Le schpountz

Having emerged from Marcel Pagnol's 'Angele' in 1934 as a great tragicomic artiste, Fernandel's working relationship with that director proved to be a marriage made in heaven.

During exterior shots for that film, a young man suffering from delusions of grandeur was kidded along by the crew and made to sign a bogus contract. Pagnol took this amusing anecdote and made it the basis for 'Le Schpountz' four years later with the title role written specifically for Fernandel and filmed simultaneously, for technical and budgetary reasons, with another of their collaborations, 'Regain'. By all accounts it was Pagnol's regular cinematographer Willy(Frankovitch) who came up with the title which derives from Slavonic argot meaning a 'simple or screwy person'. How on earth the film acquired the title 'Heartbeat' is anyone's guess.

Unlike some of his contemporaries Pagnol welcomed the coming of sound and this is one of his most brilliant scripts. It is by turns ironic, amusing and endearing as well as being a satire on film-making, complete with a self-important leading actor, a neurotic immigrant director and a producer allegedly based on Louis B. Mayer(delicious performance by Léon Belieres) whose depiction was deemed in some quarters to be anti-Semitic!

Superlative support from Pagnol's sine qua non Fernand Charpin and the fascinating Orane Demazis for whom Pagnol created the iconic role of Fanny and who also bore him a son. She has a particularly fine speech in which she invokes Moliere and Chaplin to show that Comedy is the equal of Tragedy and not an inferior genre.

This film is a gem from French cinema's Golden Age that offers a splendid vehicle for Fernandel whilst his priceless rendition of the death sentence from the Penal Code in varying registers is justly renowned.

I like this film. It stands out as something completely different in the catalog of Pagnol films - not quite free of the heavy sentiment, but approaching being truly screwball. Irenee's idiotic hopefulness isn't as touching as it is funny - a triumph of Fernandel's hulking gawkiness. Somewhere out there the Marx Brothers, Alphonse Allais and Mark Twain are probably smiling.

Gerard Oury, who recently died ,made a remake in 1999 starring Smain and Sabine Azéma.It was greeted by a poor reception in France and the users on the IMDb agree,given its very low rating.

One cannot redo a Pagnol movie ,one cannot take on a Fernandel part.They were unique.

Not that "Le Schpounz" is a perfect movie:its last part (or should I say its last act for,as most of Pagnol's movies of that era,it was first a play) drags on a bit too much.

"Le Schpounz" is not a word which is in the French dictionary;it means "idiot' "moron".

Irénée (Fernandel) is sick and tired of working in his uncle 's(Charpin) grocery.He's dreaming of Hollywood .One day a film crew stops in his small village and have the poor moron sign a phony contract for Meyerboum productions.The poor fool really believes he is bound for glory so he takes a train to Paris where he is subject to bad jokes again until...

Fernandel easily switches from laughter to tears,and his words ,when he discovers he's been led up the garden path ,are bitter and harsh.There are interesting thoughts about a comic actor ,particularly when Orane Demazis talks about Charlie Chaplin.

Like "Topaze" (1932 and 1950) it's also a revenge :Irénée was humiliated in his grocery (this boy is no good at anything!)as Topaze was a ridiculous little teacher in love with his headmaster's daughter who laughed behind his back.Both have made their way of life:the former has become a star,the latter a businessman.Irenée,however,remains a nice person (so does his uncle who 's got a heart of gold in fact) whereas Jouvet made Topaze a disturbing character in the first version.

NB.Watch out for Pierre Brasseur's cameo as "Cousine" ,a gay who thinks that men should not marry women.(sic)