Seul dans Paris

This is a good little comedy by Hervé Bromberger ,a director whose efforts were largely overlooked : the problems of youth were broached in " les loups dans la bergerie" and mainly " les fruits sauvages ";"identité judiciaire" was an excellent film noir which throws a new light on the methods of the police ; "la bonne tisane " was another effective thriller in which a young new nurse was confronted to gangsters in a hospital.

The first sequences are a wonderful depiction of a wedding in the country circa 1950,complete with banquet and songs .En route to their honeymoon ,the newly-weds have planned to stay one day in Paris,but their sojourn will be longer than expected .

This is also a precise depiction of Paris , its hotels , its boulevards,its celebration of the Bastille Day ,and its subway ,at a time when there were old ticket barriers and ticket-punchers ; Bromberger would often film on location (see also "les fruits sauvages" and "les loups dans la bergerie").

It's because of the automatic ticket barrier that Henri and his wife Jeanette are separated ; having lost her,Henri will search the whole town ,with very funny scenes in the police station were the cops are not reassuring :"one hundred persons a day disappear in Paris,60% are never found, some commit suicide ". Bourvil is ideally cast as the naive peasant "who came once in the capital when he was a child "

Bromberger introduces a nightmare scene ,which is not common in French comedies of the fifties and he pulls it off with talent,using the subway and its damned barriers , and the bride's veil flying from the Tour Eiffel.

The ending verges on drama ,and the director avoids the usual clichés : a simple thing falls on the ground is enough to create doubt and to say what's better left unsaid : Magali Noel as the wife gives a sensitive performance diametrically opposite to her future parts of sexy femmes fatales (notably "le piège" ).

And who does not love Bourvil?