Adrien (1943)
Directed by Fernandel

Film Review

The pressures of working for Continental Films seem not to have dented Fernandel's enthusiasm one iota and in this entertaining farce - which he also directed - the great comic actor gives a typically ebullient performance.  The Nazi-run company was clearly keen to exploit Fernandel's popularity, and maybe allowing the comedian to direct the film was a cheap way of buying his complicity.  In any event, it wasn't Fernandel's first directing job - he'd already cut his directorial teeth on Simplet, made just before the Occupation.  It is not hard to see why, in France's darkest hour, a film like this would have been greatly appreciated by the masses.

Film Synopsis

To look at him, you would hardly think that Adrien Moulinet, a modest bank cashier in his mid-thirties, would be marked for greatness. But greatness takes many forms and Adrien's moment comes when he has a sudden brainwave and invents the motorised roller-skate.  There's no knowing where this could lead!  The whole concept of personal transportation could be revolutionised, making Adrien an incredibly wealthy man overnight.  He might get married, buy a house and perhaps even start a family.   But there's a catch...

At present, Adrien hasn't any spare cash and no experience of perfecting and promoting inventions, so it seems that his creation, brilliant as it undoubtedly is,  will never see the light of day after all.  Then he has his second stroke of good fortune - when he meets Jules, an unemployed advertising man who is more than willing to offer him the benefit of his knowledge.  Set upon by gangsters, Adrien then finds himself in a health spa, where he gets to know the daughters of a banker.  With these new contacts, Adrien is finally in a position to turn his dream into a very lucrative reality.  Whereas most people make a gradual ascent up the social ladder, Adrien is about to go shooting up like a cork from a bottle of fizz...