La Rue sans loi is a French film comedy first released in 1950, directed by Marcel Gibaud.  The film stars André Gabriello, Annette Poivre, Paul Demange, Albert Dinan and Nathalie Nattier.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


An ordinary-looking road in Paris is in fact a law unto itself, a place where motorists take lessons on how to run down pedestrians, where crime in rampant, and where the police fear to tread.  The head of this syndicate of crime is Sparadra, the owner of a café which is the meeting place for his gang of crooks.  They hatch a scheme to rob the Countess de la Trille whilst she holds one of her famous soirées, but the jewels they steal turn out to be fakes.  Sparadra’s sweetheart is Fifille, a delicate creature built like an elephant.  Her husband Anatole is seduced by the attractive call girl Emma, one of Sparadra’s band, and gives away the combination to the countess’ safe…

La Rue sans loi is a boisterous farce inspired by the comic creations of Albert Dubout, a legendary cartoon artist of the 1940s.  Dubout’s characters such as Sparadra, Anatole and Fifille are brought to life with great gusto by a cast of talented comic performers, including André Gabriello, Paul Demange and an outrageously dragged up Max Dalban.   Louis de Funès appears in a supporting role, more than a decade before he would become a household name in France.  Most of the jokes are well and truly past their sell-by date and the antics of Sparadra and his gang would be much funnier in a strip cartoon, but the film still has a certain charm, evoking the madcap comedy of the Keystone Kops.

© James Travers 2006

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