Topic: Whaddyacallit #574 -Prop car in "Croisières sidérales"

[Ray B.]

For one point: Where can this car be seen ?
This i know.
What basis it is build on, I don't know. Anyone who'll explain it to us gets another point.

[Otto Puzzell]

Wow!

[Ray B.]

Up !

[fyreline]

I'm certainly glad you asked the question the way you did ("Where can this car be seen?"), because that's the only thing I can tell you about it. It can be seen in the 1942 French film titled "Sidereal Cruises", directed by someone named Swobada. Fortunately, we have an excellent Cinephile Society here in Syracuse, and this film was apparently screened a few years back. I e-mailed the picture of the car to a few of the members who specialize in foreign films, and one of them actually recognized it right away. Unfortunately, no one seems to know any more about the car than the fact that it was obviously created as a prop for the film, which apparently featured rockets to Venus among other things.

[Ray B.]

Spot on (although I would have preferred the original title, Croisières sidérales). I didn't think this one would be solved so fast.
Here is what another viewer writes about it on Imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033501/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1):

The European Space Programme suffers its first setback when Julien Carette opens the window of his capsule to smoke a cigarette and blasts himself and fellow astronaut Madeleine Sologne 25 years into the future. When they return to Earth it's 1967 and everyone's dressed in sparkly suits like game show hosts. An organisation, Croisières Sidérales (Star Cruises), is set up to exploit the commercial possibilities of time and space travel, and a new rocket is sent up with a cargo of passengers destined for the year 2000. Unfortunately, the accident-prone Carette is once again on board...

Fantasy and escapism were popular themes in French cinema during the German Occupation, but this was the only film that took audiences to other worlds and future times. When the movie was released, it was accompanied by a short film explaining the Theory of Relativity on which the story is (very loosely) based. This caused some problems for the director André Zwoboda, who was summoned by the Nazi authorities and asked to explain why he was promulgating the ideas of Albert Einstein, a Jew.

One point for you, and I move it to the pro board a while for the second point. But you're right, there's only a very slim chance that any other details exist about that "car".

[nicanary]

A considerable lack of imagination by the props-buyer, thinking that in the space of 25 years the only thing different with private cars would be a fin on the tail. It looks like an enlarged Bugatti "tank".

It's RHD, and quite large, which suggests that it's a French "grand routier" of some kind. So I'm saying Talbot, Delahaye, Delage, Bugatti or possibly Hotchkiss. That covers a huge spectrum. If it was filmed during wartime occupation, surely they would just have converted whatever they could get their hands on - bear in mind that the German High Command would probably have commandeered anything half-decent as transport for their high-ranking officers. So it was a bit of a coup for the film makers to find anything suitable in the first place.

[oko94]

The full movie can be watched on YouTube (search for "Croisière sidérale 1942"). The car shortly appears twice during the film (at 28'25" and 29'30") : here are some screenshots showing different angles.

This movie car is clearly an amateurish job, as you can see the body flex when the actors jump into the car. Set and costumes are credited to Henri Mahé, who is probably also responsible for this prop. When the car moves its original engine noise is replaced by a strange fake sound (somewhere between a steam locomotive and a vacuum cleaner) so it can't help identify the basis.

[oko94]

It's RHD, and quite large, which suggests that it's a French "grand routier" of some kind. So I'm saying Talbot, Delahaye, Delage, Bugatti or possibly Hotchkiss.

The base car doesn't seem to be that large, as the body is clearly oversized compared to the chassis (especially in width). It could be based on something like an Amilcar.

[Carnut]

Moved to Solved.