With Raoul André,the French cinema plumbs the depth of mediocrity:his "Ces Messieurs De La famillle "is absolutely dreadful .The plot could have been a guilty pleasure ,but the gags are so repetitive and heavy-handed that the viewer feels sorry for the actors (Poiret et Serrault who had seen better days with Guitry and would see them again with Claude Chabrol).
A chief executive officer makes a manful attempt to crack the commercial coconut (the American market that is)by trying to sell their products to the Yankees;one of their executives is to come to France to conclude a deal ;this man is a puritan ,who thinks that French way of life is contrary to accepted standards of good behavior. And unfortunately the chief executive officer asks Mister Peltier to entertain the American in his home ,where his brother-in-law's favorite pastime is womanizing;and the rest of the family does not help :his wife is mistaken for a prostitute , the maid is a Maoist ,the daughter wears suggestive miniskirts,you name it....
A dreadful potpourri of overacting ,appalling lines ,a pathetic programme! The American never says a single word in English, and he's got a German accent (because his ancestors were Germans,we hear)! The maid sells propaganda papers about the little Red Book in front of her employer's firm,an employer who winds up in the police station every ten minutes !
Take to your heels!
A chief executive officer makes a manful attempt to crack the commercial coconut (the American market that is)by trying to sell their products to the Yankees;one of their executives is to come to France to conclude a deal ;this man is a puritan ,who thinks that French way of life is contrary to accepted standards of good behavior. And unfortunately the chief executive officer asks Mister Peltier to entertain the American in his home ,where his brother-in-law's favorite pastime is womanizing;and the rest of the family does not help :his wife is mistaken for a prostitute , the maid is a Maoist ,the daughter wears suggestive miniskirts,you name it....
A dreadful potpourri of overacting ,appalling lines ,a pathetic programme! The American never says a single word in English, and he's got a German accent (because his ancestors were Germans,we hear)! The maid sells propaganda papers about the little Red Book in front of her employer's firm,an employer who winds up in the police station every ten minutes !
Take to your heels!