Film Review
Émile Couzinet is a name that is barely remembered today but in
the 1940s and 50s he enjoyed success producing, scripting and directing
a series of films, mostly low-grade popular comedies featuring what
might politely be termed actors who had passed their prime. Based
on a play entitled
Une femme dans un lit by Yves Mirande
(a prolific writer who contributed to over a hundred films),
La
Famille Cucuroux is typical of Couzinet's oeuvre, a
conventional-looking farce pepped up by some weird digressions towards
the slightly surreal. Don't look for any big name actors in the
cast - Couzinet rarely, if ever, employed them. Georges Rollin
and Nathalie Nattier was as much star-power as he could afford, and
they were probably grateful for the work.
Rollin was shaping up to be a fine actor in the mid-1940s - evidenced
by his performance in Robert Vernay's
Le Père Goriot (1945)
- but a decade on his star was very much in the descendent, and this
film did little to arrest his decline into obscurity. Likewise Nattier is also
visibly heading towards the door marked 'exit', despite the promise she
had shown in Marcel Carné's
Les Portes de la nuit
(1946). The film owes more to its brace of incomparable character
actors - Jean Tissier, Pierre Larquey, Jeanne Fusier-Gir - the last two
of whom had given immense value in Couzinet's previous comedy,
Le Curé de Saint-Amour
(1952). The other notable personage in the cast is André
Salvador, the older brother of the now iconic French singer Henri
Salvador - amusing as he is, he is not remotely convincing as a Red
Indian.
La Famille Cucuroux
tries just a little too hard be funny and ends up looking rather
feeble, but the full-throttle contributions from the likeable
supporting artistes make it worth the effort, just.
© James Travers 2015
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Film Synopsis
To marry the daughter of the wealthy Monsieur Cucuroux, Gontran de
Saint-Paul must first leave his mistress, which is not an easy
undertaking as she is devotedly attached to him. The evening when
he thinks he has finally rid himself of his mistress, Gontran is
surprised to find a complete stranger in his bed, a girl named
Geneviève. Gontran's mistress claims her revenge by
revealing this fact to Cucuroux, who, to save face, pretends that
Geneviève is his daughter. The arrival of a Red Indian
from the other side of the Atlantic complicates matters even further,
but all turns out well in the end...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.