Nous irons à Paris

Twas a long time ago;most of us were not born;the Radiodiffusion Française did not broadcast all day.In the afternoon,the waves were up for grabs.It's a bunch of rejected artists' lucky break;in the south of France ,they create their own radio station (in France free radios were not allowed before the eighties)the first pirate radio station in the country.Of course it was illegal and soon the police are on their way to arrest them.There's a songwriter down on his luck,a handsome crowner (Philippe Lemaire) and his sexy girlfriend (Françoise Arnoul)whose father is a rich manufacturer (girdles!)who wants to marry his daughter to a four-eyes,plus some guest stars including Ray Ventura and his band ,and Henri Salvador parachuting down.

This is a musical,for songs takes up at least 30% of the movie,original ones ("A la Mi-Aout" is the stand-out)and medleys which highlight the musicians ' talent :a song can begin as Russian folk and then turn jazzy with snatches of vaudevillian tunes ("Tout Va Très Bien Madame La Marquise",Ventura's best song)."Nous Irons A Paris" is a pleasant movie by Jean Boyer if only for its spontaneity,its good humor and even its madness: the "pirates" find many a trick to fool the naive gendarmes ,they even have them pull a Chanson Réaliste "L'Hirondelle Des Faubourgs "live on the road .They even pretend they are mourners at a funeral.And the movie even takes a slap at commercials:the girdles sell if the commercial is negative! .In this context ,the appearance of George Raft (who has a rendezvous with "Une Belle Gonzesse " -slang for "a beautiful girl"-)is almost surrealist!

Saw this via YouTube 7/20/15. I understood the dialogue only intermittently in this charmingly simple reworking of the Hollywood "hey-let's-put-on-a-show" formula. Only here the "show" is to consist of music, comedy, and a dose of strange advertising broadcast using a clandestine portable radio transmitter that is station "Radio X". This Gallic version of "pirate radio", a pacific reminder of the secret transmissions by the Resistance during the occupation, here delivers an audience to frustrated performers Philippe Lemaire, Christian Duvaleix, and Robert Destain among others. The attractive female lead played by Francoise Arnoul joins in to get back at her girdle-industry tycoon father (a Louis de Funes-esque Fred Pasquali) for his refusal to let her marry her singer-fiancé. The pirate transmitter hides first in the south. Here I really lost the dialogue, maybe because the French "southern" accent is hard for a non-francophone to understand.

But the important thing is the music, and the songs are a treat.

Later, with the police closing in on the group the operation takes to the road and eventually tickles the airwaves with music and song from a barge! The crowd of merrymakers grows to include the entire Ray Ventura Band – a truckload of musical talent. For good measure at one point the stars flag down George Raft himself motoring to a rendezvous with a "beautiful girl" according to his translation. I had expected him to say "dame".

Too many French films promoted for export sold to Americans as comedies turn out to be disappointingly serious, missing the famous French joie de vivre. But... if you want a good taste of that joie de vivre, the real thing captured on film, watch this movie. The joy and energy of these actors singing their way around France will get to you very quickly. With the exception of George Raft I had never heard of anyone associated with this movie, making the entire cast and crew a "discovery" for me. If someone ever puts together a French answer to "That's Entertainment" (1974), "Nous Irons a Paris" belongs there. The Ray Ventura orchestra loaded onto the back of a flatbed reminded me of the itinerant mimes in "Blow-Up" (1966) or the cross country bus trip (in more ways than one) of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters in 1964. But what somber affairs those were compared to this movie – the 1950 radio "pirates" had a much better time! The movie is similar in spirit to "Dragees au Poivre" (1963) and even "A Hard Day's Night" (1964). To repeat, watch this movie, even if you don't understand a word of the dialogue. The fun in this movie is its own international language, and no subtitles are needed.

This is a very refreshing comedy. I saw it in my 20s and now again in my 40s, and i am still under the charm. A young singer, a composer and a producer-to be have just lost their jobs at the national radio. They decide to team up to start a pirate radio in the countryside in order to gain popularity in Paris. The singer is in love with a young bourgeoise whose father, a rich merchant, refuses the daughter's hand unless he becomes somebody important. The film stars a young Françoise Arnoul, a charming "jeune premier" (the singer) who passed away only recently and also Henri Salvador appears in this movie. He passed away in February 2008, and that was the reason why the movie was broadcast just after his death. Don't hesitate to watch this movie, it hasn't aged at all!