Le Cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques (1970) - film review

Hitch-hiking his way home after an unsuccessful day betting on the horses, Alfred Mulanet is abducted by a group of gangsters, led by the sinister Monsieur K.  Against his will, he is placed in a coffin, which is to be shipped to Istanbul.  En route, the coffin and Mulanet fall into the hands of a rival gang, led by the dapper Monsieur Kruger.   The latter is irked when he finds no trace of the money which he knew Monsieur K had planned to smuggle out of the country.  Unless Mulanet reveals what he has done with the money, he will be in permanent need of a coffin...

In the pantheon of successful French screenwriters, Michel Audiard deserves a prominent position.  He wrote the dialogue for some of the most popular mainstream French film films of the 1960s and 1970s – classics such as Un taxi pour Tobrouk (1960) and Les Tontons  flingueurs (1963).  Although he is best known as a writer, Audiard also directed a number of films, of which his fourth, Le Cri du cormoran, is perhaps his most memorable.  This is just about the maddest of madcap comedy thrillers, with Audiard’s flair for slapstick and witty dialogue readily apparent, although the comedy is taken a bit too far in some places and the plot is something of a mess.  The film is based on a novel by the American writer Evan Hunter (better known as Ed McBain), who famously wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963).  The novel was adapted by novice screenwriter Jean-Marie Poiré, who later became a director, responsible for such classic comedies as Le Père Noël est une ordure (1982) and Les Visiteurs (1993).

Audiard’s reputation as a writer served him in good stead as a director, enabling to attract some very talented and well-known performers.   The cast list for Le Cri du cormoran is mouth-watering, including such stars as Paul Meurisse, Bernard Blier and Michel Serrault, with Yves Robert, Jean Carmet and Maurice Biraud in some memorable supporting roles.  It’s a great film for Michel Serrault, who shows a natural talent for this kind of chaotic comedy, which could so easily have gone horribly wrong in less capable hands.  As if that wasn’t enough talent to burn a stonking great hole in the cinema screen, one other big name actor makes his début in this film, none other than Gérard Depardieu,who, despite his youth, is instantly recognisable as a hapless gangster henchman.

© James Travers 2007

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