Film Review
Stanislas-André Steeman's detective hero Inspecteur Wens makes his final bow in
this Franco-Belgium comedy-thriller, this time in the guise of Philippe Nicaud, playing
the son of the original Inspecteur Wens of
L'Assassin
habite au 21 (1942) as portrayed by Pierre Fresnay.
Que personne ne sorte is very different to Wens's previous screen
outings - a much lighter affair with
none of the film noir trappings of those moody 1940s films. In fact,
it would be more accurate to describe it as a thriller parody, similar in vein
to Georges Lautner's
Monocle films
and his subsequent hit
Les Tontons
flingeurs (1963). By accident or by design, the film
also has some surprising similarities with the 1955 British classic comedy
The Ladykillers (1955).
The film's main asset is Jacqueline Maillan, the
doyenne of popular French comedy, in a role perfectly suited to make the
most of her comedic talents.
As in
Pouic-Pouic (1963)
(the film that made Louis de Funés a star) and the zany wartime comedy
Papy fait de la résistance (1983),
Maillan makes an already absurd situation many times more hilarious by playing
things straight and apparently failing to notice the mahyem going on around her.
Who better to portray an amiable widow playing host to a houseful of trigger-happy gangsters?
In common with all of the half a dozen or so films directed by
the now forgotten Belgian filmmaker Ivan Govar
Que personne ne sorte was not a commercial success,
although it is hard to see why - it is a
very funny film.
© James Travers 2002
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
A lonely widow Adélia is delighted when Jo, the charming man she met on holiday,
turns up at her Bruges mansion one Christmas Eve. She is less pleased when Jo's
five other friends and an attractive young woman appear a short while later, but she agrees
to let them all stay in her home. She does not realise that her guests are a band
of notorious gangsters who have just kidnapped an ambassador's daughter. She is
equally unaware that Inspecteur Wens has just been assigned to eliminate the six gangsters
in the shortest possible time...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.