Me and the Colonel is a 1958 film

1958 in film

The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....

 based on the play "Jacobowsky und der Oberst" by Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...

. It was directed by Peter Glenville

Peter Glenville

Peter Glenville , born Peter Patrick Brabazon Browne, was an English film and stage actor and director.-Biography:...

 and stars Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...

, Curd Jürgens

Curd Jürgens

Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...

 and Akim Tamiroff

Akim Tamiroff

Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...

.

Kaye won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy

The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...

 for his portrayal of Jacobowsky, the refugee.

Plot

During the invasion of France by Nazi Germany, a shy, intelligent Jewish refugee tries to flee from the Nazis with the aid of an anti-Semitic, autocratic, brave Polish Colonel who is trying to smuggle papers to England. Their dysfunctional partnership is made even more difficult when both men begin to fall in love with the same French innkeeper's daughter—the Colonel's fiancee.

Themes

The film uses the contrasting characters of the Jacobowsky and Prokoszny to examine their world views. Jacobowsky is timid, intelligent and creative, where Prokoszny is brave, rash, and stuck in his ways. The movie has Prokoszny gradually embracing the viewpoint of the very different S. L. Jacobowsky, quoting his mother, that "In life, there are always two possibilities."

Cast

• Danny Kaye
  Danny Kaye
  Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
  
   as S.L. Jacobowsky
• Curd Jürgens
  Curd Jürgens
  Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...
  
   as Colonel Prokoszny (as Curt Jurgens)
• Nicole Maurey
  Nicole Maurey
  Nicole Maurey is a French actress, who has appeared in 65 film and television productions between 1945 and 1997. Born in Bois-Colombes, a northwestern suburb of Paris, she was originally a dancer before being cast in her first film role in 1944...
  
   as Suzanne Roualet
• Françoise Rosay
  Françoise Rosay
  Françoise Rosay was a French opera singer, diseuse, and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figure in French cinema...
  
   as Madame Bouffier (as Francoise Rosay)
• Akim Tamiroff
  Akim Tamiroff
  Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
  
   as Szabuniewicz
• Martita Hunt
  Martita Hunt
  Martita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
  
   as Mother Superior
• Alexander Scourby
  Alexander Scourby
  Alexander Scourby was an American film, television, and voice actor known for his deep and resonant voice...
  
   as Major Von Bergen
• Liliane Montevecchi
  Liliane Montevecchi
  Liliane Montevecchi is a French actress, dancer, and singer.Montevecchi began her career as a prima ballerina in Roland Petit's dance company...
  
   as Cosette
• Ludwig Stössel
  Ludwig Stössel
  Ludwig Stössel was an actor born in Lockenhaus, Austria. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses that were forced to flee Europe when the Nazis came to power in 1933....
  
   as Dr. Szicki (as Ludwig Stossel)
• Gérard Buhr as German Captain (as Gerard Buhr)
• Franz Roehn as Monsieur Girardin
• Celia Lovsky
  Celia Lovsky
  Celia Lovsky was an Austrian American actress. She was born Cäcilie Lvovsky in Vienna, daughter of Bretislav Lvovsky , a minor Czech opera composer...
  
   as Mme. Arle
• Clément Harari as Man of the Gestapo (as Clement Harari)
• Alain Bouvette as Rothschild's Chauffeur
• Albert Godderis as M. Gravat

External links

• Me and the Colonel at Clown Ministry