Le Cerveau (1969)

Le Cerveau is a French comedy thriller film first released in 1969, directed by Gérard Oury.  The film stars Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bourvil, David Niven, Eli Wallach and Silvia Monti.  It has also been released under the title: The Brain.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


Not long after pulling off a spectacular train robbery in Great Britain, the criminal genius The Brain is soon planning his next lucrative enterprise.  Joining forces with Mafia boss Scannapieco, he devises a scheme to steal the secret funds of the fourteen member countries of NATO whilst they are being transferred by train between Paris and Brussels.  By chance, precisely the same plan has occurred to small-time crooks Arthur and Anatole.  By imitating The Brain’s methods, they confidently set about the heist that will make them millionaires.  Unfortunately, nothing goes quite as planned…

After the immense success of Le Corniaud (1964) and La Grande vadrouille (1966) – two of the most popular films ever made in France – director Gérard Oury had great ambitions for his next film.  With a colossal budget of 24 million francs, Le Cerveau was conceived as gutsy blockbuster parody of the American heist thriller, with a worldwide distribution and a big name cast.  The casting of Bourvil and Jean-Paul Belmondo as the two wannabee train robbers was Oury’s first choice – the two actors would complement each other well, were both major stars in France and were also known abroad.  They had only appeared together previously in the 1958 film Un drôle de Dimanche.

To satisfy the film’s American and Italian sponsors, the dapper English film star David Niven and Italian actor Eli Wallach were added to the mix.  Oury was obliged to make two versions of the film, one in French, the other in English, as the American backers were not prepared to accept a dubbed version of a foreign language film.  This latter constraint made the filming of Le Cerveau particularly demanding, with numerous scenes having to be shot twice and the actors struggling with lines in a foreign language.   Another problem was that the filming was delayed by two months as a consequence of the May ’68 demonstrations in Paris.

Le Cerveau proved to be a box office hit, with five and half million spectators in France – not so successful as Oury two previous films – with comparable returns from America.  It’s not hard to see why the film was so popular – its slick presentation, crazy action sequences and some hilarious visual gags gave it a broad appeal.  Its star billing no doubt helped – Niven was a huge name on both sides of the Atlantic and was a draw for any film.  Whilst the film has dated somewhat since its release, its mix of anarchic comedy and thriller intrigue makes it a fairly enjoyable ’60s romp with some good laughs and enormous kitsch appeal.

© James Travers 2007

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