Les Morfalous marks the end of a twenty-five
year association between two pre-eminent figures in French cinema from the 1960s -
director Henri Verneuil and actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. It was their eighth collaboration,
and yet another attempt at a blockbuster in the unashamedly American style.
Whilst the film does have some good jokes (some however in very, very bad taste), and
the action stunts are impressive (albeit more Grand Guignol than realistic), the script
is weak and the grey-haired Belmondo not too convincing as an action hero. The moral
ambiguity of Belmondo's character is also unsatisfying and it is next to impossible
to find anything to like in his portrayal of a crude, self-serving Legionnaire.
Jacques Villeret and Michel Constantin come off far better, both having sympathetic roles
and a decent share of the best jokes. Verneuil makes the best of the material he
has at his disposal and, whilst clearly not his best film, it does just about pass for
entertainment.
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Next Henri Verneuil film: Mayrig (1992)
Film Synopsis
In 1943, a detachment of the French Foreign Legion is tasked with an usual
but extremely hazardous mission during the Second World War - to salvage
a fortune in gold bullion from the vault of a bank in a North African town.
German soldiers already surround the town and the legionnaires are all but
wiped out in an ambush. The only survivors are Sergeant Augagneur,
Adjutant Mahuzard and Boissier. Enlisting the help of a cowardly artillery
man named Béral, these three take possession of the only remaining
canon and launch a fierce assault on their German attackers. Augagneur,
Boissier and Béral are all for sharing the gold between themselves,
against the wishes of Mahuzard and the bank's director Laroche-Fréon.
Augagneur strikes up an agreement with a German soldier to take possession
of the gold and help him carry it away in tanks, whilst his comrades are
slaughtered in another exchange of fire. When the French army appears
and surrounds Augagneur with his ill-gotten gains he is fêted as a
hero...
Script: Henri Verneuil,
Michel Audiard (dialogue),
Pierre Siniac (novel)
Cinematographer: Edmond Séchan
Music: Georges Delerue
Cast:Jean-Paul Belmondo (Sgt. Pierre Augagneur),
Jacques Villeret (Béral),
Michel Constantin (Adjudant Édouard Mahuzard),
Michel Creton (Boissier),
Matthias Habich (Karl),
François Perrot (François Laroche-Fréon),
Maurice Auzel (Borzik),
Gérard Buhr (L'officier du camp de ravitaillement),
Robert Lombard (M. Chanterelle),
Pierre Semmler (Capt. Ulrich Dieterle),
Caroline Sihol (Mme Chanterelle),
Marie Laforêt (Hélène Laroche-Fréon),
Michel Beaune (Le général français),
Michel Berreur (Un légionnaire),
Hans Verner (Le colonel allemand),
Henri Verneuil (La voix de l'annonceur radio),
Junior John David
Country: France
Language: French / German
Support: Color
Runtime: 95 min
The silent era of French cinema
Before the advent of sound France was a world leader in cinema. Find out more about this overlooked era.
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.
In the 1940s, the shadowy, skewed visual style of 1920s German expressionism was taken up by directors of American thrillers and psychological dramas, creating that distinctive film noir look.