Nine Boys, One Heart (1948)

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is not much of a plot ,it's the least one can say ,but the songs are great,and Edith Piaf's fans will not be disappointed ,as far as they are concerned.A singer (Piaf) and a vocal band (Les Compagnons De La Chansons ,a group she discovered and made famous) are down on their luck .They are on the dole,and on Christmas night,they are starving.Piaf goes to a nightclub where her uncle works.He helps her to become part of the program but she falls asleep before her time comes.She dreams she is in Heaven ,singers' Heaven of course.There she meets people from the Boîte de Nuit (one of the girls has turned into an angel) and she is joined by her nine boys.They sing to a warm reception.When she wakes up,the chanteuse will see the luck come her way.The vision of Heaven is not different from those in other movies.It's up above the sky ,and to find it you just have to take a walk to the Sacre Coeur,Montmartre .It's pretty well done,although not really memorable.Now for the songs .Some are terrific: Piaf's "La Vie En Rose" is heard as a fitting finale;her "C'est Comme ça" is sublime pop musette ;"Sophie" sounds almost American and it really swings;Only a small portion of "Les Trois Cloches" (The three bells) is featured ,which is a pity ,cause this Piaf/Compagnons is a real tour de force but,as it is the last verse ,dealing with death -don't fear you who put your trust in God,He will beckon you some day-,it makes sense . Although included in the menu is "Un Refrain Courait Dans La Rue".Les Compagnons perform a stunning "Complainte de l'Ours" ,a song by Charles TRénet,which shows how different they were when they began .Once entertainers ,they would become an angelic choir whose perfection was sometimes too perfect to some.At the beginning of the movie,when they are in dire straits they sing an ironical "Les Richesses De La France" .Like this ? try these......"Liliom" (Borzage 1930;Lang 1934)"A matter of life and death " (Powell,1946)"Les Gueux Au Paradis" ( Le Henaff ,1946)