Si tous les gars du monde (1956) - film review

When the crew of a Breton fishing boat in the North Sea begin to fall mysteriously ill, the captain, La Guellec, tries to summon help via radio.  His efforts are frustrated when the radio breaks down and he has no other option but to send out a distress call via short wave radio.  His message is received by an amateur radio enthusiast, hundreds of miles away in Togo.  The latter finds a doctor who diagnoses that the crew have gone down with food poisoning after eating cured ham.  Unless the crew receive an anti-botulism serum within the next twelve hours they will all die.  Without a second to lose, the radio enthusiast sends out a call to Paris, which is received by college boy Jean-Louis.  The latter tries to relay a message to another doctor, only to find he has recently died.  Infected with Jean-Louis’s enthusiasm, the doctor’s grieving widow shares the cost of purchasing the vital medicine and races to the airport, hoping to persuade someone to take it to Munich, where it will be collected by another radio enthusiast.  After numerous mishaps, the parcel is soon on its way to Oslo.  But will it arrive in time to save the twelve men aboard the stricken trawler...?

Si tous les gars du monde / Devenaient de bons copains / Et marchaient la main dans la main / Le bonheur serait pour demain...  Paul Fort’s celebrated poem is powerfully expressed in this cinematic hymn to fraternity, a heart-warming depiction of what might be achieved if mankind could set aside its differences and work for the common good of humanity.  Whilst not immune from schmaltz and fanciful naivety, the film delivers its message with considerable charm and vigour.  Absurd as its plot contrivances are (the episode in which American and Soviet officers temporarily suspend the Cold War and arrive at an improbable entente cordiale is hard to take seriously), it manages to work both as a gripping suspense drama and as an effective morality tale.  The film’s obvious shortcomings (a tendency to stretch credulity to breaking point and a somewhat superficial treatment of racism) are easily forgiven, such is the warmth and sincerity with which the film is crafted.

The striking naturalism of the exterior location sequences and the total lack of big name actors give the film a touch of New Wave authenticity - which is odd given that it was directed by Christian-Jaque, one of the great standard-bearers of the quality tradition which the directors of the Nouvelle Vague were so keen to distance themselves from.   Christian-Jaque is more closely associated with lavish period dramas such as Fanfan la Tulipe (1952) and Lucrèce Borgia (1953) than contemporary dramas such as this.  Equally surprising is the fact that the screenplay was written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, whose own films show a far less rosy assessment of human nature.  Prior to this, Clouzot had just made Les Diaboliques (1955), his most viciously cynical portrait of human frailty.  Unlikely as it may seem, Clouzot shared something of Christian-Jaque’s unshakeable belief in the inherent goodness of mankind and initially wanted to direct the film himself.

One of the most striking things about Si tous les gars du monde, for a major French film of this time, is the absence of a star actor.  This was a conscious decision on the part of the production team - a celebrity actor would have stolen the focus and undermined what the film is meant to be about, which is to celebrate the resourcefulness and compassion of the anonymous individual.  The cast does include a few recognisable faces - Andrex, a once popular comedic actor reduced to minor supporting roles by the 1950s, Jean-Louis Trintignant, very early in his career, and Georges Poujouly, the child star of René Clément’s Jeux interdits (1952) - but, as in a good war film, it is the ensemble that matters, not individual contributions.  Just as we are anxious over the desperate plight of the Breton fishermen (convincingly played by André Valmy and Jean Gaven), we are also moved by the dedication of those who seek to help them, moved and easily inspired to follow their example.

The film’s woolly idealism and lack of a star attraction did not prevent it from being a box office smash.  In France, it attracted an audience of almost four million, in a year that saw the release of several mainstream hits.  No doubt owing to its lionisation of amateur radio enthusiasts and its simple humanist theme, Si tous les gars du monde became an overnight cult classic, a status it retains to this day.  Whilst so many films are happy merely to show us the worst side of humanity, it is indeed refreshing to see one that presents the more wholesome flipside, a vision of Utopia in which solidarity and selfless compassion prevail over indifference, petty-minded prejudice and pointless bureaucracy.  What is particularly great about this film is that leaves the spectator with the impression that he or she too can make a difference.  You don’t have to be a great political leader or pop star to change the world for the better.  If an army of ants can shift a rock that is many times their size, just think what the collective efforts of millions of right-minded human beings might achieve if motivated by good will and the desire to make a better world.  Ah,  si tous les gars du monde devenaient de bons copains...

© James Travers 2010

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The best movie I’ve ever seen. It is about human solidarity. Perfect. It would be very useful for the young generation to see it. I regret that today’s distribution companies have forgotten its existence.
Vaclav Baloun (Prague, Czech Republic) 

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