Voyage surprise

Voyage Surprise is the funniest and surprising trip of a circumstances sampled group of poetic and comic characters in the post-war France. Each character is rich, each actor just perfect. Every word, every sentence (by Jacques Prevert) might be kept in an anthology. Who didn't leave Fleurville aboard Rossinante, who never visited the SOS Hurricane bedroom in the former Verdeau's whorehouse, who never performed Latude's Escapes in the Palavas-les-Flots' casino, misses a wonderful part of the french humor, wit and poetry. I probably never saw a film with so many scenes to remember and treasure. In fact, I think I saw it more than 15 times along the last 30 years, and I would see it again with delight.

«Voyage Surprise» is a comedy directed by surrealist Pierre Prévert that, at the same time, heralds the aesthetic of the theater of the absurd, which manifested itself in France a few years later, thanks to the Romanian author Eugène Ionesco. Pierre was the younger brother of prolific screenwriter Jacques Prévert (collaborator of Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir, and other classic filmmakers), and made films and television, but I was only familiar with his anarchic medium-length film «L'affaire est dans le sac» (1932), which was a revelation that I fully enjoyed when I saw it in the 1980s.

Now I have seen this film (in a restored version, which is 23 minutes longer than the original according to several official sites, such as the Cinémathèque Française), and it is easy to see why it has so many admirers and why, as they say, it was an inspiration for The Beatles' TV movie «Magical Mystery Tour» (1967). In it, old Puiff (the wonderful Sinoël, who made the film at 78) sets in motion his long-dreamed- "Voyage Surprise," in which he takes a group of tourists on an adventure, on a tour without an itinerary, unaware that they are the center of an intrigue related to the kingdom of Strombolia, ruled by the evil Duchess Marika (played by the dwarf Piéral), who has been a refugee in France since the Strombolians threw her out of a window of her castle and smuggled her jewels out of the country, only to end hidden in the toolbox of the "Voyage Surprise" vehicle. There is also corporate espionage and rivalry (with another travel agency), plus a picnic lunch with a newlywed couple, a brothel with rooms full of effects and tricks, a play involving all the tourists on stage, a dungeon, the palace, and two detectives on their trail.

What strikes me most is the positive, festive spirit of this postwar film, compared to the Italian melodramas that were being made in those years, until filmmakers Vittorio de Sica and Renato Castallani made respectively movies like «Miracle in Milan» (1951) and «Two Cents Worth of Hope» (1952) that eased tensions. In «Voyage Surprise» there are no miracles or cents, but a delirious portrait of France in 1946, in the style and pacing of cinema of those years. Highly recommended.

Gangsters in Paris. Flic on a motorbike. Brothel where your fantasies come true. Coach going where? (It's a Mystery Tour - Voyage Surprise!).

I have seen this movie only twice, the last time being about 20 years ago at the London Barbican. Just thinking of it brings back memories of times and places.

It is /was in monochrome and reflective of Bunuel, but has optimism that denies the devastation of WW2.

Probably my favourite movie of all time. I would so much like to see it again - is there any chance of a video/DVD release in the UK?

Hollywood must have made a remake of it? - if not there is surely an opportunity.

I saw this about 1959 at the Cinema Guild theater in Berkeley where Pauline Kael programmed it, then in the 80s on a terrible VHS tape, and haven't been able to find it since. Someone suggested a Hollywood remake; I can think of a lot of ways for that to work out badly, but if it leads to making the original available again, I'm for it. As others here have said, it's very funny, farce but with a pro-small-town, anti-corporate bite, and a lead actor, the tiny, super-energetic Sinoël, cackling "Voyage surprise!" to lure customers to his fanciful trip.

When I was in the theater business we screened this film as a double bill with the Beatle's "Magical Mystery Tour". The story goes that this was the source material for their idea. It is quite an enjoyable film and is quite an unexpected romp for the audience. If you can, see them together.