Jacques Feyder’s masterpiece, Carnival in Flanders, is set during war between the Dutch and the Spanish.
A small village in Flanders is invaded by Spanish troops. The townsfolk, having heard of previous Spanish brutalities, then determine to deflect the vanquishers by playing dead.
When this strategy proves to be ineffective, the wife of the burgomaster tries to soften up the invaders with a lavish carnival.
The venture is so successful that the Spaniards allow the village to escape being decimated, or even taxed.
Carnival in Flanders was banned in Germany, due to Goebbels’s realization that director Jacques Feyder and scribes Bernard Zimmer and Charles Spaak were drawing parallels between the Spanish and the Nazi regime.
Lyne Clevers as The Fishwife
Micheline Cheirel as Siska
Maryse Wendling as The Baker’s Wife
Ginette Gaubert as The Innkeeper’s Wife
Jean Murat as Duke d’Olivares
Louis Jouvet as The Priest
André Alerme as The Burgomaster
Pierre Labry as The Innkeeper
Marcel Carpentier as The Baker
Credits
Directed by: Jacques Feyder
Screenplay: Charles Spaak and Bernard Zimmer
Running time: 90 Minutes
