Le Gentleman d'Epsom (1962)
Directed by Gilles Grangier

Film Review

Nearly a decade after their appearance together in Georges Lacombe's Leur dernière nuit (1953), Jean Gabin and Madeleine Robinson are reunited in this gentle comic farce from Gilles Grangier, the man who directed Gabin most often (twelve films in total). It was around this time that Gabin began returning to comedy having spent spent most of the past three decades in straight dramatic roles (he began his career in the music hall and his first film roles were in light comedies). Grangier was the ideal director to help with Gabin's comedy rehabilitation, as he had already directed the actor in several films - notably Gas-Oil (1955) and Le Sang à la tête (1956) - and was also a more than capable comedy director.

Whilst there is not much in the way of plot, Le Gentleman d'Epsom is amply sustained by a reasonable supply of good gags, the icing on the cake being a memorable appearance by the comedy giant Louis de Funès, who was about to become a huge star of French cinema. Gabin and de Funès had previously shared an almost legendary scene in Claude Autant-Lara's 1955 film, La Traversée de Paris, and would subsequently share top billing in Denys de La Patellière's 1968 film Le Tatoué, by which time de Funès' popularity had well and truly overtaken Gabin's.

Film Synopsis

Retired military officer Richard Briand-Charmery, known to all as “The Commandant”, gambles every centime he has on horse racing bets.  When his luck is down, he supplies his friends with false betting tips, knowing that the friend whose bet comes off will give him a fraction of the winnings.  One day, Richard meets up with an old flame, Maud, and passes an evening with her at his expense.  To pay the bill for the evening's extravagance, the Commandant tries his scam on a naive restaurateur, Ripeux...