Henry Wulschleger was a coarse comedy past master: "Le train De 8H47" "Le Champion Du Régiment " " Tire Au Flanc " .....
Although one of his stars is Charles-Joseph Pasquier aka Bach ,the king of the genre,this story does not deal with grunts and does not take place in barracks .Based on a play by Yves Mirande and Julien Duvivier -both of whom were also directors ,the latter being my French all- time favorite-,it is actually a melodrama ,or rather a spoof on melodramas.
Mister Darnétal (Bach) is invited by his nephew Georges (Pierre Brasseur)to the premiere of his extravaganza in Paris;but his missus (he did not marry ,even after all those years)is not prepared to accept it and he uses his best friend as an alibi (and vice Versa);the two pals intend to live a wild life in the capital where there are plenty of lovely girls.But the uncle discovers that his dear nephew has a fiancée ,actually an unwed mother for she's got "Un Bout D'Chou" (a little kid).The young man has fallen for the star of his variety show,a coquette fickle Chanteuse who ,in the end ,only has eyes for her co-star in the show .Uncle gets angry ,threatens to disinherit this infamous nephew and marries the young mom ,unbeknown to his fifty-something partner who has come to meet him in Paris.
The play may have been inspired by some works by Marcel Pagnol: the movie begins and ends in Provence ,where uncle Victor lives ,a small village in the south of France,complete with Pétanque ,fifes,tambourines ,flutes and Farandoles ;the unwed mom is one of Pagnol's recurrent features.
We attend parts of the nephew's show:the only real interesting bit is the act entirely sung by children (which was rare in music hall) ;its final ,justifying the title ,shows a toddler born in a cabbage (formerly,boys were told they were born in this vegetable ,as for the girls ,it was a rose),a real Bout De Chou (=cabbage bit),but does not remind the author of his duty towards the girl he got pregnant.
The Office Catholique Du Cinema of the thirties strictly forbade this harmless comedy to their flock, in spite of the final double wedding : without a doubt,the old couple had been living in sin for too many years ;and a marriage of convenience (without a religious ceremony) went a bit too far .
