Poisson d'avril

Mr. Gilles Grangier (the director), Gérad Carlier (screenplay) and Michel Audiard (dialogues) are geniuses: they made a nice and funny comedy about a fishing rod !! The story is really pleasant; Émile Dupuy , a mechanic who has saved money for a washmachine for his wife, goes tho a department store and is convinced by a quite astute salesman to buy a fishing rod.Then Émile will go every Sunday to the countryside for fishing, he will tell his family the fish is very go for the health,etc.And Émile will live other adventures during these sundays. It's the first film where Bourvil and Louis de Funès are together (although the scene with Louis de Funès is quite short) and they will make together great films as "Le Corniaud" and "La grande vadrouille": I have the feeling that both always enjoyed to work together. The performances of Bourvil, Annie Cordy (Mrs Dupuy) and Louis de Funès are very good.

In the wake of the huge success of "Le Corniaud" and "La Grande Vadrouille" ," Poisson D'Avril" was theatrically re-released in the mid-sixties in France and it is sure easy to see why:it was the first time comic superstars Bourvil and Louis De Funès had played together,and they thought it was the right time to capitalize on the success of this golden pair.

Actually ,De Funès has only one scene (a five-minute appearance ) and it can,from that point of view ,be considered a shameless exploitation of the commercial phenomenon.

That said,Gilles Grangier is not lacking in practical experience ,and although his metier was essentially the thriller in the fifties ,he made an entertaining (and often very funny) comedy in the grand tradition of what the French call 'Théâtre De Boulevard ".The scene of the chic dinner in the luxury house ,where Bourvil and Pierre Duc tell their war "memories" is hilarious .Good support by Annie Cordy who often played with Bourvil ,not only in the movies,but also on stage .