The Bed (film)

Secrets d’alcôve is a 1954 French comedy film made up of four sketches by Henri Decoin (segment "Le billet de logement"), Jean Delannoy ("Le lit de la Pompadour"), Gianni Franciolini ("Le divorce") and Ralph Habib ("Riviera-Express").^[1] Kingsley International released the film in the UK.

The Bed
French	Secrets d’alcôve
Directed by	Jean Delannoy Henri Decoin Gianni Franciolini Ralph Habib
Written by	Sergio Amidei Paul Andréota Maurice Aubergé Antoine Blondin Henri Decoin Jean Delannoy Jacques Fano Michel Kelber Roland Laudenbach Carlo Rim Niccolò Theodoli
Produced by	Jacques Bar Raymond Froment Lorens Marmstedt Julien Rivière
Starring	Jeanne Moreau Vittorio De Sica
Cinematography	Christian Matras Enzo Serafin Léonce-Henri Burel Michel Kelber
Edited by	James Cuenet Denise Reiss
Music by	Mario Nascimbene Georges Van Parys
Production companies	Cormoran Films Industrie Cinematografiche Sociali Terra Film Produktion
Distributed by	Pathé Consortium Cinéma
Release date	21 May 1954 (1954-05-21)
Running time	86 minutes
Countries	France Italy
Language	French

Cast by segment

• "Le Billet de logement" features Jeanne Moreau and Richard Todd.^[2]
• "Le Lit de la Pompadour" with Martine Carol, François Périer and Bernard Blier
• "Le Divorce" with Dawn Addams and Vittorio De Sica
• "Riviera-Express" with Françoise Arnoul and Marcel Mouloudji

Plot

The story brings with four travellers forced by weather to find temporary shelter who tell four stories, whose common point is a bed.

• "The lodging slip" - During the war, an English officer captain Davidson comes to the house of Jeanne Plisson with a requisition slip for accommodation. Her husband is absent at the front while she is pregnant. During the night, she gives birth and Davidson must act as midwife.
• "The Divorce" - Roberto, an American living in New York wants to divorce. He shares the night at a hotel with Janet.
• "Riviera Express" - truck driver Riquet meets Martine whose car has broken down.
• "The bed of Pompadour" - a bed is mis-delivered to Agnes

Production

Richard Todd said his scene was shot over ten days in English and French versions. He wrote in his memoirs that the story "may not sound very amusing in the telling, but with a neat script and Decoin’s adroit direction it promised to be a really funny and slightly dotty little cameo."^[3]

References

1. original French poster
2. Marianne Gray - La Moreau: A Biography of Jeanne Moreau - 1996 Page 30 As soon as Moreau wrapped on that film she went into two more for Decoin. The first was a melodrama made in 1953 by four different directors, each on a twenty-minute 'bed' theme, called Secrets d' Alcove (Secrets of the Bedroom). She played a pregnant woman in the episode .., with Richard Todd. Todd remembers the film, made when he was a keen young British leading man who had worked in a couple of French films after spending much of his war service ...
3. Todd, Richard (1989). In camera : an autobiography continued. Hutchinson. p. 56.