Michel Serrault Movies

A bevy of beautiful strippers team up with a handful of risqué comedians in this feature that documents a typical burlesque show from 1953. Filmed at the Follies Theater in Los Angeles, CA, Peek-a-Boo includes pulse-quickening dance numbers from Venus (billed as "the World's Most Exciting Body"), Virginia Valentine, Suzette, Jennie Lee, and Sherry Winters, with additional routines from the DuPonts and the glamorous hoofers of the Peek-a-Boo Lovlies. Funnymen Leon DeVoe, Jack Mann, Billy Foster, and Johnny Maloney deliver the laughs, and Pat O'Shea's vocals add some class to the proceedings. While a bit more daring in its humor than most of its brethren and willing to let its dancers briefly go without pasties, Peek-a-Boo did undergo a brief bit of prerelease censorship that removed the punch line from a comedy routine, which still appears in bowdlerized form on all existing prints. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The title of this French sex farce translates to That Darn Kid. The "kid" in question is nymphet Brigitte Bardot, here cast as a wide-eyed innocent. While her father hides out from the police, Bardot is protected by nightclub singer Jean Bretonniere. The two eventually fall in love, but a series of humorous complications keep them apart. Brigitte Bardot is quite convincing as the breathless (and sometimes clueless) heroine, while Mischa Auer provides a few laughs as an overly demonstrative ballet teacher (not unlike his character in You Can't Take it With You). The plot of Cette Sacree Gamine was later reworked for the 1965 Elvis Presley vehicle Girl Happy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by one of France's favorite satirists, Georges Courteline, this is the second time a director has taken on the tale of bureaucracy gone mad. The first version was a 1937 film by Yves Mirande, this 1959 remake is by Henri Diamant-Berger. The story is set at the turn of the 20th century and focuses on the life and times of one government worker in one of the many Civil Service offices that dot the national map. A misunderstanding arises that sets up a series of unpredictable circumstances, all bringing down the bureaucracy to the level of the absurd. A bit old-fashioned and talky, this film would not necessarily amuse all audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Love and the Frenchwoman (La Francaise et L'Amour) concentrates on the nature of love by illustrating seven separate aspects of the emotion. In "Childhood," 9-year old Pierre-Jean Vaillard suffers a traumatic experience when he takes his parents' "cabbage patch" theory of conception too literally. In "Adolescence," a little girl (Annie Sinigalla) constructs an elaborate fantasy world on the occasion of her first kiss. "Virginity" is a study in frustration, as betrothed couple Valerie Lagrange and Pierre Michel agonizingly await their wedding-night consummation of their ardor. "Marriage" finds a union ending almost before it begins as a pair of newlyweds (Marie-Jose Nat and Claude Rich) bicker all the way to their honeymoon rendezvous. "Adultery" allows husband Paul Meurisse the opportunity to calmly provide an object lesson to his wife's lover Jean-Paul Belmondo. In "Divorce", a couple (Annie Girardot and Francois Pierer) find that it's impossible to have a "civilized" breakup. And in "A Woman Alone," bigamist Robert Lamoreaux meets his Waterloo in the forms of Martine Carol and Sylvia Montfort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The four "truths" are in this instance, four different romantic or dramatic vignettes in a slightly uneven compilation film. All four segments are loosely related to fables by the 17th-century French poet Jean de la Fontaine. In the first fable "Death and the Woodcutter" directed by Luis Berlanga, a well-adjusted, normal organ grinder runs up against the obstacles of torpidity and bureaucracy combined, driving him to the brink of despair. In the second story "The Crow and the Fox" directed by Hervé Bromberger, an insecure husband keeps his beautiful wife locked up, though an amorous neighbor is determined to outsmart him and get to her. In the third fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" directed by Allesandro Blasetti, a wife is unwilling to share her husband with a mistress. In the last fable "Two Pigeons" by René Clair, a fashion model (Leslie Caron) and a lowly worker (Charles Aznavour) are thrown together by unexpected circumstances. The American release of this film cut the first segment, reducing the fable parodies to three. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Roger Vadim directs his ex-wife Brigitte Bardot once again in this conventional film about an innocent young woman, Genevieve (Bardot), who ends up on the losing side of a relationship with an alcoholic -- at least for awhile. Genevieve is a typical, introverted, middle-class woman who would like to be a homemaker and live relatively well. Instead, she goes to a small town to receive an inheritance, and by accident she walks into the wrong room in her hotel. And just in time. The alcoholic Renaud (Robert Hossein) who occupies the room has tried to kill himself with an overdose of sleeping pills. Genevieve saves his life, and the two soon strike up a dysfunctional relationship. Renaud degrades her in every way he can, yet she remains true to her honest feelings for him. The question, in the end, is whether Renaud will ultimately change for the better or Genevieve for the worse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

An overly ambitious young man hopes to rise to the top of the advertising business. When he feels his progress is being impeded, he conspires to murder his way up the corporate ladder. He uses the bodies of his victims as rungs to climb to the top in this macabre comedy of errors. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A jealous ex-convict is released from prison and tries to kill the man who had been seeing his girlfriend in this offbeat burlesque comedy. When the plan backfires, the body of the dead ex-con is placed in a bass case. Louise De Funes stars as the man who is mistaken for the killer who is making time with Rockie (Mireille Darc). Michel Serrault and Maurice Biraud co-star with Francis Blanche and Malka Ribowska in this feature directed by Georges Lautner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Caroline (Dany Saval) is a young woman who turns her attention to older men in this romantic situation comedy. She has hopes of finding a worldly, mature man to marry, but always seems to pick the wrong men. She is wooed by a millionaire, a pushy salesman, and a pompous physician before learning all three are already married. Caroline decides to find a young man her own age after her failed attempts for happiness with the middle-aged lotharios. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide