Le Corniaud

I first watched Le Corniaud when I was still a student in colonial Mozambique and found it roaringly funny - the scenes of sugar cubes placed in the gasoline tank (twice) with de Funes promptly getting his aides to suck out the gasoline; that marvellous camp shower scene; and Bourvil missing the plot altogether, unwittingly dispersing the contraband goods all over the place and always finding gorgeous women for company - it is all zany, unpretentious fun from a time long gone when fun could be politically incorrect without anyone giving it a second thought or being offended by it.

I have watched Le Corniaud twice since Mozambique and though the story is a bit patchy the leading duo is in top form, the Italian scenery is to die for, and it has such wonderful vignettes that I cannot help but laugh and laugh and laugh.