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Credits
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Summary
During World War II... When their combat aircraft is shot down by the Germans, three English
airmen parachute to the comparative safety of Nazi occupied France. One lands on
the scaffold of an amiable painter and decorator, Augustin. Another lands on top
of a concert hall and is rescued by the irascible but patriotic conductor Stanislas Lefort.
The third ends up in the otter enclosure in a Parisian zoo. When they try
to help the airmen keep a rendez-vous at the Turkish baths in Paris, Augustin and Stanislas
quickly find that they themselves have become targets for the German soldiers. Assisted
by the daughter of a puppeteer and an anti-German nun, the two unwilling heroes accompany
the three airman on a reckless trek across France towards the neutral zone and safety.
Review
La Grande vadrouille is one of the great comic achievements of French cinema.
A magnificent action comedy, it had until very recently the distinction of being
the most popular film ever shown in France. Its box office sale of 17 million tickets
has only recently been topped by the 1997 American blockbuster Titanic.
Even today, its airings on French television attract stupendous audience figures.
The phenomenal success of the film is a remarkable achievement given that the film makes
light of one of the most unfortunate periods of French history.
This is a big budget film, a comparative rarity at the time, but not a French franc was wasted. From start to finish this has the feel of a lavish period production, paying a remarkable attention to detail. Director Gérard Oury is to be credited with achieving one of the most believable recreations of wartime France in French cinema history (even if no blood is spilt in the film). A major factor in the film’s success in France was the top billing of Bourvil and Louis de Funès, at the time the two most popular comic actors in France. The two comedians had previously appeared two years earlier in another film, Le Corniaud, which was also a staggering box office success in France. The combination of two quite different comic styles works so brilliantly that you wonder why film producers took so long to get round to pairing the two actors. These two French comic geniuses are joined by the incomparable English comic actor Terry-Thomas, who, true to form, plays one of the English airmen. The actor is on fine form and relishes in the mad cap scenes he is thrown into. A platoon of jack-booted sausage-eating German soldiers completes the comic book stereotyping to a tea. The ebullience of the film's comic performances is matched by Claude Renoir’s exuberant photography. Comic situations arise with consummate ease in a script which sparkles with some of the funniest one-liners ever written for a French film. Despite its strong comic slant, La Grande vadrouille is actually a creditable war film which gallops along at a fair pace, bolstered by some breath-taking action scenes. The film's grand finale is particularly memorable. What is most remarkable about this film is how little it is known about outside of France. If there is one popular French film that deserves an international audience, this is surely it. © James Travers 2002 Write a review for this film... |
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