Cette sacrée gamine

The male lead ,Jean Bretonnière,was primarily a singer ,mainly known for his appearance in Julien Duvivier's "sous le ciel de Paris"(1950) in which he performed the eponymous song (but today ,Edith Piaf's version has outshadowed his).

The screenplay ,written by (Roger) Vadim is not much ,a trite tale of forged currency.

Today ,the movie is entirely BB's ;this actress was unique ,with her petit je ne sais quoi ,her spontaneity (she never seems to act) ,,her false naiveté ( she was far from being dumb, in her movies as well as in real life).She became France's greatest sex symbol,and for that matter,never dethroned ,even though it would take Vadim's (mediocre movie in itself) " Et Dieu créa La Femme" to create the myth (the same year) .BB blows everybody off the screen in this movie,including earnest actress Françoise Fabian who would become an appreciated thespian in the late sixties .

Even BB 's fondness for pets is here ,represented by a parrot, Jacquot.

This movie can be considered a musical ,for Jean Bretonnière performs songs ,and during his fiancée's stodgy lecture about psychoanalysis , begins to dream of ...BB in a ballet.

It had just begun.The entire French male population (and the others) had not heard the last of BB.

This film can probably be only fairly judged by a fluent French speaker. Subtitled films are more difficult to enjoy because the viewer's full attention isn't entirely with the on screen action. That aside, Bardot is of course the French Marilyn Monroe and she is comely and provocative to live up to that comparison. Her dance numbers while very good weren't anything more than what was done with all the Hollywood musicals of the forties and fifties. The plot is serviceable enough though that aspect of filmmaking is usually not the focus of a musical. Still, good entertainment, especially if you're a Bardot fan and/or can speak fluent French. 6/10.

Bardot is gorgeous and so is the production, which aspires to a near-Hollywood gloss, but this is mainly tired, formula comedy smelling faintly of imitation Damon Runyon. Bretonniere is no Yves Montand, and BB's big dance number is a failed imitation of Leslie Caron's introduction in "An American in Paris". Fans of "Time Code" (or perhaps "Tucker") may enjoy some clever split-screen effects that appear to have been achieved with trick sets instead of multiple exposures. A potential guilty pleasure for those who crave 50s CinemaScope eye candy.

'Cette sacree gamine' is French for 'this holy little girl'; or, to translate it better, 'this marvelous baby'.

You'll understand this points to 21-year old Brigitte Bardot. And, oh yes, in this film young Brigitte steals your heart away. The more so, while 'Cette sacree gamine' has several dancing scenes - you may know that BB was a fully educated ballet dancer.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said about this film's plot. Telling its story takes too much time, even to 1950-s standards. Its built-up, complete with dancing and slapstick, looks somewhat unbalanced. While watching you feel an urge to check your watch, wondering how long you'll have to sit this one out.

Brigitte is so damn cute in this movie. And that's all that matters. But since I'm obligated to write a 10-line review, I guess I'll go ahead and bore you with my supercilious cinematic spiel. Feel free to skip the rest of the review and go watch the movie.

I was particularly surprised that France was capable of making a movie in the 50s that wasn't some desultory, experimental, existential ramble. Not that I have anything against all that, but after watching my 3rd Truffaut film and my 5th Godard film, I was ready for a breath of fresh air. And this film definitely delivered.

It's silly and mostly predictable but in the most charming way, like an old Cary Grant flick. But of course Brigitte has better legs than Cary Grant. And she can dance like a water nymph, ballet, acrobatic, provocative or hippy. Her acting style is genuine and impish much like Audrey Hepburn; however Brigitte adds a powerful sensuality to the presentation.

It helps to know French, but if not, here's what you do. Watch it once with subtitles on. Then watch it with subtitles off. The 2nd time, you'll get much more of the humour by simply watching their gestures and listening to their tones of voice. Have fun with it!