Une fille à croquer

"Une Fille A Croquer" is the fourth movie directed by Raoul André, director of very light and unpretentious comedies from the 50's to the 70's. His first movies are very hard to find and I thank gentleman Jean-Marie for showing me a print.

The script is from Francis Blanche : before becoming an actor, he was also a songwriter (for Charles Trenet with Jean Solar), a poet, and a radio phonic author and interpreter. He already co-wrote the script and dialogs of "l'Assassin Est A l'Ecoute" already directed by Raoul André in 1948. The script of "Une Fille A Croquer" is more subtle than his next and so bad "Faites-Moi Confiance", so rubbish that the audience would break the seats and the theater and leave.

"Une Fille A Croquer" is a modern and post-war version of "Little Red Riding Hood", and Serge Reggiani is succulent as the wolf. Maybe the souvenir of World War 2's hunger inspired Francis Blanche for transposing the tale "Little Red Riding Hood" in post-war time.

Beside Serge Reggiani, you can of course see Francis Blanche and his father Louis (Blanche is a long time family of actors) and also his partner on radio Pierre Dac. You can also see Raoul André's wife, Louise Carletti. And Gaby Morlay...

There is some confusion on IMDb note about the filming location : it is written "Chateau d'Heumont" in Saint-Germain-En-Laye and this castle doesn't exist, but there is a "chateau d'Hennemont" in Saint-Germain-En-Laye which we do not see in the movie. There might be some sequences in Saint-Germain-En-Laye's forest. Raoul André will shoot a few years later two movies in that town.

"Any resemblance to a Charles Perrault 's fairy tale would be purely coincidal", a warning reads,just after the cast and credits.

It's exactly that : a modern story of the little girl who lived in a village near the forest whose mom asked her to visit her granny as it had been a long time they 'd seen each other.

Madame Chaperon's daughter has grown into a lovely girl looking good enough to eat -hence its title -in her red riding cloak ( although her clothes were brought into fashion.)But mom's aim in sending her beloved daughter is to bring back jewels to grandma.As a precaution, this precious stuff wil be concealed in some kind of galette des rois ( cake eaten in France on Twelfth Night) ,no matter if it's not in January.

Francis Blanche's screenplay is good in the first hour (although the songs are mostly filler) ;then it becomes repetitive in its last third .Blanche himself is the weakest link of the cast ,hamming it up all along the movie .On the other hand, Serge Regianni -often cast as the baddie :see Carné's ,Clouzot's ,Daquin's or Duvivier's movies- is excellent as the "wolf ",even though the meeting with his so called granddaughter is not fully exploited .

Gaby Morlay also shines in a double role :mom and grandmom ; the students have outstayed their time in college ,most of them are nearing 30, two of them are a bit thin on top ,and one is even bald.

After scenes with the gendarmes which drag on,Blanche found a smart ending by introducing another Perrault's fairy tale, "Le Petit Poucet " (Hop-on -My -thumb).

By and large, I second the first reviewer.