Tout va très bien madame la marquise

These days movies tend to be based on comic books or computer games. In 1936 it was a hit song for Ray Ventura and his band that gave rise to Henry Wulschleger's film of the same name. The link between the song and the film is tenuous at best, but Wulschleger milks it for all he's worth: we get Ventura performing the song on camera during the opening credits, followed by the cast singing it while they briefly act out the comic anecdote that it tells: how the lady of the manor is informed of the total conflagration of her ancestral home by her servants, who break the news to her by slow degrees, to soften the blow. The song is repeatedly referenced throughout the movie and is reprised at the end by the main character, and then by the band again as the credits roll.

In spite of all that, the film has little to do with the song. The marquise (a cameo by Marguerite Moreno) appears only briefly, and the story is really about one Yonnik Le Ploumanech (Noël-Noël), a gormless but good-natured Breton yokel who was the servant chiefly responsible for the fire in the first scene. Now out of work and in need of money to marry his fiancée, he earns some coins from tourists by busking in a traditional Brittany costume. He can only play one tune on his bagpipes, but a producer from a Paris theatre is passing by and hires him on the spot for a show about regional music. Le Ploumanech is whisked off to the big city to find fame and fortune. Or so he thinks...

The only other review of this film I could find describes it as a "nanar" (turkey). I think that's a bit unfair. OK, the plot is silly and contrived, and the direction is nothing special. But Le Ploumanech, as played by Noël-Noël in a putty nose, is a rather splendid comic creation, sweet but over-eager and accident-prone, a little reminiscent of the silent star Harry Langdon. And then there's that song, which really is extremely catchy. "Tout va très bien, madame la marquise, tout va très bien, tout va très bien..."

The song by Ray Ventura was one of the biggest hits in France before the war;it's still popular even today and its title (everything's all right ,Madam)is used by the French when everything is going ...wrong!The words to the song tell the story of a marquise's misfortunes:away from her valuable property,she learns through a phone call the death of her gray mare,the destruction of her stables and of her castle in a fire,and the ruin and the suicide of her husband ;but ,the servant says, apart from this,everything's all right! The movie,made to capitalize on the huge success of the song ,has little to do with it,except for the first five minutes when the marquise (Marguerite Moreno) "lives" what happens in the song.

Critics do not speak highly of this film today,calling it a pure dud .I would rather call it a guilty pleasure,cause it is extremely funny and it reveals the way the Parisians saw the Brittons at the time ;in the comics,they were represented by Bécassine ,a bubble head servant with an IQ of about 40;in this movie they are pig ignorant :the guide who tells the tourists Agnès Sorel -who lived in Joan of Arc time- came in Brittany in 1866;his depiction of the dolmens and the standing stones ;Ploumenech (Noel Noel ,with a false nose)a naive Britton (for the Parisians ,it was a pleonasm) who comes to the capital to make his fortune in music hall:he's been hired by a music hall owner to play the part of a separatist in an extravaganza which is sheer Parisian bad taste.The moron also meets his sister ,supposedly working as a servant in a desirable mansion;she's actually the owner of the house,having made her way of life as a prostitute ,a specialist in wealthy men;and of course the brother hasn't got a clue.

Definitely no food for thought but often hilarious!