Mercado Negro

That's what the title means.Like Autant-Lara's"la traversée de Paris",it's a Marcel Aymé adaptation and it deals with the not-so-glorious side of the Occupation:black market,war profiteers cracking open bottles of Champagne while most of the Parisians are almost starving.The conclusion is moral though.

Michel Boisrond is a third-rate director and his movie is academic to a fault.What saves this work is the cast which is quite impressive:Bourvil,Alain Delon,Lino Ventura and Jean-Claude Brialy -who will meet again during their career .

Best scene:Frenchie Pierre Mondy,in German uniform,telling Bourvil that Delon (Bourvil's son in the story)is wanted by the Gestapo;the parents think he is a Resistance fighter while their offspring is having a wild time.