Monsieur Taxi (1952)
Directed by André Hunebelle

Film Review

Michel Simon is perfectly cast as a self-effacing taxi driver in this engaging little comedy-drama, which provides a convincing portrait of working class family life in France a few years after WWII.  Although a little dated, the films offers a few memorable sequences, such as the one where Michel Simon is debating with his (remarkably well-trained) dog what to do with the money he has found in his taxi - Simon and dog make a terrific double act, making most of the rest of the cast superfluous.  The film was directed by André Hunebelle, one of the most successful mainstream French filmmakers of the 1950s and '60s, best remembered for his Fantômas trilogy of films, which starred Louis de Funès and Jean Marais.  Louis de Funès makes a very small appearance in Monsieur Taxi, as an irascible street artist, one of his many, many small roles before he became a major star in the mid-1960s.

Film Synopsis

Pierre Verger is happy in his job as a Paris taxi driver.  He may not be rich, he may not be famous, but he enjoys his work and has an adoring wife, Hélène.  His only concern is that his two children Georges and Jacqueline have grown up too fast and are about to leave the family nest, for better or for worse.  Jacqueline is engaged to François, a florist who fancies himself as an artist.  Georges, a journalist, cannot bring himself to tell his parents that he has fallen in love with a dancer named Lily.  At the end of a day's work, Pierre is surprised to find a handbag stuffed with banknotes in his car.  It was obviously left behind by one of his customers, but which one?  After deciding that he cannot keep the money for himself, Pierre sets out to find the bag's rightful owner by visiting each of the day's fares in turn.  The first candidate happens to be George's friend Lily, who had taken the taxi to find out how Pierre feels about women of her profession.  Neither Lily nor the next customer, a high-class prostitute, apparently has any claim to the mysterious handbag, so by a process of elimination the only person it could belong to is an Italian woman who is wanted for robbery...