SAINT-EXUPÉRY Antoine de (1900-1944). - Lot 124

Lot 124
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Result : 2 636EUR
SAINT-EXUPÉRY Antoine de (1900-1944). - Lot 124
SAINT-EXUPÉRY Antoine de (1900-1944). autograph manuscript, [Five terrorists are about to embark for Spain in Rio de Janeiro..., ca. 1935-1940]; 24 1/2 pages in-4 (27 x 21 cm), dark blue ink Draft of an unpublished film noir script This script seems to correspond to an earlier version of the typed script known as Igor. It was given to Pierre Billon in the South of France in 1940 and was included in the 1984 exhibition organized at the Archives Nationales (see Paule Bounin, L'œuvre cinématographique de SaintExupéry, 2001, p. 118). This project, which had been approved by Ciné-France, was not made; Maurice Clavel, who was in charge of writing the dialogue, was the victim of the rancor of the communists who blocked the financing. We know of barely a dozen scripts by Saint-Exupéry, most of them in typescript. In this scenario, we meet, among others, on board an ocean liner where a plague epidemic breaks out, terrorists fleeing from Brazil to Europe who take advantage of the panic when they disembark to disappear, a beautiful adventuress from Africa who commits suicide by jumping overboard, and Spanish refugees singing the nostalgia of their country. "Five terrorists are about to embark for Spain in Rio de Janeiro. One of them refuses and decides to flee through Chile. They know he is a coward. "If you get caught before we arrive, the woman will sell us. [...] At the boat they are waiting for them. Movement of the three faces dispersed among the crowd. Waiting. At the third blow of the siren he arrives alone and climbs up. First explanatory talks: we meet in a discreet corner of the ship. - I saw Luis. - We may have to kill a lot to live"... Etc. This text can be compared with a passage from Letter to a Hostage: "I found them on the liner, my refugees. This liner also spread a slight anguish. This liner was transferring, from one continent to another, these rootless plants. [...] Just as Lisbon played at happiness, they played at believing that they would soon return." (Œuvres complètes, II, Pléiade, 2009, pp. 90-91). Provenance: Artcurial sale, Paris, May 9, 2011, n° 269.
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