Alegre Bandido

Louis Florencie is a rich man who writes romance novels. To be more accurate, he has his secretary, Fernandel, write them, and publishes them under his own name. But romances are out and policiers are in, so he orders Fernandel to write one in a day. For publicity, he has Fernandel rob his study dressed as famous gangster Jim La Houlette. But while Fernandel is doing so, the real Jim shows up, steals everything, and in the hubbub, Fernandel is apprehended and goes on trial for the long string of Jim's crimes.

It's a remake of a 1926 movie written by and starring Nicholas Rimsky. Fernandel is fine as the put-upon secretary, who is in love with Florencie's bored wife, Mireille Perrey, with whom he is carrying on an illicit correspondence. He plays the role mostly straight, with a lugubrious air of confusion as the real Jim first gets him in trouble and then rescues him to produce a bizarrely just ending. Ably directed by comedy specialist André Berthomieu, it has few laugh-out-loud moments, but relies of Fernandel's abilities as a straight actor. Still, there is a trial of Florencie and Mlle Perrey that looks like a burlesque of the trial-by-crooks in Fritz Lang's M.

The plot is roughly the same as the silent version ,"Jim La Houlette,Roi Des Voleurs".

"Philibert Bretonneau signs novels which are actually written by Moluchet, his secretary, secretly in love with Bretonneau's charming wife, Pauline... One day, Jim la Houlette, the king of thieves, resurfaces in France(...) Bretonneau's publisher, has an idea : to simulate the theft of a manuscript by Jim la Houlette, in fact by Moluchet posing as the criminal. But Moluchet, confronted by the real Jim, lets him run away and is arrested..(GUY BELLINGER)

A Fernandel vehicle, the scene of the trial ,in which Fernandel fights against ...his own lawyer (in order to win Pauline's love) is close to that of "Ne Le Criez Pas Sur Les Toits "(1942);the mysterious "Jim La Houlette " is in the grand tradition of Arsene Lupin and Rocambole ,the gentlemen -housebreakers,you probably won't guess his identity till Moluchet's escape .The ghost writer subject is still relevant today . The exploiter's trial ,in front of the underworld ,is ,relatively speaking,Lang's "M" turned comedy.

Marguerite Moreno's testimony ,full of subjunctive imperfects, is a true delight .

A pleasant comedy.