Babette Goes to War
Babette Goes to War () is a 1959 French film starring Brigitte Bardot. It was Bardot's first movie since becoming a star where she did not take off her clothes. Plot. In 1940, during the German invasion of France, a young woman called Babette flees on a boat to England. She is desperate to help the Free French, who end up parachuting her back into the country on a mission to thwart the German invasion of England. Production. Bardot had meant to make a film in Hollywood called "Paris by Night" with Frank Sinatra and Roger  Vadim but did not want to go to America. Producer Raoul Levy came up with another idea, a film about a young girl who becomes involved with the Resistance called "Babette Goes to War". Levy assigned Vadim to work on the script with an American writer. Vadim's film "The Night Heaven Fell" was released and performed poorly, so Levy replaced Vadim as director with Christian Jacques. In September 1958 it was announced Peter Viertel was working on the script. By October Christian Jacque was attached as director. David Niven was mentioned as a possible co star. The film was  the first in a three-picture deal Levy had with Columbia, two of which were to star Bardot. The studio would invest $2.5 million. (Columbia helped finance the hugely successful Bardot-Levy movie "And God Created Woman".) Gerard Philippe was the original co star announced. This deal later expanded to cover three years. Levy said he came up with the idea of Bardot keeping on her clothes because it was unexpected. "Everything there is to show has been shown," said the producer. Filming took place in February and March 1959. Bardot and Jacques Charrier had an affair during filming  that led to Bardot falling pregnant and them getting married. Bardot was briefly ill during filming. Reception. The film had its world premiere at the Moscow Film Festival. It was a big hit with admissions in France of 4,657,610. It was the fourth most popular film at the French box office in 1959, after "The Cow and I", "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Green Mare". (It was followed by "Some Like It Hot", "The Four Hundred Blows", "The Magnificent Tramp", "North by Northwest", "Solomon and Sheba" and "Black Orpheus".