The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures is pleased to present French Film Night on Wednesday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m in room 212 of the Eddy Building. The film is free and open to the public:

"La Grande Vadrouille", in color, in French (no subtitles, but there is so much English and farcical comedy that this should not be a problem for most spectators), 120 minutes.

Review
La Grande vadrouille is one of the great comic achievements of French cinema. A magnificent action comedy, it had until very recently the distinction of being the most popular film ever shown in France. Its box office sale of 17 million tickets has only been topped by the French comedy "Bienvenue Chez les Ch'Tis". Even today, its airings on French television attract stupendous audience figures. The phenomenal success of the film is a remarkable achievement given that the film makes light of one of the most unfortunate periods of French history.
A major factor in the film?s success in France was the top billing of Bourvil and Louis de Fun?s, at the time the two most popular comic actors in France.
These two French comic geniuses are joined by the incomparable English comic actor Terry Thomas, who, true to form, plays one of the English airmen. A A platoon of jack-booted sausage-eating German soldiers completes the comic book stereotyping to a tea.

The ebullience of the film?s comic performances is matched by Claude Renoir?s exuberant photography. Comic situations arise with consummate ease in a script which sparkles with some of the funniest one-liners ever written for a French film. Despite its strong comic slant, La Grande vadrouille is actually a creditable war film which gallops along at a fair pace, bolstered by some breath-taking action scenes. The film?s grand finale is particularly memorable.

What is most remarkable about this film is how little it is known outside of France. If there is one popular French film that deserves an international audience, this is surely it.

Synopsis
During World War II... When their combat aircraft is shot down by the Germans, three English airmen parachute to the comparative safety of Nazi occupied France. One lands on the scaffold of an amiable painter and decorator, Augustin. Another lands on top of a concert hall and is rescued by the irascible but patriotic conductor Stanislas Lefort. The third ends up in the otter enclosure in a Parisian zoo. When they try to help the airmen keep a rendez-vous at the Turkish baths in Paris, Augustin and Stanislas quickly find that they themselves have become targets for the German soldiers. Assisted by the daughter of a puppeteer and an anti-German nun, the two unwilling heroes accompany the three airman on a reckless trek across France towards the neutral zone and safety. ? James Travers 2002