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Desperate Decision

1952 film by Yves Allégret

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ3209850 ↗
Source-derived summary

Desperate Decision (French: La jeune folle) is a 1952 French drama film directed by Yves Allégret and starring Danièle Delorme, Henri Vidal and Jean Debucourt. It was shot at the Joinville Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alexandre Trauner.

Synopsis

In 1922 during the Irish Civil War, a young woman Catherine heads to Dublin seeking vengeance on the man who killed her brother. She meets a man Steve who wishes to protect her as she is teetering on the edge of madness. However, when she discovers that he is the murderer she takes her revenge.

Cast

Danièle Delorme as Catherine

Henri Vidal as Steve

Jean Debucourt as Le messager / A Mysterious Man

Jacqueline Porel as Mother Superior

Georges Chamarat as Le chef de gare

Olivier Hussenot as Le colleur d'affiches

Jacques Dynam as Le consommateur

Michel Etcheverry as Le prêtre

Gabrielle Fontan as Soeur Patricia

Joëlle Bernard as La femme ivre

Maurice Ronet as Jim

Nicolas Vogel as Tom

Marcel Journet as Le chef de police Donovan

Madeleine Gérôme as Madame Donovan

Gabriel Gobin as L'employé de la gare

Madeleine Barbulée as La voyageuse

Lolita De Silva as Soeur Ruth

References

Bibliography

Bessy, Maurice & Chirat, Raymond. Histoire du cinéma français: 1951–1955. Pygmalion, 1989.

Rège, Philippe.

Editorial summary

“Desperate Decision” enters the record as 1952 film by Yves Allégret. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Desperate, Decision and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1952, 1922, 1951, 1955—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1952-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Desperate, Decision and film.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Desperate Decision” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Desperate, Decision and film provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3209850. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1922, 1951 and 1955.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Desperate Decision”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Desperate Decision primary sources, Desperate Decision archive and Desperate research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Desperate Decision” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.