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....(1908-1983)
Hailed around the world as the European King of Comedy, the popularity of this actor has endured from his beginnings in the 1950s playing supporting roles, through the height of his reign as a leading man in the 1960s.....French actor Louis de Funès started out as a comic in Paris nightclubs and as a radio performer. He began appearing in French films in 1945 and between then and 1979 made over 100 films. Through the 1950s and '60s, he was the most popular comedian in France. Voted France's favorite actor in a public opinion poll in 1968. According to a statement of Louis De Funès he developed his typical wailing watching 'Donald Duck' movies. Father of actor Olivier De Funès.
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1981......LA SOUPE AUX CHOUX.... France....Director: Jean Girault.....Starring: Louis De Funès, Jean Carmet, Jacques Villeret .....Like "Le chêne d'Allouville", which was made in the same time, it expresses the fear of people who doesn't want to live in the present, indeed they prefer stay in their past. If you want to discover "l'angoisse des gars d'la cambrousse", watch "La soupe aux choux"...........AVAILABLE
1976......L' AILE OU LA CUISSE.....aka: : The Wing or the Thigh...... Director: Claude Zidi ......Starring: Louis De Funès, Coluche........ Charles Duchemin (Louis De Funès), a well-known gourmet and publisher of a famous restaurant guide, is waging a war against fast food entrepreneur Tri- catel to save the French art of cooking. After having agreed to appear on a talk show to show his skills in naming food and wine by taste, he is confronted with two disasters: his son (Coluche) wants to become a clown rather than a restaurant tester and he, the famous Charles Duchemin, has lost his taste!..........AVAILABLE
1973.....THE ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB......ENGLISH SUBTITLES.......Initially titled The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob for its American release, this French film had the "Mad" tag attached when audiences evinced a lack of interest in what was perceived to be a religious picture. The film concentrates on the mishaps befalling bigoted Frenchman Louis DeFunes. While en route to his daughter's wedding, the outspoken De Funes accidentally gets mixed up in an Arab nationalist uprising. Through a bizarre and nearly indescribable combination of events, the fiercely anti-Semitic DeFunes is forced to disguise himself as a Rabbi. The sociological statements in Mad Adventures of "Rabbi" Jacob, coscripted by director Gerard Oury, are pepped up with Jerry-Lewis style slapstick. Curiously, the stereotyping job the film does on certain minority groups is just about as bad as those opinions offered by the racist "hero." ..........AVAILABLE
1971....LA FOLIE DES GRANDEURS......This French historical comedy/farce, loosely based on Victor Hugo's play Ruy Blas, benefits greatly from having Louis De Funes and Yves Montand in the roles of Saluste and Blaze. Saluste is a nobleman who has been exiled from court and sent to collect taxes in the countryside. Blaze is his assistant, who manages to help the overtaxed peasants behind his boss's back. When Saluste decides to resume meddling in the monarch's affairs using Blaze as his henchman, his schemes backfire badly. ..........AVAILABLE
1970......SUR UN ARBRE PERCHE......... De Funes stars as Henri, who has a very unfortunate accident while on his way to arrange some sort of shady deal on the Italian border. He has tried desperately not to let his better impulses get control of him; nonetheless, he has already picked up a hitchhiker (Olivier De Funes) and a married woman in distress (Geraldine Chaplin) when his car runs off the road, falls over a cliff, and lands in the crown of a tree. The efforts of this threesome to cope with the situation and get rescued...........AVAILABLE
1969......Hibernatus................AVAILABLE
1968.....Le Tatoué with Jean Gabin..........AVAILABLE
1966.....LES GRANDES VACANCES.........Directed by Jean Girault .........Starring: Louis De Funes, Ferdy Mayne, Martine Kelly.........aka: The Big Vacation....Bosquier (Louis De Funes) is the director of a private boarding school in this routine situation comedy. He and his wife (Claude Gesnac) try to run the institution with a tyrannical hand, but the tighter the grip, the more control he loses over the students and the school. Soon he is chasing his wayward son and the daughter of a wealthy British aristocrat when the two run away together...........AVAILABLE
1966......Gendarme à New York, Le ...............AVAILABLE
1964.....The Gendarme of St. Tropez...............AVAILABLE
1965.......FANTOMAS STRIKES BACK.......Fantômas se dechaine......... (France/Italy, 1965)........aka: Les Nouvelles Aventures de Fantômas, Fantômas Strikes Back..........Directed by Andre Hunebelle......Starring: Jean Marais, Louis De Funes, Mylene Demongeot, Jacques Dynam
1965....Fantômas contre Interpol........ (France/Italy, 1965)....... Directed by Andre Hunebelle......Starring: Louis De Funes, Mylene Demongeot, Jean Marais
1966......Fantomas Against Scotland Yard........ (France/Italy, 1966)......aka: Fantômas Contre Scotland Yard.......Directed by Andre Hunebelle........Starring: Marie-Helene Arnaud, Robert Dalban, Louis De Funes, Mylene Demongeot, Jean Marais
1964.....FANTOMAS ....... (France/Italy, 1964)........Directed by Andre Hunebelle.......Starring: Jean Marais (Fantômas, Fandor)........Louis De Funes (Juve)........Mylene Demongeot (Helene).....Marie-Helene Arnaud (Lady Beltham).....This movie is the first in a trilogy that parodied the popular silent Fantomas serials of director Louis Feuillade, which followed the adventures of the titular master criminal created by writers Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. After a daring jewelry heist signed "Fantomas," police commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès) goes on national television claiming that Fantomas doesn't exist and that there is no reason for public concern. Riding the wave of public interest, journalist Fandor (Jean Marais) publishes a bogus interview with the master criminal. Fantomas (also played by Jean Marais) doesn't appreciate the joke and kidnaps Fandor to teach him a lesson. A master of disguise, he pulls an even more daring robbery wearing the Fandor mask. Comic relief is provided by commissioner Juve's awkward attempts to capture the elusive arch-criminal...........AVAILABLE
1956......LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS.....
From book by Ayme, Marcel....Set In Paris, World War II
The French/Italian Four Bags Full stars Jean Gabin as an ageing artist, ever on the prowl for excitement. The time is World
War I, and the place is occupied France. Gabin finagles timorous cab driver Bourvil into transporting four suitcases full of
precious pork through Paris, under the noses of the Nazi officials. While the film is not technically a comedy, there are several
nervously amusing moments as the mismatched Gabin and Bourvil wend their way across the City of Light. Adapted from a
novel by Marcel Ayme, Four Bags Full was originally released as La Traversee de Paris...........AVAILABLE