Moineaux de Paris - (France, 1952)


Figure 1.-- The French film 'Moineaux de Paris' is a comedy drama (1952). It featured an actual choir--Les petits chanteurs à la croix de bois, the choir which revived the French boy choir trdition. Iy is not a documentary but provides a useful view of life in the choir. This is a scene after the boys perform for the rich family. They were sent out of the room together, and these few boys sneaked away to explore the house on their own. They are admiring the expensive furniture in the house, and the crib is one of the furniture. They did not mention it was a crib, but it looks like. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the group.

The French film 'Moineaux de Paris' is a comedy drama (1952). The English translation is 'Sparrows of Paris'. It was directed and written by Maurice Cloche. The film starred Jean-Pierre Aumont and Louis de Funès. It provides a view about life in a French choir during the 1950s. The plot is about a choir who sings for a rich American family. In the past, many choirs were supported by important families, like aristocrats, and boys performed for the family during various private events. In this film, one boys saw the Madame of the house wearing a necklace, and he thinks it is owned to his grandmother. He tries many ways to take the necklace. Along the way, a ghost French soldier helps him with his work. While the plot is fiction, life in a boarding choir is depicted in the film. It featured an actual choir-- Les petits chanteurs à la croix de bois. This was the choir which revived the French boy choir trdition. The boys wear the school uniform all the time , with rare exceotions. For example, they wear similar pyjamas to sleep. They also wear the aube sometimes. The boys always tuck their hands in their sleeve, even when they are not singing. There is also one scene when the boys visit a doctor, and he removes his sweater. A man holds the sweater. Other than these few times, the boys always wear their school uniform. The uniform the boys are wearing, oen-collred shirt, navy blue sweater, blue short pants and white knee socjks was worn at a number of Cathloic schools and thus was adopted by the choir. You can see that Les Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois has not changed at all since many years. If you watch them today, they are exactly the same. In the film, when a boy is punished, he is locked up in a room alone. This happens a few times in the film. This film show that in the past, boys were not treated very well, unlike today. There is also an ugly scene where a boy is carried by his waist to receive a beating. There are various other scenes. The choir also had a bus that they use to travel to sing. The songs they sing are similar to what French choirs sing today. The plot is a little like a comedy. And like novels and other art work, films can not be used a a documentary. We can not be sure how much of what is presented can be accepted as historiocal fact. A French reader writes, "I think the film except for the fanciful plot line does provide a good view of life in the Mane. From some scenes, you can see that maybe most boys were poor and maybe a few were orphans. That is not the case todauy. The boys now tend to come from fairly welloff families. And also, corporal punishment was not uncommon at te time. This is banned today. I think the boys in past years lived in amore struict environment in both schoolas and the choir. But many people say choirs sang better at the time. Maybe it has an effect, I am not sure."









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Created: 6:41 AM 2/17/2013
Last updated: 7:44 AM 2/17/2013