Le Grand chef (1959) - film review

Tired of their low-paid job as car cleaners, Antoine and Paulo dream of owning their own petrol station.  To raise the money for this venture they kidnap the young son of a millionaire.  Abducting the child, Eric, proves easy, but neither Antoine nor Paulo has any idea of the nightmare that lies ahead.  Pleased by this unexpected adventure, Eric uses every occasion to make the life of his kidnappers hell.  He smashes up their apartment, feigns illness and finally has Paulo put in hospital with a broken leg.  Worse, Eric’s parents are in no hurry to have their cherished offspring back...

After their great success as Don Damillo and Peppone in the Don Camillo films of the 1950s, Fernandel and Gino Cervi are reunited in this unadventurous little comedy.  Although there are a couple of very funny sequences in this film – notably the routine with the jinxed block of ice – it is by and large a pretty damp offering.  Fernandel is forced to play the sympathetic loser that is all too familiar whilst Gino Cervi is egregious to the point of irritation.  The film was pilloried by the critics on its release and was ill-received by the public.  In terms of ticket sales in France, it was one of Fernandel’s least successful films.  This could be equally attributed to the film’s subject (how can kidnapping a young child be considered appropriate material for a comedy?), a fairly weak script and Henri Verneuil’s (unusually) uninspired direction.

© James Travers 2004

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