Le Gentleman d’Epsom (1962) - film review

Retired military officer Richard Briand-Charmery, known to all as “The Commandant”, gambles every centime he has on horse racing bets.  When his luck is down, he supplies his friends with false betting tips, knowing that the friend whose bet comes off will give him a fraction of the winnings.  One day, Richard meets up with an old flame, Maud, and passes an evening with her at his expense.  To pay the bill for the evening’s extravagance, the Commandant tries his scam on a naive restaurateur, Ripeux...

Nearly a decade after their appearance together in Georges Lacombe’s Leur dernière nuit (1953), Jean Gabin and Madeleine Robinson are reunited in this gentle comic farce.  Although the plot is stretched rather thinly, there are some good jokes and a memorable appearance by  the great comedy actor Louis de Funès.  Gabin and De Funès had previously appeared in Claude Autant-Lara’s 1955 film, La Traversée de Paris, and would subsequently share top billing in Denys de La Patellière’s 1968 film Le Tatoué, by which time De Funès’ popularity had well and truly overtaken Gabin’s.

© James Travers 2007

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