Mademoiselle Pigalle

Wanted by the police, is Nightclub owner Paul Latour, as he's suspected of forgery within a counterfeit ring. So he leaves the country to try the clear his name. In doing so, he has left his "baby" daughter Brigitte to stay with his nightclub performer Jean Clery, who's soon to be married to psychoanalyst Lily. When Brigitte enters Jean's life, everything turns upside as he tries to cope until Paul returns back for her.

Knee-jerk and overly quirky French romantic comedy farce sees the drop dead gorgeous Brigitte Bardot (looking real adorable) getting into a lot of trouble with her ditsy and free-spirited character. The material (written by Roger Vadim and Michel Boisrond) isn't nothing we hadn't seen before, but it holds a solid foundation to draw upon many amusing avenues and the script had a juicy, chic and snappy vibe that only added more to the fun. Director Michel Boisrond's lively sense keeps the running gags flowing (which do work), inventive visuals (split-screens), fast rhythm and sets-up a couple of very well choreographed dance numbers that go onto show how alluring the young lady could be. A very-light weight, silly, bright and zesty feature goes onto shape it with plenty of humorous appeal and charm that streams throughout to its chaotic climax and finally surprising conclusion. Also seducing the audience other than Bardot is the tantalizing music score. Joseph Brun placed the camera in the ideal spot with some adventurous framing finding its way in too. Jean Bretonnière who appears opposite of his co-star, holds his own nicely. Mischa Auer was perfectly tailored for the zany comic touches.

An enjoyably fashionable slice of Brigitte Bardot.

Bardot is gorgeous and so is the production, which aspires to a near-Hollywood gloss, but this is mainly tired, formula comedy smelling faintly of imitation Damon Runyon. Bretonniere is no Yves Montand, and BB's big dance number is a failed imitation of Leslie Caron's introduction in "An American in Paris". Fans of "Time Code" (or perhaps "Tucker") may enjoy some clever split-screen effects that appear to have been achieved with trick sets instead of multiple exposures. A potential guilty pleasure for those who crave 50s CinemaScope eye candy.

The French red-hair bombshell Brigitte Bardot looks like too young in this fine picture as a teenager daughter of owner of a night club Paul Latour (Bernard Lancret) involved in a counterfeit money, his main act singer Jean Clery (Jean Bretonnière) shall be in charge to take care of still naïve Brigitte Latour (BB) meanwhile his father finds a way to escape safe with her to Swiss, however the girl is so muddled than nosy, Jean enchants by the young Brigitte, even having a fancy fiancé Lili (Françoise Fabian), Jean tries hard to conceal the girl at your home of the police and his jealous fiancé as well, in this romantic comedy who really shine is the hilarious butler Jérôme (Raymond Bussières) with his weird posturing, followed by the zany three French Inspectors, also add some musical acts sang by Jean Clery totally miscasting for the role, is quite dated, kistch and off-color, conversely the dancing girls is truly great, plenty of gorgeous girls as often the French does, the plot is well-craft, recalling in some way American movies, Brigitte Bardot is another level of course!!!

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First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

This film can probably be only fairly judged by a fluent French speaker. Subtitled films are more difficult to enjoy because the viewer's full attention isn't entirely with the on screen action. That aside, Bardot is of course the French Marilyn Monroe and she is comely and provocative to live up to that comparison. Her dance numbers while very good weren't anything more than what was done with all the Hollywood musicals of the forties and fifties. The plot is serviceable enough though that aspect of filmmaking is usually not the focus of a musical. Still, good entertainment, especially if you're a Bardot fan and/or can speak fluent French. 6/10.

A red-headed 21 y/o Brigitte Bardot is completely beautiful and charming in this easygoing tale. Ms. Bardot is charming and delightful as a klutzy young lady who completely wins you over. This is not one of her better films and she plays a complete innocent in this compared to her sexier roles.

A 5 out of 10. Best performance = B. Bardot. Misha Auer is amusing as a dance choreographer. There's not a lot to recommend except for the lovely and naive Brigitte. All of her films are worth seeing, even the sillier ones such as this. It's hard to believe she made AND GOD CREATED WOMAN the same year as this. Long live BB!