Fric-Frac

Marcel is an honest and slightly naive assistant in a Paris jeweller's shop. One day he meets a woman called Loulou and falls for her. There is a man with her called Tonton; both are small-time thieves, and they see Marcel as the man on the inside who can help them rob the shop where he works. Marcel takes a long time to understand what is going on. The source is Édouard Bourdet's play, staged in 1936 and given a long run in Paris. Maurice Lehmann and Claude Autant-Lara directed it together; Autant-Lara appears in the credits as a technical collaborator, though it is reported that he handled a large part of the direction. The real draw is the cast: Fernandel, Arletty and Michel Simon in the same film. Arletty's slang-speaking Loulou became one of the most cited female figures in French cinema. It is a light, fast comedy shot just before the war.