Le Miracle des loups

André Hunebelle directed this 1961 French-Italian historical adventure starring Jean Marais. The screenplay adapts Henry Dupuy-Mazuel's 1924 novel, and the picture also functions as a sound remake of Raymond Bernard's silent film of the same name. The story begins in June 1467, just as Charles the Bold takes over as Duke of Burgundy, and plays out across the months that follow. Louis XI of France tries to preserve a shaky peace with his cousin, coping with the duke's outbursts and the treachery of the faithless Sénac. His solution is to marry off his goddaughter Jeanne de Beauvais to Charles, who desires her, but Jeanne loves Robert de Neuville, a knight in the king's service, and that attachment endangers the royal scheme. The film owes its title to a key episode in which Jeanne is set upon by a pack of wolves. Shooting took place partly within the walled Cité de Carcassonne, and the production opened in France on 6 September 1961, later appearing in Germany as Im Zeichen der Lilie and in the United States as Blood on His Sword.