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French films Comedy
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Louis Verneuil’s stage play Le Fauteuil 47 was first adapted for cinema by Gaston Ravel in 1926. This stylish 1937 re-make was directed by Fernand Rivers and starred four high-profile actors of the 1930s – Raimu, Françoise Rosay, André Lefaurn and Henri Garat. The strong cast brings a touch of class to what is pretty much a conventional French farce in which the...
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This typical mid-1930s French farce would most probably have been lost in the mists of time if it were not for the fact that it features some very prestigious actors of the period. Raimu, a greatly respected actor of stage and screen with a remarkable talent for both comedy and drama, is on fine form, handling the jokes...
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Barnabé is a convoluted yet nevertheless entertaining farce of the kind that was very popular in France in the 1930s. With its mocking yet affectionate view of the aristocracy, complicated romantic liaisons, and larger than life comic characters, the story is pure P.G. Wodehouse, and just as funny. However, what really brings the film to life is an extraordinary physical performance...
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La Chaleur du sein is a good example of the kind of comic farce which earned Jean Boyer his reputation as a successful and popular film director of the 1930s and 1940s. Based on a play by André Birabeau, the film is a hilarious and sometimes poignant satire on Bourgeois life in France before World War II. Although the plot is somewhat run-of-the-mill...
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Marcel Pagnol uses this engaging comic farce as an effective vehicle with which to satirise the film industry. In the role of the star-struck country boy is Fernandel, one of France’s greatest film comics, and in this film he gives one of his best performances, playing one of the major roles in his distinguished career...
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Les Disparus de Saint-Agil is classic of French cinema, an atmospheric comedy thriller with dark elements of fantasy and mysticism, which is regarded as one of director Christian-Jaque’s best works. It is a film which vividly contrasts the naïve romanticism of young boys with the cruelty and materialism of men and is simultaneously an entertaining and disturbing work...
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A fairly typical mainstream French comedy of the late 1930s, Tricoche et Cacolet stars the charismatic comic actor Fernandel who was, even then, a hugely popular figure in France. Although the jokes in this overly complicated farce now appear tired and dated, the film retains some of its charm, thanks mainly to its cheery musical numbers and some eccentric performances...
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Fric-frac is a direct adaptation of a popular stage play by Édouard Bourdet and Fernand Trignol, which starred Michel Simon and Vector Boucher. In the film version, Boucher’s role is played by Fernandel, whose apparent childlike naiveté makes him ideal for the part. He is joined by Michel Simon, reprising his stage role...
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Sacha Guitry’s multifarious talents as writer, director and actor are very much exemplified by this boisterous farce, in which Guitry shares the limelight with some leading performers of the day. An ensemble piece in the truest sense of the word, the film’s greatest asset is its extraordinary cast, who work together as effectively as an established theatrical troupe...
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In this entertaining farce, France’s comic hero Fernandel gets himself enmeshed in a seemingly endless and inescapable series of cases of mistaken identity. Despite the complexity of the plot (you need to be pretty alert to follow all of it), the film has a genuine charm, epitomising the French comic farce of the late 1930s...
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Not so much a film as a series of largely unconnected sketches, few of which are scripted with any originality or flair. The prestigious cast list is certainly a draw, but hardly makes up for the mediocre screenplay and uninspired direction. Erich von Stroheim was to have appeared in the film, but he left for America before it was completed (after a hiatus caused by the outbreak of WWII)...
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This early example of the French mystery crime thriller (or ‘polar’) manages to evoke the American film noir genre which inspired it, most notably in the shadowy sets and atmospheric photography. It also manages to bring in another important genre of American cinema in the 1930s and ‘40s, the lavish song and dance film...
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One of the most famous and best-loved of French film musicals, Romance de Paris is probably the closest that French cinema managed to get to recreating the glamour and charm of the traditional Hollywood musical of the 1930s and 40s. It was directed by Jean Boyer, the best (if not the only) French director of the genre. The film musical is not well represented in French cinema—lack of popular...
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One of the finest French language adaptations of an English play, Volpone should be regarded as nothing less than a masterpiece of filmed theatrical farce, although the film is scarcely known today. The film is based on the play "Volpone" by the Elizabethan playwright, Ben Jonson, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, skilfully translated into French by Jules Romains...
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Simplet paints an affectionate portrait of Provençal life, reminiscent of Marcel Pagnol’s film depiction of the French rural community in its cosy parochialism, but with the stereotypes reinforced for comic effect. The film was directed by its star, the comic genius Fernandel, and the result is, not surprisingly...
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The pressures of working for Continental Films seem not to have dented Fernandel’s enthusiasm one iota and in this entertaining farce – which he also directed – the great comic actor gives a typically ebullient performance. The Nazi-run company was clearly keen to exploit Fernandel’s popularity, and maybe allowing the comedian to direct the film was a cheap way of...
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With its amusing variation on the Cyrano de Bergerac story, La Bonne étoile is a competently directed, yet mildly lacklustre, romantic comedy, very typical of popular French cinema in the early 1940s. Fernandel brings as much poignancy as comedy to the film, which, despite having a certain naïve charm, is somewhat marred by dull acting performances and a pretty mediocre script...
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Aventure est au coin de la rue is a spirited comedy which attempts to blend gangster thriller and drawing room farce, with some success. Claude Renoir’s photography gives the film a touch of classic film noir which adds a quality dimension to what would otherwise be regarded as a pretty ordinary mid-1940s comedy. The comedy thriller was a fairly unusual genre at the time this film...
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Although massively overshadowed by Jacques Tati’s subsequent works, L’École des facteurs merits consideration as a small comic masterpiece in its own right. Replete with visual jokes (many of which are as fresh as funny as they were when the film was made), it ought to be ranked along side the silent slapstick classics of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton which clearly...
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Fernandel may be one of the best-loved figures in French cinema but even his most ardent admirers have to admit that the majority of his films are mediocre, shallow vehicles to showcase their star performer, of limited appeal to general film enthusiasts. A few of Fernandel’s films, however, stand out and are not only superlative examples of French cinema...
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