Fanfan la Tulipe

This is a tongue in cheek movie from the very outset with a voice-over that pokes fun at everything French and then produces a rather naif but very brave hero in Fanfan La Tulipe. Portrayed by the splendid Gerard Philippe, the dashing young man believes utterly in the fate curvaceous Lollobrigida foretells - notably that he will marry King Louis XV's daughter! Problem is, La Lollo soon find outs she too is in love with Fanfan...

Propelled by good sword fights, cavalcades, and other spirited action sequences the film moves at a brisk pace and with many comic moments. The direction is perhaps the weakest aspect but the film is so light and takes itself so un-seriously that I could not give those shortcomings a second thought. Look out for Noel Roquevert, a traditional heavy in French films, trying to steal La Lollo, making himself a nuisance, and feeding the script to the fortune teller that reads La Lollo's hand! And what a gem Marcel Herrand is as the megalomanous and lust-driven King Louis XV! That is not all: So many beautiful women in one film makes me wish I were in France and on the set back in 1952! The film may have come out that year but its verve, cheek, superb narration, immaculate photography and the memorable Gerard Philippe ensure that it remains modern and a pleasure to watch. I would not hesitate to recommend it to my grandchildren let alone to anyone who loves movies in general and swashbucklers in particular! Do see it!

I consider Philipe a great actor and was sorry to learn that he died so young. I own two of his movies and would like to add Fanfan la Tulipe and Till Eulenspiegel to them. Both movies have great spirit, excellent storytelling and fantastic characterization by Philipe. All the other performers are also good. Despite the stories' endings, both movies are great fun to watch.

one of films who remains the perfect vehicle to the golden age of every viewer. because the innocence, the humor, the good intentions and the nice fight scenes are crumbs from a period when the dream, the adventure and the comedy are more than pieces of commercial system. because the portrait of Louis XV is irresistible and Gerard Philippe does a more than good job. so, a film for remind. old fashion recipes of romanticism. history in amusing manner. desire inspired by a fortune teller in its childish side. the good friend with a lot of children and good wife . the way to impose an easy military victory. a young woman in search of her true love.all - presented in lovely manner. a film for each member of family. and, of course, evergreen.

"Fanfan la tulipe" is still Gerard Philippe's most popular part and it began the swashbuckler craze which throve in the French cinema in the 1955-1965 years.It made Gina Lollobrigida a star (Lollobrigida and Philippe would team up again in René Clair"s "Belles de nuit" the same year.

"Fanfan la tulipe" is completely mad,sometimes verging on absurd .Henri Jeanson's witty lines -full of dark irony- were probably influenced by Voltaire and "Candide" .Antimilitarism often comes to the fore:"these draftees radiate joie de vivre -and joie de mourir when necessary (joy of life and joy of death)""It becomes necessary to recruit men when the casualties outnumber the survivors" "You won the battle without the thousands of deaths you had promised me, king Louis XV complains,but no matter ,let's wait for the next time."

A voice over comments the story at the beginning and at the end and history is given a rough ride:height of irony,it's a genuine historian who speaks!

Christian-Jaque directs the movie with gusto and he knows only one tempo :accelerated.

Remake in 2003 with Vincent Perez and Penelope Cruz.I have not seen it but I do not think it had to be made in the first place.

Fan-Fan (Gérard Philipe) is a bit of a rogue and lived during the time of the Seven Years' War (in America, it's known at "The French-Indian War" but only refers to the fighting on our continent). I loved the prologue that sarcastically talked about how wonderful war and death were! Well, in the midst of this long blood-bath (that took about a million lives), Fan-Fan joins the army in order to avoid being forced to marry a girl his despoiled (and you would assume that he's done this before). The idea of doing this came from a very sexy lady (Gina Lollabrigida) who pretended to read his fortune and she actually was the one who suggested he enlist. The rest of the film consists of Fan-Fan nearly being hung or stabbed and surviving only with his good looks, sense of adventure and athleticism.

I am a huge fan of French cinema and I really wanted to love this film. However, after a while I realized that the film, while watchable, was something of a disappointment. That's because this is a case where Hollywood actually did this sort of film better. Now this is NOT to say they always did it better, but around 1952 Burt Lancaster was making similar films ("The Flame and the Arrow" and "The Crimson Pirate") dandy films that were very similar to "Fan-Fan" and were also better. Why? Well, while "Fan Fan" was athletic and charismatic, Lancaster was perfect for such roles--with an even greater level of athleticism and sex appeal. And, while it's not THAT important, Lancaster's films were in color and had better production values. Compared side by side, "Fan Fan" is just a bit flat.

While today I would clearly choose to watch the average French film over the average Hollywood product, back in the 40s and 50s, Hollywood did actually seem to often get things right.