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“A LOT OF FUN! THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THIS ANYMORE!”
“FEISTY ACTION-ADVENTURE! A FROTHY TONIC
“Lighter than a soufflé and just as tasty! DON'T MISS!”
(1952) “War. The only recreation of kings the people could enjoy.” Caught in flagrante de haystack, Gérard Philipe’s lusty peasant Fanfan avoids a pitchfork wedding by enlisting in King Louis XV’s army, winning his first decoration (a royal kiss on the cheek and that tulip) — plus his nickname — by rescuing Louis’s daughter Princess Henriette (along with Madame de Pompadour) from highwaymen. Funny thing is, Gina Lollobrigida’s bogus gypsy fortune teller had already predicted his marriage to the King’s daughter. Christian- Jaque’s stylish swashbuckler/romance/sex comedy won him the Best Director Award at Cannes and showcased the romantic charm and juvenile high spirits (“I’ve always been young for my age”) that would make Gérard Philipe, already a heartthrob of French stage and screen, among the most beloved of international stars — before attaining immortality by dying young. His Fanfan — imagine Douglas Fairbanks (Sr. and Jr.) and Errol Flynn rolled into one by Voltaire — is so ingenuous and insouciant that he blithely takes in stride a duel with hay rakes and one across a jailhouse roof, an exploding powder magazine, his own hanging, a desperate horseback-and-coach chase, and Miss Lollobrigida’s impressive cleavage. But eventually he’s also got to win that darn Seven Years’ War — practically singlehandedly — and prevent his His Horny Highness (Marcel Herrand, the dandified assassin of Carné’s Children of Paradise) from getting into Miss Lollobrigida’s bodice. Both a “Louis XV Western” (Pauline Kael) and, via the anti-militaristic japes of dialogue writer Henri Jeanson (Pépé Le Moko), a biting satire of la gloire, Fanfan’s outstanding supporting cast includes Olivier Hussenot as Philipe’s bumpkinish sidekick and Noël Roquevert, France’s favorite cross-eyed snake, as his nemesis in war and love, along with the tight-bloused Lollobrigida in the role that launched her as an international sex icon. A mega-classic in France and abroad (especially in the USSR and Japan!) and an exemplar of the cinéma de qualité that would soon be submerged by the New Wave, Fanfan la Tulipe has been virtually unseen in this country since the 1950s, and has never been on VHS or DVD. This new 35mm print features flavorsome new subtitles by Lenny Borger.
A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE |
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[3 1/2 stars] FILLED WITH DASH AND CYNICALLY IRONIC WIT!”