On the Roads this Summer

This is an exploration of the pleasure of being a tourist, a camper, a climber, a rambler, a hunter, or of taking the waters in the Ardennes and Luxemburg.

The images are lyrical, a lyricism accentuated by André Souris’ highly symphonic music that gives certain shots the aura of an opera on nature, extolling water, the clouds and the rocks. The orchestral score accompanies the sequences with sonorous mimicry: a waltz for the waters of Spa, hunting music for Saint-Hubert, perky tones to accompany the steps of the ramblers. This coupling of image and sound gives the film its narrative unity for which the commentary is a spur. Its flowery style favours adjectives that make horizons vast, summers radiant, and rivers peaceful or winding.

Director : Henri Storck

Assistant : Armand Henneuse

Camera : John Fernhout

Assistant : Marcel Deflandre

Editing : Henri Storck

Music : André Souris

Commentary : Eric de Haulleville, spoken by Camille Goemans

Production : CEP

Director of production : R.G. Le Vaux

Film commissioned by the Belgo-Luxemburg Tourism Office

Dutch version entitled Langs zomerwegen, text by Marnix Gijsen. English version entitled The roads in summer.

35mm/B and W/15’/1936

To wach the film please send an email to info@fondshenristorck.be, ask the password and click here

This film was created for the Tourism Office. The director therefore had to comply with certain imperatives to promote its topic. Nevertheless, that has not prevented him from creating a very interesting little film.

Carl Vincent, L’éventail, February 14, 1937

The problems involved in filming these scrubby regions and in lighting the undergrowth and nocturnal caves cannot be discounted. Storck has managed to get around all these difficulties, even that of the constant bad weather (a single day of sunshine during his work), for the Ardennes appear shiny and bright, a garden of water and hills, whose harmonious architecture is revealed in this film thanks to the use of wide shots.

Christiane Delpierre