Summary
A famous American film actress Laura Lee is suspected of stealing some secret documents
when she sneaks away after her ship has docked at a French port. She is rehearsing
a scene in her next film in a telephone booth when she is overheard by Gabriel, an over-imaginative
mathematician and fan of detective novels, who is travelling to Rome with his sister to
attend a conference on geometry. Believing Laura is in danger, Gabriel insists that
he drives her to Rome. Laura, who is also bound for Rome, accepts, realising that
this is one way for her to avoid the pack of journalists who are pursuing her...
Review
Over-the-top performances from Gérard Philipe and Micheline Presle makes this an
entertaining farce which, despite some ludicrous plot developments, is a moderate to good
example of 1940s French film comedy.
It is by no means Jean Boyer’s best film - some of the humour is little tired and the
film suffers by not being able to make up its mind whether it is an out-and-out farce
or a traditional comedy romance. Although neither performer is at his or her best,
Philipe and Presle make an interesting pairing and have no trouble engaging the audience,
even if the characters they play are outrageously implausible stereotypes.
© James Travers 2001
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