Year: 1952
Language: French
Format: 35mm Black & White
Runtime: 101 min
Director: René Delacroix, Gratien Gélinas
Producer: Gratien Gélinas
Writer: Gratien Gélinas
Cinematographer: Akos Farkas
Editor: Roger Garand, Anton Van de Water
Music: Maurice Blackburn
Cast: Monique Miller, Georges Dor, Corinne Conley, Henri Poitras, George Alexander, Amanda Alarie, Jean Duceppe, Denise Pelletier, Paul Dupuis, Fred Barry, Uliette Béliveau, Clément Latour, Gratien Gélinas
Production Company: Les Productions Gratien Gélinas Ltée

Set in Quebec before WW II, Tit-Coq is an enchanting story of love and the importance of family. The film follows the life of Tit-Coq (Gélinas), a French-Canadian soldier so nicknamed for his irreverence and volatility and the trials he endured while growing up in Montreal.

Tit-Coq is an unhappy man and the fact of his "illegitimate" birth weighs on his conscience. But everything changes when he meets and falls in love with Marie-Ange (Miller). He is sent overseas to fight and Marie-Ange promises to wait for him. During the long months of waiting and under pressure from her family, she marries an old admirer (Duceppe). Tit-Coq learns of the news as the war ends and is angry, bitter and hurt. His army padre (Dupuis) helps Tit-Coq reconcile himself to the reality of the situation as he again finds himself alone in the world.

In 1947, Gélinas originally wrote the story for film, but when he had difficulty raising the money, he decided to bring it to the stage. In the following three years it was performed over 500 times in Eastern Canada and was loved by audiences and admired by critics. The film was equally successful: reviews were enthusiastically favourable and audiences supportive (about 300,000 people in Quebec saw it between February and April 1953). The subtitled English version did almost as well in English Canada, and it was named film of the year at the 1953 Canadian Film Awards.

Although the direction is far from inspired (Gélinas is said to have preferred a straight, filmed adaptation of the play, and this is apparent), the quality of the writing and the performances and the marvellous sense of dignity of the central character remain vital, appealing and valid.

Tit-Coq was re-released in the fall of 2000 by the Toronto International Film Festival Group’s Film Circuit division.