THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

LES DEUX GOSSES

Title: Les deux gosses
English translation of title: The Two Kids
Year of Release: 1936
Director: Fernand Rivers
Genre: Drama
Country of Production: France
Length: IMDb lists the film as 1 hour, 55 minutes in length.
Language: French

Availability: There was a VHS release a long time ago. Since then, there has been no official release, though it is to be hoped that Gaumont might get around to restoring and releasing the film in due course.

Principal boy actors: Jacques Tavoli plays Fanfan and Serge Grave plays Claudinet (see image at top of page). Serge Grave and Jacques Tavoli played alongside each other in La guerre des gosses, also released in 1936, in which they played the leaders respectively of the Longeverne and the Velrans boys. Alongside these two actors, Jean-Pierre Thisse plays little Jean, who will grows up to be Fanfan (left in picture on right), and Marcel Seulin plays the younger Claudinet (right in same).

Synopsis
A rather convoluted series of events leads Georges de Kerlor to wrongly believe that his wife Hélène has been unfaithful, and that their four-year-old child, Jean, is not his own. (In fact, it is Georges de Kerlor's sister, Collete de St-Hirieix, who is married to a diplomat, and to whom Hélène is a confidante, who is having an affair.) As a result he throws his wife out and has his boy given to a shady travelling showman known as La Limace (The Slug) who, along with his wife Zepherine, is already the guardian of a sickly nephew of theirs called Claudinet.

Eight years pass, and Jean, now known as Fanfan, has become Claudinet's protector, and the two boys have become inseparable. When Georges de Kerlor begins to realise his error in suspecting his wife he finds that his wife will only return to him if he can retrieve their son. The Slug, who happens to hear of this, and realising that he can use this to his pecuniary advantage, makes a deal to return Fanfan. Unfortunately, Fanfan, sick of being treated as a drudge, has run off (after promising Claudinet that their parting will only be temporary). Not to be deterred, The Slug gives the Kerlors the sickly Claudinet, passing him off as Fanfan. Claudinet is happy in his new home, but only wishes that his comrade Fanfan were with him. Meanwhile, Hélène finally realises that the boy she has been given by The Slug is not her son. Then one day Fanfan turns up at the Kerlor's hotel, where he is reunited with Claudinet and with his mother.

Finally, Georges de Kerlor, wanting to get possession of certain letters held by The Slug which would finally prove Hélène's innocence of any infidelity, goes to him, only to be held captive by him and his fellow crooks. He is freed by Fanfan, and they both flee carrying the precious letters. Pursued to the lock of the Pont d'Austerlitz, they cross the canal; and just as The Slug steps onto the footbridge, Fanfan has the idea of ​​opening the lock, and The Slug falls into the water and drowns. Back at the hotel, The Slug's accomplices search for Fanfan, but he is saved by Claudinet, who in saving Fanfan sacrifices his own life and dies in the arms of his friend.

Source material
Based on the 1880 novel of the same name by Pierre Decourcelle (1856-1926), the novel was a remarkable bestseller of the Belle-Époque, and was adapted many times for both the theatre and the silent screen. The last silent adaptation, which was the 1924 film directed by Louis Mercanton, starred Leslie Shaw as Fanfan, and the great boy actor Jean Forest as Claudinet. The 1936 film was the first sound movie adaptation of the novel.

The novel has never been published in English translation.

Further information
A more detailed synopsis of the plot of the film can be found in Scenario Illustré N° 130, whose front cover is displayed on the top of this page. Click here to view the full document. (Text in French; PDF opens in a new tab; from Editor's personal cinema collection.)

Below: contemporary lobby card showing Jacques Tavoli (left), with Serge Grave.