L'Auberge rouge

Inspired by the 'bloodthirsty inn of Peyrebeille' this grim and grisly tale has been transformed by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost into a comic gem. The humour is quintessentially Voltairean and enables director Claude Autant-Lara to have another dig at the Catholic Church which is here represented by the monk of Fernandel.

Although he and Autant-Lara had previously worked together on 'Fric-Frac' he was not the director's first choice for the role of the monk but was forced upon him by the producer with a view to box-office returns. As it happened the film only fared reasonably well and Fernandel was to be on much safer ground the following year as Don Camillo which proved predictably popular.

This was a far from happy experience for Fernandel both on religious grounds and his tendency to hog the limelight being severely limited by the strong presence of Francoise Rosay and Julien Carrette. Despite the tensions all three artistes give superlative performances and the scene of the confessional through a chesnut grill between Fernandel and Rosay is utterly priceless. Although Fernandel vowed never again to make an 'art' film, this role undoubtedly aided his transition from vaudevillian to 'serious' actor.

The trio of leading players together with the beautifully observed 'minor' characters, excellent art direction by Max Douy and a suitably gruesome chanson by René Cloerec given a characterful rendition by Yves Montand, all combine to make this piece an indisputable classic of world cinema.

Best to leave it with the observation of French critic Raymond Durgnat: "perhaps.....the whole world is a red inn of which God is the landlord."

As dark comedies go, this is one of the best I have ever watched. At its heart, sublime performances by Fernandel, Carette, Rosay and the strapping black servant, Lud Germain.

Claude Autant-Lara directs with considerable grace and tact a film with a subject matter that could easily be mishandled and overdone.

The script is the result of inspired collaboration by Aurenche, Bost and Autant-Lara, and it is full of barbed remarks and sharp one-liners, with Catholic priest Fernandel in an unenviable position, after hearing a confession from Rosay that he must keep secret in line with his vows but which he knows can only lead to his own demise, and the demise of all guests at the hostel, if he does nothing to prevent the hostel owners' murderous plans.

In the process, he is on a balancing act between serving God and saving his skin. With a performance of this caliber, it is no wonder that the following year he landed the lead in THE LITTLE WORLD OF DON CAMILLO, and is probably best remembered for that role.

Photography is outstanding, mainly indoors but with very effective outdoor sequence reliefs. Action sequences are well choreographed, and dovetail quite gracefully and cleverly.

Strongly recommended.

Of course, there will always be some narrow-minded people to remain highly prejudiced against death - especially their own - while in fact, let's say it, death can be so funny ! Unforgettable comedies such as 'Arsenic and Old Lace' (USA), 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' (Britain), 'Divorzio all'italiana' (Italy), 'El Verdugo' (Spain) and of course 'L'Auberge rouge' (France) all should have been granted, in their time, some kind of prestigious Dark Humour or Macabre Humour prize. (Maybe we could call it the Golden Guillotine Award ?) Adapted from a true crime story that took place in 1833 - the Auberge de Peyrebeille affair - this witty gem was remarkably well cooked by screenwriters Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost and director Claude Autant-Lara, decidedly at the top of their game with this black comedy featuring some inimitable acting à la française : Fernandel, hilarious as always, Julien Carette as truculent as a peasant serial killer can be, and above all the great (and diabolical !) Françoise Rozay, accompanied by a bunch of crunchy second-roles specialists, PLUS the very cool song "La Ballade de l'Auberge rouge" sung by Yves Montand himself! 'L'Auberge rouge' is a great French classic, providing amusement, remarkable atmosphere and even joie de vivre - for those who survive !

Basically an unofficial remake of the American hit "Arsenic And Old Lace" (1941), "L'Auberge Rouge" aka "The Red Inn" (1951) is a snowbound black comedy, with French star Fernandel as a monk, just one year before he played the more famous Don Camillo. He is energetic and has some funny moments, but most of the rest of the cast play too broadly, the staging is stuffy, and the storytelling is fatally drawn-out for what is largely an one-joke premise. It is one of those movies where everything that could be said in one sentence, is said in five. Yves Montand's opening and closing song is terrfic, though. **1/2 out of 4.

This is a fantastic, and fantastically one-off, creepy little comedy that I'd never even heard of before but now wish everyone could see. A desolate, snow-bound 19th century inn lures passing travellers to their doom until a monk and his apprentice happen by to take shelter for the night.

As another reviewer here pointed out, it's very much cut from the same cloth as Arsenic And Old Lace, Kind Hearts And Coronets or maybe even Murder By Death. If you like any of those, you'll probably find something to like in this too, with the added bonus of all that snow and eerie atmosphere.

It strikes me once again how French cinema was so far ahead of perhaps every other country in the 1950s in terms of freedom of speech and a grown-up worldview. During the years of the Hays Code censorship, Hollywood became forcibly infantilized and incapable of addressing religion, sex and the realities of life in general in any kind of adult manner whatsoever. This movie feels much more like one of Grimm's original fairy tales than the Disney animated version that would have been made in America at the same time.

The subtitles in the copy I saw were very poor, and let down much of the comic delivery. This would be an ideal candidate for a Criterion restoration and release.