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Ni vu, ni connu
1958 Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Yves Robert
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Script: Jacques Celhay, Jean Marsan, Yves Robert,
Alphonse Allais (novel)
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Photo: Jacques Letellier
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Music: Jean Wiener
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Cast: Louis de Funès (Blaireau),
Noëlle Adam (Arabella de Chaville),
Frédéric Duvallès (Dubenoit),
Claude Rich (Amédée Fléchard),
Roland Armontel (Léon de Chaville),
Madeleine Barbulée (Mme Chaville),
Pierre Stéphen (Le procureur),
Marc Blanchard (Durenfort),
Lucien Hubert (Auguste),
Jean-Marie Amato (Guilloche),
Colette Ricard (Mademoiselle Rose),
Robert Vattier (Lerechigneux,
le juge),
Pierre Mondy (M. Bluette)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 95 min; B&W
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Aka: Neither Seen Nor Recognized; Vive Monsieur Blaireau
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Summary
Montgaillard prides itself on being the most peaceful town in
France. The only worry for the town’s authorities is Blaireau, a
poacher who busily supplies the townsfolk with game and fish outside
the hunting season. Blaireau delights in tormenting his archenemy
Parju, a humourless country policeman. The latter finally
gets his revenge by having the poacher arrested for assaulting
him. In reality, Parju’s aggressor is a timid piano teacher
Amédée Fléchard, who is preoccupied with one of
his students, Arabella, whom he loves to distraction. Arabella
tells Amédée that she cannot love a man who has no
courage, so, to show his mettle, the piano teacher declares that he
will confess to his assault on Paraju. Meanwhile, Blaireau is
enjoying his time in prison. The prisoner governor, Monsieur
Bluette, believes in allowing the convicts to apply their everyday
skills whilst in prison. For Blaireau, this means he can continue
his poaching, to the delight of his fellow inmates...
Review
Director Yves Robert’s second film is this charming adaptation of a
popular late 19th Century novella "L’Affaire Blaireau" by Alphonse
Allais. The film offers the same engaging portrait of provincial
life that we see in the films of Marcel Pagnol and Robert’s later film La Gloire de mon père
(1990), with colourful characters inhabiting a world that has long
since passed away. This was one of a number of literary
adaptations which Yves Robert directed in the first phase of his
filmmaking career; others include: Signé Arsène Lupin
(1959) and La Guerre des boutons
(1962).
Ni vu, ni connu was a
significant film for the comic actor Louis de Funès, helping to
establish him as one of France's greatest comic performers. After
Comme un cheveu sur la soupe
(1957), this was only the second time that De Funès had been
cast in the leading role - he had already appeared in a hundred films
over the preceding decade. De Funès’s portrayal of the
mischievous poacher Blaireau is one of the actor’s most memorable
performances - hugely sympathetic, but with a nice streak of anarchic
sadism. The film also features an early appearance by
another talented young actor who would rapidly attain great celebrity,
Claude Rich. Little wonder that this film is regarded with so
much affection in French households.
© James Travers 2008
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