René Cloërec – Les Régates De San Francisco (The Regattas of San Francisco) (1960)
Part I (Updated on Feb. 25, 2022)
Introduction
“The Regattas of San Francisco” is a 1960 French-Italian film produced by Raoul J. Lévy (1922-1966). The film’s original French title is “Les régates de San Francisco”, and the Italian title is “Il risveglio dell'istinto” [The awakening of the instinct]).
Claude Autant-Lara was the uncredited director who withdrew his name from the film after a much publicized fall-out with Lévy. The producer insisted on substantial cuts of roughly 20 minutes and inserting a title song performed by Dalida (1933-1987), all of which Autant-Lara vehemently refused. But the director wasn't able to stand his ground, and, in the end, he could only make use of the right to have his name entirely removed from the film he no longer wished to be associated with. The original poster art doesn’t feature Autant-Lara’s name either. The director also felt that the casting of certain actors was not to his full satisfaction. Suzy Delair was completely miscast according to him as an Italian mamma. The whole experience with Lévy, the censorship and the rest of the film production embittered Autant-Lara deeply.
Jean Aurenche (1903-1992) and Pierre Bost (1901-1975) teamed up again to write the screenplay for Autant-Lara’s film. It’s very loosely based on a successful novel written by Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini (1910-1965) titled “L'onda dell'incrociatore” (The Wave of the Cruiser) and first published in 1947.
The Cast
Raoul Lévy selected the then 17 year old Danièle Gaubert (1943-1987) as the leading actress in “Les régates de San Francisco” as he hoped to build her up as a big star similarly to Brigitte Bardot. But Gaubert’s career never really took off. For everyone who had anything to do with the film, “Les régates de San Francisco” marked a blot in the résumé.
Danièle Gaubert as Lidia Laurent Terzieff as Eneo Suzy Delair as Lucilla Folco Lulli as Luigi Nelly Benedetti as Tina Dominique Blondeau as Ario François Nocher as Berto
About the film score
René Cloërec was in charge to score the film. Four selections of his music which he also conducted (“C'est à Naples”, “Blues”, “Le sabotier”, “Valse”) were released on a EP (Versailles – 90 M 311/90.M.311) which makes for a rather light and easy listen. There was also a single 45 rpm release (Versailles – 45 M 622/45.M.622) containing “Le sabotier” and “Valse”. None of those four pieces have ever been reissued on CD. The more dramatic score remains completely unreleased. As it’s virtually impossible to find the film nowadays for viewing, any comments about Cloërec’s full score must remain sketchy, and they are mainly based on what’s there on vinyl.
The title song “C’est un jour à Naples” (It’s a day in Naples) is based on René Cloërec’s theme “C'est à Naples”. The lyrics were written by the duo Claude Delécluse, aka Édith Delécluse (1920-2011) and Michelle Senlis (born 1933). The composer and bandleader Raymond Lefèvre (1929-2008) arranged the song for the Egyptian born singer Dalida. Being Dalida’s regular collaborator in those days, he also conducted the orchestra. The song as performed by Dalida was originally released on a French single (“C’est un jour à Naples”: Barclay – 60209), EP (“Les enfants du Pirée”: Barclay – 70 322) and LP (“Dalida”: Vene Vox – BL-401/ Vene Vox – BL 401) in 1960. The EP, which not only had countless repressings in France thanks to the super popular Hadjidakis theme song from “Never on Sunday”, also came out in Belgium, Spain and Greece. Over the past few decades, the song has been reissued several times. It’s been made available on multiple LP and CD compilations, and today, you can download it digitally. It’s unknown to me if Cloërec was directly involved in creating this song. The song “C’est un jour à Naples” was published as sheet music in 1960 (see follow-up post of Feb. 25, 2022 for further details). But it seems, that no other singer than Dalida has recorded it, and to my knowledge, she had no other Cloërec song in her repertoire.
René Cloërec – C'est à Naples (theme from "Les régates de San Francisco")
Dalida – C'est un jour à Naples (title song from "Les régates de San Francisco")
In a small Italian port families of poor fishermen coexist in poverty. In the family of the virginal teenage heroine Lidia (Danièlle Gaubert), there is the brother Berto (François Nocher), the crude and brutal father Luigi (Folco Lulli) and the mother Lucilla (Suzy Delair), who doesn't show her tralala anymore. Their neighbour, Tina (Nelly Benedetti), makes her son Ario (Dominique Blondeau) believe that his father has gone to San Francisco to take part in a regatta, even though he is in prison. There is also Eneo (Laurent Terzieff), a tall, handsome, muscular man who pleases Lidia. Eneo is Tina’s lover. Ario, Berto's friend, is secretly in love with Lidia. Lidia, who feels she is becoming a woman, seduces the handsome dockworker Eneo. Luigi soon suspects his daughter of having lost her virginity, while Tina is furious at the young woman's flirtation with her lover.
All these people would get along just fine if it weren't for all the problems of curiosity and sexual attractions that the sun and heat exacerbate. Lidia, for example, does whatever it takes to be noticed by Eneo, which infuriates Tina and delights Ario and Berto, who keep a close eye on the strange antics of the "grown-ups". Luigi and Lucilla, as parents concerned about the "morality" of their children, are worried about Lidia's virginity and make her undergo humiliating tests. Especially since the girl is still a virgin! But when she has finally given herself to Eneo, Luigi, at the height of his shame and rage, takes his rifle at night and shoots the supposed seducer.
René Cloërec – Les Régates De San Francisco (1960) – Blues
About the film production and some trivia
The film was shot by master cinematographer Armand Thirard (1899-1973) in colour (Eastmancolor) and CinemaScope using the picturesque locations in France of Port, Villefranche-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes). The studio sets, created by Max Douy (1914-2007), were built at the Studios de la Victorine at 16 avenue Edoard Grinda in Nice.
Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini's novel “L'onda dell'incrociatore” was translated and successfully published in the French language under the title “Les régates de San Francisco”, and that might be the main reason the filmed version of it features the same title. But that city on the West Coast of America has almost nothing to do with the film’s plot. It’s more of a symbolic meaning.
During and after the shooting, a lively correspondence went back and forth between Lévy and Claude Autant-Lara (CAL). On the one hand, the producer accused the director of sabotaging the film because he was working too fast, which CAL strongly denied, and as a result questioned any future collaboration with the producer. In one of CAL's letters to Lévy, he also commented on the infamous panty scene that Lévy wanted to cut. CAL explained it was essential for the audience to better comprehend the film. He seriously suggested the film might as well be titled "La culotte" (The panty).
Autant-Lara later wrote in his memoires: “I finally withdrew my name. To piss me off, [Lévy] released the film with the words "mise en scène de ?" [“directed by ?”] with a question mark one metre high, on the Champs Elysées. I wanted to sue, but my lawyer told me: "You'll lose". You always lose against the money.”
Cinéaste Jean Douchet (1929-2019) was disgusted by the film to the point of insulting Claude Autant-Lara as a senile maniac who would like to put his hands in Danièle Gaubert's panties (and the director took him to court, symbolically winning the case with a Franc in compensation); but at the same time it is the film that broke the spell of “CAL méchant” for "Cahiers du Cinéma" with Michel Delahaye (1929-2016) and Jean Narboni (born 1937) becoming passionate about it from this very film. A director whose fury was never "coherent" according to Sergio Grmek Germani (born 1950) – neither when he was of the left nor when he was of the right – who was both bourgeois and anti-bourgeois, who made a ritual out of being a priest-eater, who wedged his own sometimes anti-Semitic idiosyncrasies between the universe of the agnostic Catholic Aurenche and that of the agnostic Protestant Bost.
Originally, "Les régates de San Francisco" had a running time of roughly 95 minutes before the massacre happened in the editing room, where the film was chopped down to a mere 75 minutes. As already mentioned, producer Raoul J. Lévy cut several shots and scenes without the permission of director Claude Autant-Lara, which led to the latter no longer wanting anything to do with this film. However, the French censorship authorities also played a major role in truncating "Les régates de San Francisco" because of some apparently very risqué sex scenes and talk in the film that were deemed indecent. The French visa was nevertheless issued on March 29, 1960. However, the film had been released only for viewers aged 18 and over. This made it the second film in France with this unusual rating, the first being Autant-Lara's classic satire "Une jument verte" (1959).
“Les régates de San Francisco” was finally released in France on April 20, 1960. There were some incidents that took place in several movie theaters when the film was shown, notably at the Ermitage, in Le Mans. The film was even banned by the mayors of Toulouse and Nancy, and it was also originally banned for any export which prevented it from being released in Italy for about two years.
The Italian censorship visa # 35596 was delivered on January 24, 1962. Subsequently, the film got released in Italy on April 28, 1962. Interestingly, the Italian version of the film “Il risveglio dell'istinto”credits line producer Roger Debelmas as the film’s director. His name as director is accordingly up there on the Italian film posters. Debelmas produced several films in the 1960s and early 1970s but never directed one.
René Cloërec – Les Régates De San Francisco (1960) – Le Sabotier
René Cloërec – Les Régates De San Francisco (1960) – Valse
Author Quarantotti Gambini wasn’t happy how his novel was transposed on film. He wrote: “il film tratto da L'onda dell'incrociatore è veramente un disastro” (the film based on L'onda dell'incrociatore is truly a disaster”).
The film was no commercial success, and after the theatrical run with mostly abyssal reviews, “Les régates de San Francisco” sank into total oblivion and would never be seen again by a wider audience. Not on television, and not on a home media release. There are no VHS tapes, no DVDs or Bluray editions. Nothing. But at least one or a handful of film prints seem to still exist.
At the time the film was released, a photo comic of "Les régates de San Francisco" appeared in the magazine “Mon Film”. The black-and-white photos show the actors in scenes from the film, and these photos are practically the only way today to get an idea of how the drama was staged.
Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely that a director’s cut could ever be reconstructed as there seem to be no elements left from those cut 20 minutes. But who knows?
Producer Raoul J. Lévy committed suicide in 1966 after a string of financial disasters with his film productions as well as a load of personal problems he wasn’t able to sort out.
There is a record that “Les régates de San Francisco” was screened one more time in more recent history. The 8th I Mille Occi Film Festival in Triest (Italy) had the film on its schedule on September 15, 2009 at 17:00 – somehow cleverly initiating a retrospective of the film works by Claude Autant-Lara in the following year, i.e. the 9th edition of the film festival in 2010. By the way, the writer of the novel, Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini was born in Pisino on the peninsula of Istria in 1910 (then part of the Habsburg Empire, later part of the Italian Kingdom, and now part of Croatia). Quarantotti Gambini had strong ties to Triest as he lived and worked there during World War II until he was forced to flee the city after the Italian fascist regime had collapsed there while Tito and his troupes took over the power in Triest.
Vous connaissez "Les Régates de San Francisco" de Monsieur X ? - Blow Up - ARTE
“Vous connaissez "Les régates de San Francisco" ?" (Do you know “The Regattas of San Francisco”? is a eight minute short documentary feature film which aired on Arte TV on March 16, 2017. The author of this short most of all mocks the film and the turbulent production of "Les régates de San Francisco". You get nonetheless a few interesting bits of background information about this ‘lost’ piece of cinema. Even Cloërec’s music gets a favourable mention without naming the composer, of course. You even hear the main theme in the background as well as Dalida’s sung version of it. To date, it’s the only current piece of reference worth mentioning that has chosen Autant-Lara's ill-fated film as its main subject.
The Catholic Church in France didn't like "Les régates de San Francisco". A Catholic film journal gave it the lowest possible rating which meant, that no one should ever go and see this picture because they considered it so harmful.
Below is the text of a "Radio Télévision Cinéma" (now "Télérama") review published in 1960 that's also been quoted in the short Arte feature (see video above). First you get the complete original text in French, followed by the English translation. -- No, they didn't mention the music.
Quote:
Les Régates de San Francisco (Français) Réalisateur : ?
Ignoble !
Quand un film dépasse à ce point les bornes de la décence et de la dignité humaine, il devient inutile d’en rendre compte. La censure a déjà coupé quinze à vingt minutes du film. Que n’a-t-elle supprimé le reste ? Le public réagit de la façon la plus saine en sifflant et réclamant le remboursement des places. L’« histoire » - si l’on peut appeler ça une histoire – tourne autour de la virginité d’une fille de quinze ans, virginité vérifiée de visu par son père. Un slip sert de pièce à conviction. La vulgarité du dialogue n’a d’égale que sa complaisance dans l’ignoble. Aucun nom au générique. L’auteur aurait-il reculé devant son œuvre ? Les échos d’une polémique devenue publique laissent entendre que l’auteur a plutôt retiré son nom pour les coupures qu’on lui a imposées ! Ce serait un comble ! C.-M.T.
End quote.
English translation:
The Regattas of San Francisco (French) Director: ?
Disgusting!
When a film goes so far beyond the bounds of decency and human dignity, it becomes useless to report on it. The censors have already cut fifteen to twenty minutes from the film. Why didn't they cut out the rest? The audience reacts in the healthiest way by hissing and demanding the refund of the tickets. The "story" - if you can call it a story - centers around the virginity of a fifteen year old girl, which is verified in person by her father. A pair of pants is used as evidence. The dialogue's vulgarity is matched only by its complacency in the vile. No name in the credits. Has the author shied away from his work? Echoes of a controversy that has become public suggest that the author has withdrawn his name because of the cuts that were imposed on him! That would be ridiculous! C.-M.T.
Source: Radio Télévision Cinéma [« Télérama »], May 1, 1960 No. 537.
I've taken the time and researched the catalogue of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) (National Library of France) to see what items related to this film are actually there. And to my surprise I've found out that in fact there are three different sheet music editions listed which were published in 1960. I've never seen any of them offered for sale online, never seen any pictures of any of those either. So, it seems to me, these items are quite rare and hard to find these days.
You have to be aware that the data provided by BnF are not always 100% correct. There may by errors in spelling, publishing dates and wrong titles. I've seen such cases while also checking what they have with René Cloërec's name attached to their inventory. I spare you further details in this context.
When it comes to those three sheet music items, there is one important question I'd like to have an answer:
What's the difference between item #1 and #3? Are these two different printed editions of the same song or are these two different songs?
Unless I find them as physical copies I won't be able to give an answer myself. But I suspect they could be two slightly different sheet music editions just for the same song "C'est un jour à Naples" (originally performed by Dalida).
The note on the back of item #3 referring to Paul Mauriat's piece "Si tu reviens un jour" doesn't seem to have anything to do with "Les régates de San Francisco" even though that piece is from the same era, but it was written by Mauriat and Raymond Mamoudy - so, it may just be some sort of ad on the back cover for another sheet music which is a common thing.
The sheet music:
1 Les Régates de San Francisco. Paroles de Michèle Senlis et Claude Delécluse. Musique de René Cloérec. Publication: Paris : Impéria, cop. 1960 Description: In-4° , 4 p. n. ch., portrait à la couv. Incipit: C'est un jour à Naples Link: https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb39729316m
3 Les Régates de San Francisco. Paroles de C. Delécluse et M. Senlis. Musique de René Cloérec. [Morceau détaché arr. pour orchestre avec violon ou accordéon conducteurs] Publication: Paris : Impéria, cop. 1960 Description: In-4° , conducteur 2 p. et 9 parties Note: Print on back: Mauriat (P.). Si tu reviens un jour Link: https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb39729317z