L’Impossible Monsieur Pipelet (1955)

L’Impossible Monsieur Pipelet is one of those lacklustre sitcom-style films of the 1950s which, whilst quite popular in their day, now appear hopelessly dated and humourless.  It says something about the quality of the screenwriting and direction that even the incomparable pairing of Michel Simon with Louis de Funès (the former a faded star, the latter a virtual unknown at the time) cannot elevate this film above the level of tedious mediocrity.  The set-piece gags (involving hosepipes and boxing rings) are as dated as cinema itself and extort laughs from an unsuspecting audience as painlessly as a dentist extracting teeth without an anaesthetic, whilst the plot, a feeble attempt at social satire, leaves everything to be desired.  The only reason to watch the film is to savour the few moderately amusing scenes in which De Funès does his best to prove this is meant to be a comedy and not a soporific for masochists.  Mercifully, director André Hunebelle’s later collaborations with the comedy genius - including the Fantômas comedies of the 1960s - would be somewhat less painful to sit through.

© James Travers 2011

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