The French, They Are a Funny Race

Preston Sturges' final film "The Diary of Major Thompson" or as it's also known, "The French, they are a funny race" may be the strangest, least likely film he ever made hence it's cult status. The critics hated it, it was a flop and proved to be the nail in Sturges' coffin but while it may not be a masterpiece like "The Lady Eve"or "Sullivan's Travels" or "The Palm Beach Story" it's not the disaster many claim it to be. It's consistently amusing and often laugh-out-loud funny and Jack Buchanan is perfect as Major Thompson, the punctilious Englishman living in Paris and married to none other than Martine Carol, (dire). We should be grateful, therefore, that Sturges at least gave Buchanan a part worthy of him. Now what we need is for this to get the DVD release it deserves.

"Les Carnets du Major Thompson" was based on a novel by Pierre Daninos which was a best-seller in France in the early 1950s. The title literally translates as "Major Thompson's Medals", but a more appropriate translation would be "Major Thompson's Trophies", with "trophies" representing a sexual double-entendre. The novel depicts the adventures of a rather befuddled Englishman living in France, trying to adapt to French ways and falling in love with a Frenchwoman. The Englishman (Major Thompson) is the butt of all the humour, which is why this novel was so popular in France: although set in France, it makes fun of Englishmen!

The film version of "Major Thompson" was directed by Preston Sturges, after he'd rendered himself unemployable in Hollywood and was living in exile. Sturges spoke French fluently, having lived in Paris during his childhood. (Believe it or not, Preston Sturges's mother was the artist who created and gave to Isidora Duncan the long hand-painted scarf which caused Duncan's legendary death by strangulation!) But Sturges's francophilia is the only plus-factor in this terrible movie. His talent was long gone by this time, and so was his energy. The plot of "Major Thompson" is extremely episodic (like its source novel), and the film lurches from one weak scene to another. The fade-out gag is painfully unfunny, like the rest of the film.

Major Thompson is played by Jack Buchanan, a Scotsman who fitted the American conception of "English"-ness much more neatly than most genuine Englishmen did. Buchanan gave excellent performances in several previous films, but he was dying of cancer when he went to France to film "Major Thompson", and it shows. He's a dead man walking.

The only scene in this film which is even vaguely funny occurs when Thompson and his French equestrienne paramour go riding. Their horses won't stay put in front of the cameras, and keep wandering off with their riders brought unwillingly along. Buchanan looks genuinely perplexed as his horse keeps carrying him away from the camera. This scene works so well (in contrast to the rest of the movie) that I don't believe it was planned: I think that the horses were genuinely ill-trained, and Sturges had the good sense to let the horses "ad lib" and steal the scene.

Noél-Noél, a French comedian with a rather comic face (whom I've never found funny otherwise) does a brief cameo, drinking Byrrh in a sidewalk cafe. He doesn't do anything funny here, apart from looking straight into the camera ... which in his case is good for one quick laugh.

I'll rate "Les Carnets du Major Thompson" zero points. I wanted so much to like this movie, because I'm a fan of Preston Sturges and a fan of Jack Buchanan: this was their only collaboration, and the last film for both. But it's sad and unfunny, and I can't recommend it on any level

This anecdotal comedy is based on a book, and feels like it-the kind of mild humor book popular back then, which offered mildly humorous variations on a subject (in this case, foreigners' perspectives on the French). In fact the source book was a collection of newspaper humor columns by a French writer pretending to be a expatriate Englishman, Major Marmaduke Thompson, played here by Jack Buchanan. He offers his arch perspective on the "funny" ways of his French wife ("Lola Montes'" Martine Carol), acquaintances, and society in general. Noel-Noel plays a purportedly typical Frenchman to illustrate these ideas.

Surprisingly, this movie was apparently a considerable success in France (it was shot in both English and French), though it didn't do well elsewhere, and is mostly (if somewhat unfairly) remembered now as Preston Sturges' final flop. Perhaps the French version made the English more the butt of the joke. In the English-language version, the fun had at the expense of both nationalities is so mild the film just doesn't develop much of a notable viewpoint, let alone comic energy or narrative momentum. It's not dire (I'd say Sturges' prior flop "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" is more of an overt misfire, because it tries so hard and falls flat), but it's just tepidly amusing.

Though Sturges was well-traveled and fluent in French, this theme just doesn't bring out the boisterous self-confidence seen in nearly all his American films. His U.S. stock company is sorely missed; though everyone here is competent, they often seem to be working in different idioms, from boulevard comedy to farce to crude slapstick.

Admittedly, in this period comedies about culture clash tended to paint those cultures in unimaginatively stereotypical terms, something that "Funny Race" doesn't transcend. And it's not entirely fair to judge this film on the basis of an 80-minute, TV-print-looking cut of the English version. (For all I know, that may have been the length at which it was released overseas-in France, it was 105 minutes.) But on the evidence, this isn't an underrated Sturges (like "Sin of Harold Diddlebock" aka "Mad Wednesday," which was also only available in inferior prints for many years), but one that merits its reputation as no disgrace but a disappointment nonetheless.

"Les Carnets du Major Thompson" literally translating as "Major Thompson's Medals", or "Trophies"? How wrong! "Carnets" actually translate as "Major Thompson's Notebook" in English. Which explains that the book – and the film – be a sum of sequences of subtle humour, with the constant opposition of delightful Martine Carol as a sparkling Parisian woman, and her "so British" punctilious husband – yet a lovable character, Jack Buchanan… His series of notes depicting behavioural differences on each side of the Channel, focusing with pleasure on timeless traits of the French, such as the "moaner" side. To me, the book and the film were very much on line with George Mikes' notes at the time, such as "How to be Inimitable", "How to be an Alien", and so forth... With the re-editing of a number of Pierre Daninos' books, including "Les Carnets", I also would welcome a DVD version revival of Preston Sturges'film, with quite a touch of nostalgia.

Incidentally, the author Pierre Daninos was the brother of a French classy sports car manufacturer, the prestigious Facel Vega.

Preston Sturges' last film as writer-director, made in France, is a loosely structured series of genteel, mildly amusing jabs at the French (and, occasionally, the British as well) way of life. Crudely filmed at times, not helped by currently unremastered prints which even appear to have parts missing, and much of Martine Carol's english dialogue is very hard to decipher (her spectacular cleavage just about saves her scenes). But there are some funny bits (the funniest, and still most topical, is the segment about bureaucracy, where a man needs two witnesses to prove he is himself!), and a wonderful "silent" performance by the very beautiful Catherine Boyl in an extended flashback sequence. **1/2 out of 4.