Le Gardian (1946)
Directed by Jean de Marguenat

Film Review

Sandwiched between Sérénade aux nuages and Destins, two of Tino Rossi's best known films, is the comparatively little known Le Gardian, in which the legendary singer makes a somewhat ill-advised attempt to model himself on Gene Autry, the singing cowboy.  Not having the physique for a cowboy, Rossi looks patently absurd throughout most of the film, but what makes the film so instantly forgettable is its lacklustre plot and pedestrian mise-en-scène.  Filmed in Aimargues, in the attractive Gard department of southern France, the location certainly offers the wide open spaces of the classic American western, but director Jean de Marguenat is clearly no John Ford and the film ends up more as a stuffy, routine melodrama than a picturesque western.  The only scene that can be described as inspired is the one in which Rossi encounters a naked Lilia Vetti in a vast espanse of wheatfield, with the sun setting mournfully behind him.  It's a weirdly beautiful moment but one that is sadly soon forgotten.  On the cast front, Alexandre Arnaudy and Édouard Delmont bring some colour and authenticity to the film, as they did on Marcel Pagnol's films of this era, but some unforgiveably wooden acting from Rossi and his co-star Loleh Bellon makes the film painfully stilted and synthetic.  Even the musical numbers are below par, and with the exception of a lively sequence in which Rossi carouses with some gypsies, the film has a hard job keeping its spectator awake.

Film Synopsis

In the Camargue region of southern France, Renaud is a cowboy who intends to marry Livette, the young daughter of a wealthy farmer, against the wishes of her parents.  Livette has a fierce rival in the gypsy Zinzara, who seduces Renaud in an attempt to ruin her life....