Au diable la vertu

Jean Laviron 's works are eminently forgettable today ,be they vehicles for Eddie Constantine ("Votre Dévoué Blake",certainly his most palatable film,thanks to its principal) or French comedies ("Les Héritiers" in which we learn that " bats flesh tastes like veal").

"Au Diable La Vertu" is another coarse comedy ,although it may pass for entertaining , for the screenplay has enough sudden new developments to sustain interest till the end ,for an undemanding viewer .

A man does not want his wife to learn he's got a lover ,so he asks the first to come to be his alibi ( an agency provides this kind of service ,but ,although their office is across the street ,they make a charge for travelling costs!).Besides, the "alibi" is a wanted man ,which makes the matters worse ; what follows is an interminable story in which men and women cuckold their spouses ,including a rather crude scene in a police station when a woman's thigh has to be inspected.

The catholic central office of cinema forbade their flock this filth.

Based on a play Au diable la vertu tells the stories of an unfaithful husband ,Pierre Montabrel, and of an astute burglar, Robert Trémieux.As Pierre needs an alibi he asks a private detective agency to find an alibi and Mr. Tellier, strange private detective finds fast his alibi, Mr. Robert Trémieux.Pierre Montabrel manages to calm his wife Gisèle presenting her Robert Trémieux as an old school friend.But the peace will be short, a police inspector has arrived at Pierre's house for a burglay case in which Robert Trémieux is involved.Till here the story is quite simple.Then begins the meeting with the instructing judge, one has an alibi, the other has another alibi,Miss Véronique de St-Hilaire, victim of the burglary testifies against Pierre, Jacques Lambert, the associate is involved in the case,his girlfriend too .Many characters, many stories, lies and rectifications produce a great confusion in this film.