Carlo Rim's third feature is less impressive than his first two - L'Armoire volante (1948) and La Maison Bonnadieu (1951) -
but it still offers plenty of enjoyment value, with Robert Lamoureux
demonstrating his flair for comedy near the start of his prominent
screen career. Lamoureux's best scenes are with Yves Robert, an
actor who would make his directing debut the following year and go on
to helm some of France's most successful films, including La Guerre des boutons (1962)
and Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire
(1972). Here Robert plays a notorious psychopath whose futile
attempts to intimidate and harm Lamoureux provide a rich vein of humour
which Rim mines ruthlessly. As soon as Lamoureux starts to
believe he is invulnerable, thanks to a purloined charm artefact, the
gags per minute ratio goes into overdrive. With two such charismatic
performers vying for our attention, the
billed female lead Geneviève Kervine scarcely gets a look-in as
Lamoureux's love interest, and in any event she is the least interesting
of the female characters. This enjoyably daft
(but never silly) mix of farce and suspense-comedy ends with a
nail-biting rooftop chase and a duel to the death between Lamoureux and
Robert which looks as if it might have been directed by Hitchcock
himself.
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Film Synopsis
François Virgile is a likeable young man but his attempts to
make something of his life are continually thwarted by a curse which,
he believes, has brought misery and misfortune to generations of his
family. His luck seems to have changed when he finds work as a
newspaper reporter, but it isn't long before another disaster
strikes. His friends agree that his apparent run of bad luck is
down to a lack of self-confidence, and so they contrive to improve
Virgile's lot by getting him to believe in himself more. The plan
is derailed when an escaped psychotic killer shows up unexpectedly in
Virgile's lodgings...
Cast:Robert Lamoureux (François Virgile),
Fernand Sardou (Latripe),
Bordas (La femme à barbe),
Charles Bouillaud (L'agent),
Alain Bouvette (Le moniteur),
Germaine Charley (La voisine),
Françoise Delbart (Furet),
Max Desrau (Le ministre),
Saturnin Fabre (Le président),
Elisabeth Hardy (La secrétaire),
René Hell (Un typo),
Jacques Hilling (Le professeur),
François Joux (Bourbaki),
Geneviève Kervine (Jackie),
Albert Michel (Trouillard),
Pierre Olaf (Mimi la Rouquine),
Françoise Prévost (Mimi la Rouquine),
Yves Robert (Esposito),
Robert Rollis (Un collègue de François),
Albert Rémy (Bastien)
Country: France
Language: French
Support: Black and White
Runtime: 91 min
The best of American cinema
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