Si tous les gars du monde...

This is the most incredible story I have ever seen in a feature film. It defies summary. And the film is a brilliant success because it was directed by Christian Jaque, and hence not a moment lacks suspense. He also jointly wrote the amazing script. The film starts with a small French fishing boat two miles off the coast of Norway. It does not seem at first to be particularly exciting, despite the fact that we watch and learn as the men carry out their duties on a fishing boat, which, let's face it, is not something familiar to many, so seeing how they heave a net over the side and all that sort of thing is interesting. But one wonders if this is going to be only a film about men on a fishing boat and bore us stiff. However, there are about a hundred surprises ahead. We have already had a narrator telling us about amateur shortwave 'ham radio' operators, how they often hear things that main channels miss, and how they are spread all over the world. One of the characters a bit later on says: 'Shortwave is tricky.' That's for sure, for after the boat's main radio fails a ham set on board turns out to be crucial. The boat is named the Lutece, which is French for the original name of Paris, which was named Lutetia in Roman times. (It is ironical that in the dialogue Paris is once referred to also by its slang name of 'Paname'.) But the boat is from Brittany and eleven of the twelve crew are Bretons. The twelfth man is a Moroccan named Mohamed. We see the men having their dinner, and one of them pulls out a smoked ham he has brought aboard and starts handing out slices of it to all the crew. All eat it heartily except Mohamed. He is criticised for saying no and replies: 'Surely you know that Muslims don't eat pork.' And this will later turn out to be a central and unexpected element of the plot. After a short while, members of the crew become suddenly extremely ill, they cannot see or hear properly, and they are confined to their bunks in agony. It turns out that they have all contracted the deadly disease of botulism, except for Mohamed, because he did not eat the diseased pork. But this is just the barest beginning of a fantastic saga spread across the entire globe, with countless desperate situations of almost unbearable intensity. This is a real edge of the loo seat film. One is repeatedly frozen with anxiety and dread, and Christian Jaque piles on the tension relentlessly. With everyone on the boat but one in the process of dying from botulism, with a broken radio, and being too far out at sea to make it to shore to save themselves, it suddenly occurs to them to try to use the shortwave radio just in case anyone might be listening, to call for help. The only person who hears the call is a Frenchman in the countryside of Togo, a small country in West Africa next to Ghana. He sends for a doctor several hours away to diagnose the illness remotely over the radio, so that they know it is botulism. A serum exits which could save them if injected into them, but how can it be obtained and how can it reach them? They are now anchored stationary in the middle of the ocean and give their coordinates. This is when the drama really begins. The most fantastic network of ham operators all over the globe join in this mission to save the dying sailors. (Hence the film's title, which translated means IF ALL THE GUYS IN THE WORLD. The film has also been known as RACE FOR LIFE. Jean-Louis Trintignant makes an early appearance in this film.) Many individuals, one of them entirely blind, go out on missions to procure and then to send the serum, by a series of flights and journeys so complex and extraordinary as to leave one breathless with astonishment. At one point the serum has been transported by a Polish plane to East Berlin and an American officer has to enter the heavily guarded communist district to fetch it and return, and is arrested in the process. There are very dramatic and ominous scenes at night at the notorious Brandenburg Gate which separated the Berlin sectors at that time. The climax of the film is so fantastic that it outdoes even what comes before it in the film. I cannot describe it because it would be a spoiler to do so. But believe me, if you are a nervous person, you will need tranquilisers after seeing this. I have no hesitation in saying that this is one of the most astonishing films ever made. It is available in a restored version from French Amazon, but without foreign subtitles. (The full version is 112 minutes. Do not get the shortened version.) For English subtitles it can only be obtained on the internet from Movie Detective.

..It is not hard to do.

As the last link on the chain is Norwegian,I dedicate this comment to my good old pal from Norway,Oystein.

Inspired by a Paul Fort poem (1912),"Si Tous Les Gars du Monde" is an hymn to brotherhood ,solidarity and responsibility.It sums up Christian-Jaque's philosophy whose best works ("les Disparus de Saint Agil" " d'Hommes à Hommes" ) display a deep belief in the goodness and the dignity of men.There are pessimistic works in his filmography ("Un Revenant" "Boule de Suif" and the unfairly overlooked "le Repas des Fauves" ) but you'll notice that those are stories where people ,either are unable to all stand together or treat one of their fellow men like dirt.

The precedent user was right when he wrote that Lennon's "Imagine" is an exact equivalent of Christian-Jaque's work.Twelve fishermen were intoxicated by food (no,eleven,cause there's a Muslim among them and he did not have ham).Then begins a race against the clock cause they are at sea,far from the Norwegian coasts.If they do not get serum by eight,they'll all die.It's 1956,and it is not that much easy to take the precious vials.But "Si Tous les Gars du Monde "...lend their hand,then everything's possible.People from Africa,from France,from Germany ,from Norway ,become all the links on the chain,a chain of love and of altruism..

French critics objected that C.J ; did not always avoid pathos.But he made all his "links" endearable.The young radio amateur (Jean Louis Trintignan) now sees his hobby differently .The late doctor's wife who has lost all her illusions,after refusing to be part of the game for a short while,knows now that her life is still useful.The German blind man (ten years after WW2) was a symbol of the soon-to -come France/Germany new friendship before De Gaulle and Adenauer made it a reality.And on the trawler,there's a racist man who finally understands that a man's heart does not depend on the color of his skin:the scene when Mohammed dives into the icy waters of the Norwegian sea is the most moving scene in a movie which will you drive you to tears...

When the trawler docks in a harbor in Brittany (Concarneau),they hoist the French flag,but you do not hear La Marseillaise!You do not hear "Imagine" either of course but the music Georges Van Parys wrote ,an hymn to fraternity.It became a good campfire song in the years which followed.

"Si tous les gars du monde/Décidaient d'être copains..." Should all the guys in the world decide to become pals...

Most amazing thing: HG Clouzot was one of the script writers!It's a far cry from his black stories.Maybe he ,too,had to believe in finer feelings and a better world.

This moving film is about people helping people, in this case using the radio. The story starts when a fishing boat on the North Sea has all its crew getting ill with an unknown disease. Through a radio amateur a message is sent and received by someone in Togo who gets in contact with the local doctor who gets to the conclusion that they had food poisoning caused by ham. The only person on the boat who is well is Mohamed who did not eat the spoiled ham because of his religion. A message is sent to Paris where they find the antidote, but the problem now is sending it to the boat. The only way is to parachute it. There is a cooperation between a German, an American, a Polish air hostess, the Russian Air Force, and a Danish plane to get the medicine to the boat. A film not to be missed, it takes its title from a poem (song?) by Paul Fort that says that if all the men and women in the world would hold hands, happiness would be for tomorrow. John Lennon had the same idea in his song Imagine.

Please. Does anybody have Spanish subtitles for this movie? I'll appreciate it. I've seen the movie and i like it, but I can hardly understand French. Could be useful for me an English subtitles too. Anyway, for the people who have had some experience in radio ham the film will like very much, specially for Radio Amateurs who begin 30 o more years ago. The different places where the radio amateurs are, bring you an interesting feeling. The radio in Togo has an special meaning, it's the link with the world, and with the blind man has another meaning, is the link with life and hope. I enjoyed this film very much even though the language is hard for me. I'll be waiting for somebody who could give me Spanish or English translation. Thank you.