Un drôle de colonel

Although it is not based on a play ,the action seems to take place on a stage ,where the actors appear now and then to do their little number;Jean Girault was not much of a director and by and large ,he leaves his cast to their own devices ;here he hired two comedians of his Gendarmes saga ,Jean Lefèvre and Michel Galabru ,plus some usual suspects such as Jean Yanne and Maria Pacôme .

A pair of thieves sees a mysterious crook ,"the Angel " pull the rug under their feet ;every time they plan a robbery, their rival has just come before and let them his card which reads "with the Angel's compliments".The "boss" and his idiot sidekick want to avenge themselves;they know that their enemy has stolen a precious stone and concealed it in a colonel's mansion ;so they kidnap the military man (just back from India) and take his place to be able to search the house .But a lot of unexpected intruders come to the house ,including the (true) colonel's fiancé .

If you are not too demanding ,there are some funny elements: Lefèvre using a carafe stopper to have Marina (Pascale Roberts)do a private strip-tease;the same disguised as a Hindu ,inventing "proverbs " and invoking Khali's curse ;plus a welcome whodunit: the Angel must be among those people who impose themselves in the mansion.

Why did they locate the story in London where everybody's supposed to speak English and absolutely nobody does ?Probably because there are no colonels fighting in India in Girault's native land.

It will be difficult to laugh seeing this one too, it's only a little bit funny, just try and you will convince yourself, well, if you are patient enough to see the whole movie.

There are some very very good actors in the cast such as Michel Galabru, Jean Yanne, Maria Pacôme, Jean Le Poulain, but the script is weak and, despite their immense talent, they don't succeed much, they repeat themselves in everything they do. Jean Lefebvre, I never considered him a funny actor, I saw him in many "French comedies", he never made me laugh.