Film Review
Francis Lopez's popular operetta, first performed at the
Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in the early 1950s, is
lavishly reinterpreted for the big screen in this sumptuous musical
directed by Richard Pottier. By this time, the Spanish singer
Luis Mariano had become one of the most popular musical stars in Europe
(as big an attraction as The Beatles would be in the next decade) and
no one was better placed to take the lead role, having proven his
talents as both an actor and singer in a string of box office hits
that included
Andalousie (1951),
Violetas imperiales (1952) and
La Belle de Cadix (1953).
The real casting masterstroke on
Le
Chanteur de Mexico was the pairing of Mariano with another
prominent star of the period, the comic actor Bourvil, who was himself
a more than able musician. It is no surprise that the film was an
instant hit, attracting an audience of 4.8 million in France
alone. Sadly, Mariano's next venture with Bourvil,
Sérénade au Texas
(1958), was to prove a disastrous misfire, partly as Mariano's popular
appeal had begun to wane with the advent of a new musical phenomenon,
rock music.
At a time when French cinema was predominantly monochrome and
struggling to throw off the mantle of post-war austerity, colourful
musical extravaganzas like
Le
Chanteur de Mexico came as a welcome moral-booster, matching the
vitality and enjoyable kitsch appeal of the very best MGM
musicals. Whilst the film suffers (as most film musicals do) from
its lumbering pedestrian plot and threadbare characterisation, the
boisterous extravagance of its show-stopping musical numbers more than
redeems it. Pottier's direction is at best workmanlike,
occasionally downright uninspired, but who can forget the slow tracking
shot up the Eiffel Tower with Mariano singing as he and his entourage
of happy workers paint Paris's most famous monument? Or the
beautiful ode to friendship that Mariano croons with Bourvil as they
trail a flock of sheep across the lush French countryside?
Le Chanteur de Mexico may not have
endured as well as some of the great American musicals but, on the
strength of its uplifting, effortlessly choreographed musical numbers,
it easily qualifies as a classic, a particularly welcome treat for any
fan of Mariano and Bourvil.
© James Travers 2013
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Richard Pottier film:
Sérénade au Texas (1958)
Film Synopsis
Monsieur Cartoni, an important impresario, is organising a lavish operetta
in Mexico when he runs into serious difficulties. It seems that the
famous tenor Michel Morano, who was to have taken the lead role, is unwilling
to set foot in the country through fear of being pounced on by a woman he
once promised to marry, Tornado. Cartoni has no option but to find
himself a replacement singer, and in Vincent Etchebar he has the ideal candidate.
The impresario recently met Vincent when he was passing through a Basque
village and was struck both by his physical resemblance to Marano and his
remarkable ability as a singer. Surely no one could tell the two men
apart!
Alas, by now Vincent has already departed from his village and has moved
to Paris with his friend Bilou to find work as exterior decorators.
Presently, they are engaged on painting the Eiffel Tower. Encouraged
by Cri-Cri, the pretty young woman he lodges with, Vincent enters a radio
talent competition, and this allows Cartoni to track him down. Without
undue ceremony, Vincent is offered a contract for the Mexican tour and he
accepts gladly. Before he knows it, he is busy rehearsing with his
stunning co-star Eva Marchal, just before they set of for Mexico. Jealous,
Cri-Cri is not far behind, with Bilou.
Morano's fears about his personal safety in Mexico turn out to be well-founded.
His double has barely been in the country five minutes before the matrimonially
obsessed Tornado is planning his abduction, so determined is she to get him
to honour his (or rather Morano's) promise of marriage. The kidnapping
comes off as planned and Vincent soon finds himself at the not so tender
mercies of his amorous admirer. It is up his friends Bilou and Cri-Cri
to save him from a fate worse than death...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.