Another "Vichy" movie ;it is in the same league as "Monsieur Des Lourdines "-in which the story of the Prodigal Son is re -told- and " Apres L'Orage" -the purpose of which was to tell there was work to be done in the country far from the evil town.
"Jeannou" is pleasant but somewhat loses steam in its last third .All that remains is thoroughly enjoyable: the wonderful landscapes of Perigord -the black and white cinematography is dazzling- ,the lovely Michèle Alfa ,and a curious (for the time) unusual ecological side -let's preserve our natural beauty.
Coal has been found on an old aristocrat's property and the vultures are eager to exploit it.But the noble is not prepared to accept it.He tells the adventurer that his estate has its own history ,that King Henry the Fourth stayed here :how not to think of an occupied country (1943) which remembers the old glory to forget the defeat and the humiliation:Sacha Guitry did the same on a larger scale in "De Jeanne D'Arc A PHilippe Pétain" (1942)and came across some trouble in the liberation days.
The older,the wiser :not only the old dad is right ,but an old lady who has problems with vocabulary (wonderfully played by Marcelle Géniat) tells the heroine (Jeannou) how to find her way.
