La Marraine de Charley (1959)
Directed by Pierre Chevalier

Film Review

Of the forty or so screen adaptations of Brandon Thomas's eternally popular stage play Charley's Aunt few are as wildly exuberant as this enjoyably daft French version featuring French comedy legend Fernand Raynaud at the height of his powers.  Although best known as a stand-up comic, Raynaud was also a superb comic actor and appeared in around a dozen films, of which La Marraine de Charley is arguably his funniest.  Departing slightly from Thomas's play, the film sees Raynaud in a double role, playing both the enterprising student Charley and his formidable benefactor, here referred to as his godmother.  Needless to say, the sight of Raynaud in drag is not one to be missed and is one of the funniest (and possibly scariest) things you will ever see in any French film.

La Marraine de Charley is a remake of an earlier film of the same title, released in 1936 and directed by Pierre Colombier, with Claude Lehmann as Charley and Marguerite Moreno as his godmother.  The 1959 version was directed by Pierre Chevalier, who worked with Raynaud on several other comedies, including Fernand clochard (1957) and Auguste (1961).  The script was by Jean Girault, who would later go on to direct some of France's most successful film comedies, notably the Gendarme series with Louis de Funès.

Despite some strong competition from co-stars Jean-Pierre Cassel (a remarkable presence at the start of his career) and Pierre Bertin, Fernand Raynaud walks away with the film (although he does struggle a little with the high heels) and has rarely been funnier.  The spectacle of Raynaud trying to put on a dress (legs first) is enough to send you into hysterics.  Regrettably, Chevalier's direction isn't much to write home about and most of the gags have a habit of turning up too late after they have been announced, but, with Raynaud milking his drag act for all it is worth, La Marraine de Charley manages to hit the spot, more by accident than by design.  It's not the most inspired film adaptation of Charley's Aunt, but it will definitely make you laugh.

Film Synopsis

Charley Rivoire, a mature student in architecture at the university of Paris, is grateful for the two-room apartment that his godmother, the wealthy Gabrielle de la Motte, has put at his disposal.  The apartment becomes uncomfortably small when Charley's fellow students move in with him.  When Monsieur de Saint-Sevran offers to rent his luxuriously furnished house to his godmother at a ridiculously low price, Charley can hardly believe his good fortune.  Unfortunately, Madame de la Motte is out of the country and has no need to take Saint-Sevran up on his offer.  Charley's supposed friends persuade him to pass himself off as his godmother so that they can move into Saint-Sevran's stately residence.  Only then does Saint-Sevran's motive for offering his house to Madame de la Motte become apparent.  He intends marrying the old woman so that he can help himself to her fortune...