on them. They're arrested, and it appears that school
is now out of session - indefinitely.
The film has a surprise ending. A little note at the end pleadswith the film goer not to reveal the ending.
The film ws released in 1954. The clothing pictured seems to be a very accuatre depiction of French boys' clothing in the early 1950s. One noticeable observation is how in the mid-1950s while many boys still wore short pants, long pants were becoming increasingly important.
We are not sure to what extent the boys in the film were costumed. We believe that in many European films that boys just wore their own clothes, perhaps ith general guidelines by the director. In particular we do not understand the wide range of clothes worn by the boys at the school. Is this really an accurate representation of the clothes worn at a small private boarding school in the early 1950s.
The images from the film give a good idea how the
schoolboys were costumed. The older boys first appear
in pullover sweaters, or jumpers, long trousers, and
leather shoes. Then, the younger, ages 10 - 12 or so,
appear in shorts and short sleeved shirts. Most of the
younger boys wore either sandals or leather shoes.
Moinet wore sandals without socks or leather shoes
with short socks and short trousers. Some of the boys
wore knee socks with their shorts, some wore short
socks. The school surely had no uniform or dress code.
The boys dressed up for two occasions, when they were
leaving for a long weekend and for a school photo.
Most of the boys wore either a long trousers suit or
unmatched coat and long trousers. A few of the boys,
both younger and older, wore short trousers suits.
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The clothes worn by the children are a good reflection of French boys' clothes during the 1950s. Quite a range of fashions are worn by the boys. Note that unlike most English boarding schools, the boys at this school do not wear school uniforms. Not only do they not wear uniforms, but there is a wide range of clothes. Some boys dress smartly in short and long pants suits. ther boys dress scufilly in "t"-shirts and baggy shorts.
Some of the boys appear in suits. I'm not sure just when suits were worn at school. Some of the suit are smartly tailored. I do not know if they were worn for classes or just for special events. Boys wore both short and long pants suits. Here we note that the school did not require that the boys wear suits. Some boys dressed in "T"-shirts and cruffy shorts. As far as we can tell the boys were llowed to dess however they wanted. We are not sure if this is an accurate depictioin.
The traditional French school smock is not worn by the children. There ws no requirement that the boys wear smocks. One boy, however, appears to wear a front buttoning smock (figure 2).
A few of the boys wear sweaters. Mostly long sleeved sweaters. The solid colored sweaters are most apparent.
The boys wear a widecrange of shirts. Some boys wear white sirts with suits. Many casual styles are worn, including stripped crew-neck "T"-shirts. In addition, Rugby-style shirts are also common. Boys also wear casual collared shorts, including one shirt that looks like an American cowboy shirt.
None of the boys wear ties, even the boys in suits wear open collared shirts without ties.
Boys wear both short and long pants. Most boys appear to wear short pants, but long pants are also common. There doescnot seem to have been any school regulation on this. It appeares to have been up to the parents and children.
Figure 3.--The boys gathered herecat the swimming pool to search for clues wear a wide variety of different garments. Note the boy in the foreground wearing sandals. |
Boys wear all different kinds of socks. Most wear ankle socks, including a few wering white socks. A few also wear kneesocks, both patterned and solid colors. Some boys wear sandals without any socks.
Most boys wear leather shoes. A few wear sneakers or closed-toe sandals.
One reader writes, "I watched "Les D", or should say tried to watch it, some years ago. The film seemed uneven, subplots that seemed unconnected."
Another reader reports, "Thefilm's subtle humor, quaint characters, and misdirection remind one of Alfred Hitchcock's most memorable thrillers. Quite tame by today's film standards, "Les Diaboliques" is essentially a Gothic mystery in a contemporary
setting."
More dertails on French boys' fashions are available on the 1950s. Boys still wore smocks to school in the early 1950s, but they began to decline in popularity by the late 1950s. Knickers were no longer worn. Berets also disappeared in the 1950s. Short pants were still widely worn, but by the end of the decade they were less common for older boys.
Suspender shorts were popular and a new short cut style became fashionable.
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