Le Petit Baigneur

Once upon a time, long before the raise of lousy actors such Christian Clavier and his VISITEURS crap, where you need some help to know when to laugh, there were excellent movies, with Louis De Funès for instance, really funy, full of gags and also chiseled by terrific dialogues and over the top acting. I am not fond of comedies, especially Frenchie ones, so corny, for only concerning fifties and early sixties, starring the likes of Darry Cowl and directed by such film makers as Raoul André, Andre Berthomieu, Jean Boyer, Jack Pinoteau...But directors such Robert Lamoureux, Jean Girault, Yves Robert or Robert Dhéry, especially starring Louis de Funès, that's another matter. Here, De Funès is the master of ceremony; without him Robert Dhéry would certainly have failed. But who cares, just enjoy and laugh. You'll know when to laugh, unlike LES VISITEURS.

Aquatic premise is just lots of ships utilized in this mid-tier comedy with funny sequences from De Funes.

Louis de Funès is so funny. A lot of his movie would be plain bad if he wasn't the main actor. He's so good playing the avaricious industrial, just like in "Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob". "Le Petit baigneur" is not as good, though, as "Rabbi Jacob". It's funny but some scenes drag on and no (ex. the church who's crumbling apart or the tractor scene). But still a pleasant 90 minutes.

Out of 100, I give it 72. That's good for ** out of ****.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on November 25th, 2002.

Saw this movie many times in my childhood. Always a pleasure to see it once in a while.

Castagnier, a sailboat designer, wins the San Remo boat race with a revolutionary model. However, his boss, Fourchaume, a rather irate man more focused on money than awards, fires him for negligence about a poorly built yacht. However, the Italian San Remo boat-race organizer came to tell Fourchaume that the boat won and wanted copies to be built. It's now up to him to go to the Castagnier's seaside village and convince to come back, but with a master plan to take all advantage of the situation.

Lots of in-jokes (among one, the Castagniers are all redheads, even the priest), gags aplenty (the guy in the floating back-house, the walk up a tall lighthouse, the church which is crumbling, etc...), and Louis De Funes performance as Fourchaume are the must to see in this movie.

Robert Dhéry takes top billing for starring, directing and writing, but Louis De Funes takes the show here...

Louis de Funès will always remain the best French comedian there ever was. His mimics, his nervous character, his shouting and raging, I just can't get enough of it. I watched Le Petit Baigneur so many times, like all other movies with Louis de Funès, and it's still funny. It's the kind of comedies that remind me of my youth, when watching a movie with Louis de Funès was a family thing, a guarantee for a funny movie night. Le Petit Baigneur is probably not his best one, but it's certainly not the worst either. Even after more than fifty years later I still think about Castagnier every time I see a ginger head passing by. There are old movies that don't age well, but this one is not one of them, it's still as funny as the first time I watched it.