Girls in Distress

Girls in Distress

90 mins | Drama | Jan. 10, 1939

Jeune Filles en Detresse (Young Girls in Distress) was director G. W. Pabst's last French production before his (ill-timed) return to Nazi-occupied Austria in 1941. Somewhat reminiscent of Maedchen in Uniform, the story is set in a private girl's school, populated almost exclusively by children from broken homes. Among the few students who can claim family stability is Micheline Presle, but even her happiness is threatened when her lawyer father Andre Luguet inaugurates an affair with stage actress Jacqueline Debulac. With the help of Debulac's daughter Louisa Carletti, Presle is able to break up her father's romance and deliver him into the open arms of her mother Marcelle Chantal. On the whole, the performance by the younger cast members are more convincing than those rendered by the film's so-called adults.

Girls in Distress

90 mins | Drama | Jan. 10, 1939

Girls in Distress
Jeune Filles en Detresse (Young Girls in Distress) was director G. W. Pabst's last French production before his (ill-timed) return to Nazi-occupied Austria in 1941. Somewhat reminiscent of Maedchen in Uniform, the story is set in a private girl's school, populated almost exclusively by children from broken homes. Among the few students who can claim family stability is Micheline Presle, but even her happiness is threatened when her lawyer father Andre Luguet inaugurates an affair with stage actress Jacqueline Debulac. With the help of Debulac's daughter Louisa Carletti, Presle is able to break up her father's romance and deliver him into the open arms of her mother Marcelle Chantal. On the whole, the performance by the younger cast members are more convincing than those rendered by the film's so-called adults.
Producers
Original title Jeunes filles en détresse
Directors G.W. Pabst
Writers Peter Quinn, Tristan Bernard, Christa Winsloe, Jean Bernard-Luc

Cast

Marcelle Chantal

as Docteur Marthe Presle

Jacqueline Delubac

as Pola d'Ivry, la mère de Margot

André Luguet

as Maître Jacques Presle

Micheline Presle

as Jacqueline Presle

Louise Carletti

as Margot Montbleu

Barbara Shaw

as La belle-mère d'Amélie

Gaston Jacquet

as Le père d'Amélie

Georges Jamin

as Le beau-père d'Amélie

Merly

as

Marcel Lupovici

as Morel

Christiane Ribes

as La mère d'Amélie

Noëlle Norman

as Une élève de la pension

Sinoël

as Le concierge du théâtre

Paulette Élambert

as Denise Tarrand

Gabrielle Robinne

as Le mère d'Yvette

Pierre Bertin

as Legris, le secrétaire de Me Presle

Arthur Devère

as Le père d'Alice

Nane Germon

as Ernestine

Robert Pizani

as Monsieur Tarrand

Milly Mathis

as La mère d'Alice

Margo Lion

as La mère de Thérèse

Marguerite Moreno

as Madame Vuilliard

Jean Aquistapace

as Ternier, le ministre de la justice

Ariane Borg

as Une élève de la pension

Victoria Carletti

as Une élève de la pension

Genevieve Dorlane

as Madame Tarrand

Michel François

as Michel Mortier

René Génin

as Le concierge du ministère

Madeleine Lebeau

as Une élève de la pension

Rosine Luguet

as Une élève de la pension

Mlle Malakowsky

as Amélie

Robert Manuel

as Robert

Marthe Mellot

as Mademoiselle Jeanne

Monique Thibaut

as Une élève de la pension

Yvonne Yma

as L'habilleuse de Pola