Crésus

Fernandel is a poor shepherd. Days he tends to his flock. Nights, he makes a simple meal of eggs and bread and looks at catalogues. Some nights he puts a lamp in the window and Marcelle Ranson-Hervé comes to spend the night. One day he finds what he thinks is a bomb. He tries to blow it up from a safe distance. He punches a hole in it and discovers a lot of money. He's not sure how much it is, so he goes to the old schoolmarm. "Thirty zeroes". Her explanation confuses him. He goes to the priest. It's too much money. He goes to a couple of banks, but he's not sure the money will fit.

After a quarter century of having his novels turned into movies -- like THE BAKER'S WIFE -- Jean Giono tried his hand at directing one. With a cast headed by Fernandel, acting was pretty well sorted away. According to some reports, he hired Claude Pinoteau, as a "technical advisor." With Roger Hubert as his cinematographer, he had the technical end of shooting down, and this simple fable of what happens when more money than people can imagine shows up is a very pleasant fable.