LA JOIE DE VIVRE [Main Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.


  • Title: LA JOIE DE VIVRE [Main Title]
  • Film Number: COI 48
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: A short fantasy based on animated drawings by Hector Hoppin and Anthony Gross.
  • Description: The 'plot', which is of minimal importance, involves the pursuit of two girls by a workman, in a variety of stylised settings (including a power station, a forest, a lake, and a railway yard), but the purpose of the film is, as suggested by the title, primarily an expression of exuberance.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: COI 48
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1919-1938
  • Production Date: 1934
  • Production Country: France
  • Production Details: Denning (Production company) Harsanyi, Tibor (Production individual) Hoppin, Hector (Production individual) Gross, Anthony1905-03-191984-09-08Anthony Gross was born in Dulwich to map-publisher Alexander Gross and his suffragette wife, Isabelle Crowley. From 1919-1922, he was educated at Repton School and then transferred to the Slade School of Art from January-June 1923. During the summer term, Gross also attended evening classes in etching at the Central School of Art. In the autumn of 1923, he moved to Paris where he studied painting at the Academie Julian and engraving at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Gross travelled to Madrid in April 1924 and enrolled at the Academia de San Fernando life class and engraving class. He also bought a donkey and journeyed north to Bilbao and Bermeo making drawings on the way. In November 1925, Gross had his first one-man exhibition at the Abbey Gallery in London. In the late 1920s, he continued to travel extensively through Spain, Morocco, France, Algeria, Italy and Belgium until 1930 when he married Daisy Florenty and moved to her studio at Auteuil in France. In the 1930s, Gross worked on a series of films: 'Une Journee en Afrique', 'Les Funerailles' and 'La Joie de Vivre'. He also moved to London in 1934 and accepted a contract with Alexander Korda to produce a film called 'The Fox Hunt'. In early 1940, at the start of the Second World War, Gross received a commission by the War Artist's Advisory Committee to become an Official War Artist. He started by recording scenes of Army recruitment and training at the Guards Barracks at Caterham, Surrey for two weeks in April 1940. Once completed, he spent a fortnight on manouevres with the Royal Corps of Signals and the 56th Army Training Regiment on the Yorkshire Moors. In May, with his commission at an end, he returned briefly to France to bring his family out of France. They witnessed the Evacuation of Dunkirk and managed to depart from Bordeaux on one of the last boats to Glasgow. Once back in England, Gross moved his family to Hertforshire and occupied his time with drawings of the London Blitz, the ATS at work and play, air raid shelters and other subjects of interest at home. Later that year, he arranged for his exhibition 'London in Wartime' to be transferred to New York where it was exhibited at the Marie Heinemann Gallery from November to December. In 1941, Gross was commissioned again as an Official War Artist and visited Dover Castle for ten days in May. From July to September, he recorded the ATS training scheme. In November 1941, Gross boarded the troopship, 'Highland Monarch', for an eight-week journey to the Middle East. He painted 'Convoy' series aboard the ship from the North Atlantic to Suez, via Sierra Leone, the Cape, the Indian Ocean and Aden. He finally made his base at Cairo in early 1942, then joined the Ninth Army. Gross met the artist, Edward Bawden and they left Cairo together at the beginning of March and travelled to Transjordan where they parted company. Gross moved on to Jerusalem and visited the encampments of the Transjordan Frontier Force at Amman and Zerka and the British Druze Cavalry Regiment. In April 1942, he journeyed to Beirut in an Army bus where he recorded the Free French forces. Gross then moved up the coast towards Tripoli and into Syria, recording subjects around the harbours. In early May, Gross hitch-hiked with the French Army around Syria and met a variety of local troops including the Circassian Guard, Arab horsemen and camel riders. He then continued north to Aleppo, where he caught a plane back to Damascus. He captured the Spring Festival of the Bedouins at Dayr-az-Zawr. Anthony Gross travelled extensively as a commissioned war artist, and was fascinated by the local cultures he encountered. His drawings frequently have detailed pencilled notes on the back, giving the names and descriptions of the people depicted. His detailed line work, and preferred medium of ink drawing with watercolour wash are well-suited to the lively portraits in his groups. The works Gross made with the Indian Army were exhibited at the National Gallery in 1943 under the title 'India in Action'; the first exhibition there to feature an individual war artist. (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Animation (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: Music only Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1000 ft; Running time: 11 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    COI 48

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register