Die große Masche

This satire, set in a commercial radio station is in some sense similar to Weird Al Yankovic's UHF. The emphasis is more on satire than comedy though and it tries too hard to be topical. As a result, it has badly aged. When I watched it, I didn't know when it was made but it was instantly clear that it could not have been made after 1973 and not before 1971, and that 1972 was very likely indeed. The problem is that the things it satirises were topical for its time, but many have long since faded to be issues. Still, that makes it an interesting document of its era.

Having said that the film has a few glorious moments of comedy, especially whenever Bernard Blier enters the frame; as ever, an excellent example of dead-pan delivery. The weakest ingredient of the whole piece is Jean Yanne as the leading actor. While Monsieur Yanne does a reasonable job as director, he forgets to direct himself. His attitude "I'm the hero, you are all supposed to love me" gets soon on your nerves, it alienates.