Film Review
After the success of their earlier collaboration,
La Belle Américaine (1961),
Robert Dhéry and Pierre Tchernia pooled their collective talents
to serve up another sparkling madcap comedy, this time assisted by a
bevy of some of the best-loved British actors and comedians of the
period.
Allez France!
(a.k.a.
The Counterfeit Constable)
is arguably the maddest and therefore most enjoyable of Dhéry's
film comedies, and the one that has stood the test of time best.
What other film can boast such an unlikely ensemble as Diana Dors,
Colin Blakely, Arthur Mullard, Colette Brosset, Jean Lefebvre, Jean
Carmet and Bernard Cribbins?
Dhéry himself gets to play the main character, a sort of
cross-between Jacques Tati and Mr Bean who is mistaken for a British
bobby and gets caught up in all manner of improbable escapades in
swinging sixties London. One minute Dhéry is saving the
beautifully buxom Diana Dors from a sinister stalker, the next he is
smuggling a shifty Arthur Mullard out of a police station. Unable
to open his mouth because he has just had his two front teeth replaced,
Dhéry must somehow evade the unwelcome attention of a publicity
hungry Miss Dors and the entire London constabulary if he is to get
back to France in time and intact for his wedding. Ee, they don't
make 'em like they used ter.
At the time, Robert Dhéry was France's most distinguished
purveyor of zany slapstick. In the late 1940s, he and his wife
Colette Brosset founded
Les
Branquignols, a remarkably successful troupe of comedians,
musicians and other assorted performers which included such luminaries
as Jacqueline Maillan, Louis de Funès, Michel Serrault, Jean
Lefebvre and Jean Carmet. In the 1950s, Les Branquignols
(France's answer to the Crazy Gang) proved to be a hit both in London
and New York with their longrunning show
La Plume de Ma Tante. The
troupe also featured in two hit French films,
Branquignol (1949) and
Ah! Les Belles Bacchantes
(1954). Dhéry began his film directing career on the back of
these successes and delivered some of the most commercially successful
French comedies of all time. His biggest hit was
Le
Petit baigneur (1968), which attracted over five and half
million spectators, a reflection of the popularity of its lead actor
Louis de Funès.
Allez
France! (1964) was by no means a let down - it drew an audience
of 2.6 million in France and was also popular in the UK.
In the 1960s, Anglo-French co-productions were hardly a rarity, but
Allez France! is one of the most
successful bi-national comedies of its kind, perhaps the most perfect
synthesis of Gallic and Anglo-Saxon humour cinema has so far given
us. This was a time when France and Britain were on the best of
terms, before the spirit of
entente
cordiale became soured by Général de Gaulle's
anti-British rhetoric and refusal to allow Britain to join the European
Common Market. (There is a deliciously wicked joke at de Gaulle's
expense in the film.)
Allez
France! is a film that could only have been made in the early
1960s and it evokes the optimism and carefree
joie de vivre of the time as well
as any French or British comedy of the period.
Today,
Allez France! is a
superb piece of escapist fun, tirelessly funny and not the slightest
bit afraid of appearing silly. Whilst many of the gags are of the
familiar slapstick variety (and have the nametags of Buster Keaton
and Charlie Chaplin clearly visible on them), some are genuinely
inspired and irresistibly funny, particularly the spoof travelogue that
starts the film (presenting a typically Gallic view of London and the
English). Trivia fans should note that this is the film in which
the elfin Mark Lester made his screen debut, just before he cropped up
in Truffaut's
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and found
stardom in Carol Reed's
Oliver!
(1968).
Allez France!
was also the title adopted by BBC Radio for its splendid 1970s French
language course, to which yours truly is forever indebted.
At a time when the rift between the UK and the rest of Europe could hardly be
greater, it is good to be reminded that there was once a time when
France and Britain were the happiest of bedfellows and did not spend
all their time trading cheap insults. What Europe needs today
is a few less Général de Gaulles and many more Robert
Dhérys!
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Robert Dhéry film:
Le Petit baigneur (1968)
Film Synopsis
On the eve of his wedding day, Henri Martineau
decides to make full use of his last few hours of bachelor freedom by
attending the France versus England rugby match at Twickenham.
Naturally, Henri cannot tell his fiancée the truth, so he
pretends to be away visiting a sick aunt. If only he had known
how much trouble would result from that one little white lie...
During the football match, Henri is hit by another supporter and loses
his two front teeth. Finding a dentist in London at the weekend
is not easy but luckily Henri manages to find one who can patch him
up. After the operation, the dentist tells him that he must not
open his mouth for two hours. In the waiting room, Henri cannot
help slipping into the uniform of a policeman who has taken his place
in the dentist's chair. Mistaken for a real policeman, Henri
accidentally comes to the rescue of the actress Diana Dors when she is
attacked by a maniac. The publicity-conscious Miss Dors
insists on being photographed with Henri, but realising that this will
expose his subterfuge the Frenchman takes flight. Before he
knows what is happening, he has helped a notorious crook escape from
police custody and soon has the whole London police force on his back.
Henri's adventures are far from over...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.