Summary
Having just escaped from a Catholic reform school, Virginie joins up with a group of adolescent
petty criminals led by a young man named Loulou. They steal a car which was earlier
used in a jewellery hold-up and are pursued by the police. Virginie surrenders herself
to the police to allow her friends to escape. In police custody, she is befriended
by Inspector Morel, who pretends to be a crook to gain her confidence. Morel believes
that Virginie will lead him to the mastermind behind the jewellery theft, Charlemagne.
When Virginie discovers that she is being duped, she says that she intends to make a formal
complaint, and this forces Morel to marry her. However, even when married, Virginie
still intends to help out her former criminal friends, unaware that they are being used
by Charlemagne to smuggle his stolen jewellery out of the country…
Review
Despite the shameful political-incorrectness of its title and some pretty blatant sentimentality,
this is an entertaining comedy thriller which achieves a satisfying blend of B-movie gangster
fare and slapstick.
Probably the most distinguishing feature of this film is that it marks the virtual cinema debut of two acting legends of French cinema: Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Both actors are playing adolescent versions of the kind of sympathetic gangster for which they would achieve stardom in the following decade.
© James Travers 2001
Write a review for this film...
Probably the most distinguishing feature of this film is that it marks the virtual cinema debut of two acting legends of French cinema: Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Both actors are playing adolescent versions of the kind of sympathetic gangster for which they would achieve stardom in the following decade.
© James Travers 2001
Write a review for this film...
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Useful links
- Best French films of 2011
- Best French films of the 2000s
- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- Other French films of the 1950s
- The best French films of the 1950s
- Other French comedy-thrillers
- The best French comedy-thrillers
- Biography and films of Marc Allégret
To buy this film
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Credits
- Director: Marc Allégret
- Script: Marc Allégret, Gabriel Arout, William Benjamin, Odette Joyeux, Jean Marsan, Roger Vadim
- Photo: Armand Thirard
- Music: Jean Wiener
- Cast: Henri Vidal (Jean Morel), Mylène Demongeot (Virginie Dumayet), Béatrice Altariba (Olga Babitcheff), René Lefèvre (M. Raphael), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Pierrot), Anne Collette (Prudence), Robert Dalban (Commissaire Gotterat), François Darbon (Gino), Robert Bazil (Le patron de l’auberge), Gabrielle Fontan (La grand-mère de Jean), Alain Delon (Loulou), Roger Hanin (Charlemagne), Darry Cowl (Insp. Jerôme)
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Runtime: 110 min; B&W
- Aka: Be Beautiful But Shut Up; Blonde for Danger; Just Another Pretty Face
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Comedy / Thriller






