Director Francis Rigaud turns 101 this year,and it would be nice to write that "les baratineurs" is a good little comedy, given the huge cast it features ;unfortunately, such is not the case.
The first scene shows Sacha Guitry's influence , a director with whom Poiret and Serrault (and even Cowl ) had worked in the precedent decade (the excellent comedy "assassins et voleurs" 1956).In the Renaissance days , an artists (Blanche) paints an altarpiece .In the twentieth century ,it has become a rare item , an invaluable work of art .Two antique dealers have learned who owns it and get out of their way to latch onto it.
The screenplay is a muddled affair:higgledy-piggledy ,a failed cocktail, a ruined fishmonger forced to live in the country ,two false bankers (the antique dealers) ,a squire and his bevy of girls, two Hungarian restaurateurs; halfway through ,the viewer has forgotten the raison d'être of the film :the search for the the Holy Grail ,namely the reredos .
