Le Mort en fuite (1936)
Directed by André Berthomieu

Film Review

Inside every great actor there is a totally unbridled ham waiting to get out.  At least, this is what Jules Berry and Michel Simon convince us of as they mug their way through the 1936 comedy Le Mort en fuite, acting as disgracefully as pair of hyperactive wolfhounds who have suddenly been let off the leash in a meat factory.  At the time, neither actor was particularly renowned for the subtlety he brought to his art, but here they are positively uninhibited, milking every scene for all it is worth and strength-testing jokes way beyond the margin of safety.  It could have been a monumental disaster but, miraculously, this anarchic pairing works a treat and Le Mort en fuite is just about the funniest thing both actors put their names to - and probably the closest that either got to appearing in pantomime.

This overlooked comedy gem was directed by André Berthomieu, a comparatively minor film director (mostly of lowbow comedies) whose best work was in the 1940s, including La Neige sur les pas (1942) and L'Ange de la nuit (1944).  Berthomieu's laissez-faire direction certainly gave Berry and Simon free rein to indulge their wild comedy excesses but it robs the film of a certain focus and cohesion.  It's as if, during a concert recital, one section of an orchestra unilaterally decides to ignore the conductor and set the tempo itself - an impression of manic disarray is bound to ensue.  In most scenes, Berry and Simon's comedy instincts are spot on and heart-stopping hilarity results, but in a few others the excessive scenery chewing is taken a little too far and the silliness becomes a tad tiresome.  To see how the film might have ended up without these two peerless thesps we have only to watch Berthomieu's lacklustre remake of it, Les Deux font la paire (1954), starring Jean Richard and Jean-Marc Thibault.  Sometimes it pays to let the lunatics take over the asylum - but only if you keep the tranquiliser gun within easy reach, just in case things get totally out of hand...

Film Synopsis

Hector Trignol and Achille Baluchet are two third-rate actors who have had their fill of bit parts.  They agree it is high time they took top billing, and to that end they concoct a little subterfuge that is sure to make them both household names.  The plan is that Hector will go into hiding and that Achille will do everything he can to make it appear he has killed his friend.  Once Achille has been arrested for murder, Hector will suddenly reappear and save him from a terrible judicial error.  With their names plastered all over the newspapers, no theatre director would dare to offer them a minor part again!   The scheme appears to be foolproof but there is just one contingency the two actors have not allowed for.  Whilst in hiding, Hector ends up being mistaken for a discredited general in a central European country.  He is fact the exact double of an enemy of the state and it seems that nothing can prevent him from being tried and executed as a national traitor.  Meanwhile, back in France, Achille is found guilt of murdering his friend and sentenced to death - by guillotine!