Ignace (1937)
Directed by Pierre Colombier

Film Review

Ignace is a good example of the popular burlesque comedy of its time, with some eccentric comic performances and several songs, one of which, the title song Ignace , went to become popular successes.   A typically hyper-active yet adorable Fernandel is very nearly out-staged by the remarkable Alice Tissot, who plays the archetypal tyrannical officer's wife.

Despite some pleasing moments, the film is not Fernandel's best.  The plot is rambling, there are just too many mediocre songs, and some of the editing is atrocious. Nevertheless, the film retains an enduring appeal.

Film Synopsis

Newly assigned to the 647th dragoons, presently stationed in the spa town of Névreuse-les-Bains, country bumpkin Ignace Boitaclou has some difficulty adapting to the rigours and discipline of army life.  He may be popular with his fellows in the lower ranks, but he soon gets on the wrong side of his adjutant by returning to barracks after hours.  He narrowly evades the punishment that is allotted him by getting himself appointed as the colonel's orderly.  When he is not busy making eyes at Annette, a pretty housemaid, Ignace's duties include serving not only the colonel, who is as meek as a lamb, but also his domineering wife, a sharp-tongued harridan who would put the fear of God into any self-respecting army.

The only mortal being in the colonel's household who is brave enough to go against his wife's wishes is his niece Monique, who prefers Serge, a likeable lawyer, to the dull captain that her dictatorial aunt has lined up for her.  The sudden arrival of Loulette, a stunning star of the French music hall, is about to disrupt the colonel's household even more, leading to a series of misunderstandings and embarrassments which Ignace can't help exacerbating through his astounding naivety and incompetence.  Things come to a head when the Inspector General turns up and mistakes Ignace for his colonel, just because the soldier happens to be wearing the colonel's uniform at the time...