Capitaine Pantoufle (1953)
Directed by Guy Lefranc

Film Review

Although far better known as a dramatic actor (both on stage and screen), François Périer had shown a natural flair for comedy in Guy Lefranc's lively rom-com Elle et moi (1952).  Périer's presence added lustre to what might otherwise have been a routine comedy, and he has a similar effect (albeit to a lesser degree) on Lefranc's subsequent Capitaine Pantoufle, a screen adaptation of a stage play entitled Many, written by the actor-turned-playwright Alfred Adam.  Interestingly, almost a decade before, Périer had starred in another film based on an Alfred Adam play, Sylvie et le fantôme (1946).  In that film, Périer had to pass himself off as a ghost.  In Lefranc's film, he has a go at being a zombie.

Lacking the screwball dynamism and wildly eccentric digressions of Elle et moi, this second Périer-Lefranc collaboration is a more traditional kind of French comedy, effectively an anti-bourgeois satire in which a Walter Mitty-style dreamer (Périer) takes bizarre steps to find temporary relief from an existence of will-sapping mundanity.  The central joke of the film is that only by feigning a catatonic fit does the hero come to recognise himself as the zombie-like non-entity which bourgeois conformity has made him.  Adam's adaptation of his own play does little to disguise its theatrical origins and, as a result, Lefranc's mise-en-scène feels flat and static, lacking its customary warmth and vitality.

Overlong and a tad repetitive, Capitaine Pantoufle is just about redeemed by the exceptional quality of the acting ensemble that manages to make something of Alfred Adam's fairly mundane and not particularly funny play.  François Périer has the thankless task of spending most of the film in a state of simulated paralysis, so it's no surprise he ends up being eclipsed by the ample supporting cast.  First off there is Louis de Funès, no longer a bit player but a confident comedy legend-in-the-making, shamelessly looking like the star of the film in the early scenes, comfortable in the kind of role that he would later become best known for - the tyrannical, over-fastidious boss from Hell.  Only de Funès can make the phrase "Mon cher ami" sound like a declaration of war.

No sooner has the show-stealing de Funès ducked out of the frame than some other attention-grabbing performers dive in to take his place - Noël Roquevert, Jane Marken, Marthe Mercadier and Pierre Mondy.  Despite the dearth of scripted humour there's plenty of fun to be had, and whilst Capitaine Pantoufle is by no means Guy Lefranc's most memorable comedy, it is more than up to the job of whiling away a dull afternoon.  Louis de Funès may be on screen for a fraction of the time that François Périer gets, but if an actor's contribution is measured by the pleasure he brings to his audience Fufu should definitely be credited as the star of the film.

Film Synopsis

Emmanuel Bonnavent, a modest bank clerk who is fed up with his monotonous existence, likes to imagine how much happier he would be if he had the money to buy an expensive car or depart on an ocean cruise to some exotic clime.  One day, he 'borrows' a large sum of money from his bank, just so that he can experience what it is like to be a wealthy man, able to make his dreams a reality.  The theft is quickly discovered by Emmanuel's employer and before he knows it the young daydreamer is facing a barrage of reproach from his wife and her parents.  Faced with this verbal onslaught Emmanuel's only way out is to fake a seizure.  In a state of simulated catatonia, Emmanuel soon comes to realise the contempt that his wife and in-laws have for him and discovers that his only friend is his housemaid, Zite.  On the spur of the moment, Emmanuel decides to run off with Zite and start a new life, having returned the stolen money.  It only escape were this easy...