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French films Comedy
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This is arguably one of the dozen or so most influential films of the twentieth century. The contrast with everything that went before A bout de souffle is stunning, in terms of plot structure, content, direction and camera work. This is Jean-Luc Godard at his most anarchistic, although – ironically – the film begins as what appears to be a conventional gangster film...
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This good-humoured wartime comedy was directed by Christian-Jaque, who is probably best known for his historical adventure films Fanfan la Tulipe (1952) and La Tulipe noire (1964). Producer Raoul Lévy initially offered the directing job to Roger Vadim, but he declined when Martine Carol turned down the leading role and was replaced by Brigitte Bardot...
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One of the lesser works from Hungarian filmmaker Géza von Radványi, Ein Engel auf Erden is an absurd fantasy comedy that is memorable only for its cast, which includes some of the best loved actors in French cinema – most of whom were at an early stage in their career. At the time she made this film...
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A few years after their successful collaboration on La Traversée de Paris (1956), director Claude Autant-Lara and the popular comic actor Bourvil worked together on this light-hearted farce, based on a best-selling novel by Marcel Aymé. One of Autant-Lara’s more cheerful films, La Jument verte benefits from an exceptionally talented cast...
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After their great success as Don Damillo and Peppone in the Don Camillo films of the 1950s, Fernandel and Gino Cervi are reunited in this unadventurous little comedy. Although there are a couple of very funny sequences in this film – notably the routine with the jinxed block of ice – it is by and large a pretty damp offering...
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Popular French comic performer Darry Cowl stars in this routine 1950s comedy, which is really just a series of uninspired sketches cobbled together into a full-length film. It’s pretty anodyne stuff, but some of the visual gags work rather well and there’s a decent turn from the almost mythic comedian Francis Blanche....
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Although nearing the end of his film-making career, Renoir still managed to deliver this charming satirical comedy. Whilst the film lacks the punch and intensity of the great director’s earlier films, it provides an amusing tongue-in-cheek swipe at scientific progress and re-affirms Renoir’s belief that there is no substitute for love...
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Despite having an exceptional cast, which includes the great comedienne Jacqueline Maillan and some actors who are now very highly regarded, this adaptation of Pierre Veber’s play falls somewhat flat and is typical of the kind of bargain basement comedy that French audiences had to endure in the late 1950s. The jokes are too predictable to be amusing...
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Just as French cinema was going through its most significant upheaval for decades, FBI agent Lemmy Caution made a welcome return to cinema screens after an absence of nearly five years. Forget the French New Wave; we are back in the safe, familiar world of sauve secret agents, svelte and seductive women, guns and fist fights...
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Le Mouton is unapologetically one of those slapdash low budget comedies intended to showcase the talents of a popular comedian of the day, in this case Fernand Raynaud. Although the script is awful, a concoction of silly situations that barely resembles a plot, Raynaud’s presence more than makes up for this and, whilst clearly not a masterpiece...
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In this light romantic comedy, Delannoy plays on his strengths as a director and also capitalises on the formidable acting talent in his cast – notably Jean Gabin and Micheline Presle. Gabin is particularly impressive as the gentleman gambler who appears wealthy and imposing, but in truth has scarcely a sou to his name...
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This engaging comedy was written and directed by Robert Lamoureux, a popular figure in French cinema of the 1950s. Not surprisingly, Lamoureux also takes a lead role in this film as the seductive Thierry. This film may not be in the same league as the contemporary New Wave films of the early 1960s, mainly because it is allied too closely with the traditional romantic cinema of the 1950s...
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This early Louis Malle film is a sparkling French farce, very reminiscent of the comic silent movies of the 1920s. A precocious little girl, with a foul mouth and a wicked sense of fun, provides the catalyst for some deliriously funny comic situations. The high-point is probably Philippe Noiret prancing about on top of the Eiffel tower...
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This is the fourth in a series of films in which the legendary French comic actor Fernandel played Don Camillo, the character of the popular novels by Giovanni Guareschi. Whilst Fernandel still clearly relishes the part that fits him like a glove, it’s equally clear that the ideas are starting to dry up. After all...
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This is probably director Jean-Luc Godard’s funniest film, although it is in his characteristically tongue-in-cheek, slightly anarchistic style that uniquely identified his contribution to the French New Wave. This is a film that is fast, charged with energy and colour, with some genuinely comic moments that seem to surpass comedy in their brilliance...
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This light romantic comedy has the allure and feel of New Wave cinema but appears pretty inconsequential besides the works of the masters such as Truffaut and Godard. The film alternates between youthful exuberance, passionate romance and dark film policier without being convincing or satisfying in either mode. Still, Marina Vlady is delightful as the compulsive liar who gets hoist by her...
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Le Chevalier de Pardaillan is typical of the kind of swashbuckling adventure film that was enormously popular in France in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on historical novels, the films generally had excellent production values and featured high profile actors such as Jean Marais in the role of the heroic master swordsman. Whilst it isn’t the best example of its kind...
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Much of this episodic comic film feels dated even by the standards of the early 1960s, and its all-star billing is largely wasted on the lacklustre material contrived by Jean Girault and his cohorts. Only the first segment of the film stands up to a second viewing, thanks mainly to the spirited contributions from François Perrier (a great dramatic actor in a rare comic role) and the...
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Two French comic legends, Fernandel and Bourvil, are united in this light comic farce, assuming their real life names for the parts they play in the film. Although less successful than the Bourvil-de Funès pairing in later films, the casting works well, Fernandel’s easy-going personality sparring Bourvil’s hyperactivity and vulnerable sensitivity to great comic effect...
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Although nearing the end of his remarkable film career, comic actor Fernandel still had what it took to enliven a lacklustre comedy and draw a large cinema audience. Le Bon roi Dagobert is a schoolboy’s comic book reinterpretation of history, in much the same vein as the earlier Fernandel offering François Premier (1937)...
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