The Brain

A French heist comedy. Two small-time thieves, Arthur and Anatole, plan a big job: robbing the NATO funds being carried on the train from Paris to Brussels. The plan is rough and both men are incompetent. Someone else is planning the same job. A man passing as an English colonel, in fact the world's most famous robber, who calls himself the Brain, has targeted the same train. His plan is flawless. That collision is the engine of the comedy: the amateurs' luck keeps wrecking the professional's calculations. The best-known visual joke concerns moving the money afterwards: it is hidden inside a model of the Statue of Liberty and the statue is shipped to America. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil play the thieves and David Niven plays the Brain. Gérard Oury directed; he had worked with the same pair before and those films had broken records in France. It was among the most-watched French films of its year. An enjoyable production for anyone who likes classical French comedy and heist stories. For a viewer expecting a modern pace, the humour belongs to its period and some sections move slowly.