Les Culottes rouges (1962)
Directed by Alex Joffé

Comedy / Drama / War
aka: Red Culottes

Film Review

Abstract picture representing Les Culottes rouges (1962)
Former screenwriter Alex Joffé started his fairly brief filmmaking career with the off-kilter comedy Six heures à perdre (1947), and followed this with eleven further films made between 1953 and 1968. His most notable films are Les Hussards (1955), Fortunat (1960) and Les Culottes rouges, which was released on 19th December 1962.  All three of these films are coincidently (or not) war films.  Based on an original script by Joffé himself and the actor Étienne Berry (who also plays a supporting role) the film is concerned with two prisoners-of-war who have nothing in common but must join forces in an escape attempt.  Les Culottes rouges is a rare French film that talks about wartime prisoners in an original and touching way (another example being Henri Verneuil's La Vache et le prisonnier).  It derives it title from the name given to those who made repeated attempts to escape from prisoner of war camps.  The camp itself can be considered a microcosm of Nazi occuppied France. 

This little known comedy-drama has some funny and moving moments, and is an astute commentary on the period it portrays.  Alex Joffé may not have been a genius but he is a sensitive filmmaker with a penchant for character detail, able to deliver an interesting and poignant piece of cinema with broad appeal.  After Fortunat, Les Culottes rouges is easily his best film and is similarly distinguished by a magnificent performance from André Raimbourg, alias Bourvil.  Here, Bourvil shows his remarkable range as an actor in the role of the poor wretch Fendard, a sort of collaborator who is the epitome of a good prisoner.  Egocentric and intolerant, the part of Antoine Rossi is brilliantly played by Laurent Terzieff, another fine actor.  Les Culottes rouges was one of Joffé's most successful films, attracting an audience of two million in France.
© James Travers, Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium) 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.

Film Synopsis

During WWII, Antoine Rossi is a prisoner in a POW camp in Germany.  He has made several attempts to escape, but on each occasion he has failed and has to wear short red trousers as a warning to other would-be fugitives.  Antoine is not deterred, however, and prepares to make yet another break-out attempt.  Hiding beneath the stage of the camp theatre, he is discovered by Fendard, another prisoner of a timid and cowardly disposition.  Antoine coerces the latter into helping him escape and, for once, it looks as if he will succeed.  But Antoine's luck soon changes for the worse and he finds himself at Fendard's mercy.  Should Fendard help the man who has threatened and intimidated him, or should he leave him and save himself...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Alex Joffé
  • Script: Etienne Bierry (story), Alex Joffé, Pierre Lévy-Corti
  • Cinematographer: Jean Penzer
  • Music: Jean Marion
  • Cast: Bourvil (Fendard), Laurent Terzieff (Antoine), Etienne Bierry (Schmidt), Jacques Balutin (Phi-Phi), Teddy Bilis (Le curé), Antoine Bourseiller (Le metteur en scène), Marcel Gassouk (Un prisonnier), Harry-Max (Le médecin militaire), Fulbert Janin (Un homme de la troupe), Francis Lax (Un homme de la troupe), Rudy Lenoir (Le kapo allemand), Jean Martin (Un homme de la troupe), Paul Mercey (Un prisonnier), Marcel Mérovée (Un prisonnier), Odette Piquet (L'Allemande), Guy Piérauld (Le médecin de la troupe), Henri Poirier (Un prisonnier), Robert Rollis (Un prisonnier), Jean Rupert (Un prisonnier), Jean-Pierre Zola (Le délégué civil)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Support: Black and White
  • Runtime: 104 min
  • Aka: Red Culottes

The best French Films of the 1920s
sb-img-3
In the 1920s French cinema was at its most varied and stylish - witness the achievements of Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Jean Epstein and Jacques Feyder.
The very best sci-fi movies
sb-img-19
Science-fiction came into its own in B-movies of the 1950s, but it remains a respected and popular genre, bursting into the mainstream in the late 1970s.
The very best of German cinema
sb-img-25
German cinema was at its most inspired in the 1920s, strongly influenced by the expressionist movement, but it enjoyed a renaissance in the 1970s.
The very best American film comedies
sb-img-18
American film comedy had its heyday in the 1920s and '30s, but it remains an important genre and has given American cinema some of its enduring classics.
The very best fantasy films in French cinema
sb-img-30
Whilst the horror genre is under-represented in French cinema, there are still a fair number of weird and wonderful forays into the realms of fantasy.
 

Other things to look at


Copyright © filmsdefrance.com 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright