Bonjour sourire (1955)
Directed by Claude Sautet

Film Review

Claude Sautet's first feature as a director is one which, in later years, he would be more than willing to disown.  Bonjour sourire (a.k.a. Sourire aux lèvres) is not the kind of film that we would ever associate with Sautet - an infantile comedy that, despite its abundance of comedic talent, struggles to extort even a glimmer of a smile from its spectator.  Having worked as an assistant director for five years on a range of lowbrow films that included Pierre Montazel's musical Paris chante toujours (1951) and Yves Robert's comedy Les Hommes ne pensent qu'à ça (1954), Sautet had his first opportunity to direct a film when Robert Dhéry,  the man originally intended to helm Bonjour sourire, fell out with his producer.  It proved to be more of a poisoned chalice than a timely career break.

It's not hard to see that Sautet's heart was not in this spluttering comedy, and the attempts by its stars Annie Cordy, Louis de Funès and Henri Salvador (later to become a legendary musician) to be funny are risible in the extreme.  The film may appeal to children but to an adult audience Bonjour sourire is excruciatingly dull and repetitive.  Its only redeeming features are Annie Cordy's musical numbers and Louis de Funès being pursued by what is obviously a man in a monkey suit.

It's hard to believe that Yves Robert, who scripted and directed many popular comedies, had a hand in the screenplay, and even harder to believe that the director of photography was Léonce-Henri Burel, whose illustrious credits include Abel Gance's Napoléon (1927) and Robert Bresson's Un condamné à mort s'est échappé (1956).  After this baptism of mediocrity, Claude Sautet could have been forgiven for giving up directing altogether.  Mercifully, this was the low point in an otherwise brilliant career and he would go on to earn his reputation as an auteur with considerable popular appeal, through such films as Les Choses de la vie (1970), César et Rosalie (1972) and Un coeur en hiver (1991).

Film Synopsis

Monte-Marino is a thriving principality whose main export is musical instruments.  Despite her country's prosperity, the Princess Aline cannot bring herself to smile.  The king, her father, offers to marry her to anyone who can succeed in bringing a smile to her lips.  To that end, the Prime Minister sends his lieutenant, Bonoeil, to Paris to kidnap France's funniest comedians.  Annie Cordy, Henri Salvador, Christian Duvaleix and Jimmy Gaillard, along with Jean Courtebride (mistaken for his famous cousin), end up in Monte-Marino on their toughest assignment yet.  Unless they can make Princess Aline smile they will remain in captivity forever...