Drôle de noce

When he did not get lost in religious extravaganzas,Leo Joannon could come up with unpretentious entertaining comedies ,such as "Drôle De Noce" .

Plot:Mr and Mrs Barbezat,Concierges,are to marry their only daughter to a butcher's boy (Jean Richard).Both the in-laws and the groom have an obsession:come what may,they are keen on honoring their engagements :promises are made to be kept is their motto.And when,on wedding day ,the unfortunate parents cannot provide the newly weds with...the "Mérinos" mattress which is part of the bride's Trousseau,they are desperate .The hubby will spend the whole wedding festivities trying to keep his word.

The first part is a colorful of the working classes of Paris more than half a century ago;but the second one is pure burlesque :actually,it could well be a silent movie for there's only a tempo:accelerated ,and this mattress leads the hero into fantastic adventures which has to be seen to be believed: a tight-fisted pawnbroker (Mary Marquet),gangsters using a mattress too (no holds barred),big cats at large after they escape from the Jardin Des Plantes,feathers flying like snow ,you name it...

Joannon gets by fairy well in his task:it may or may not help him be the director of Stan Laurel's and Oliver Hardy's last movie ,"Atoll K".