"My vicar" is a character which is featured in a dozen of silent movies and talkies .It epitomizes the silliest side of the French comedy.Call it,say, a poor man's Don Camillo...
This one is partly redeemed by the cast;Arletty is the kind of actress whose presence is enough to save some scenes: as the vicar passed himself off as his twin brother ,(a layman!) the garage owner (Arletty wearing a boiler suit and a cap,it's worth the price of admission)tries to seduce him.Another good moment takes place in the church where a crook (Jean Tissier)chats the vicar up with his "art "jargon.
The plot involves an invaluable Christ on the cross from the fifteenth century which the priest has sold for a song to have the roof of his church fixed.Later,when the villain wants to expropriate the poor,the film becomes a poor man's Capra's "you can't take it with you" .(1941)
