Les Duraton (1956)
Directed by André Berthomieu

Film Review

La Famille Duraton was one of the most successful radio shows ever to be broadcast in France.  Created by Radio-Cité in 1936 the series was originally titled Autour de la table and continued right up until 1966, switching to Radio-Luxembourg and Radio Andorre along the way.  The series inspired a film of the same title in 1939, pitting its regular lead actor Noël-Noël against a comparable talent, Jules Berry.  The series' continuing success in the 1950s resulted in another, somewhat less appealing, movie spin-off, which would be instantly forgettable were it not for the charismatic presence of the popular comic actor Ded Rysel.

Rysel was a household name in France at the time, made famous by playing the part of Duraton (first the son, then the father) in the original radio series.  Les Duraton was very close to being Rysel's swan song - he appeared in only three films after this.  His co-star Jane Sourza was the star of another immensely popular radio show, Sur le banc, which was also made into a film, in 1955. Apart from these two superb comedy performers, aided and abetted by a young Jean Carmet and a habitually annoying Dary Cowl (Heaven knows why he was so popular), there's a distinct lack of star quality elsewhere in the cast.

Les Duraton is the kind of lowbrow inoffensive crowdpleaser that director André Berthomieu could knock off in his sleep (and frequently did, judging by the results).  Berthomieu was nearing the end of his long and prolific filmmaking career, which stretched back to 1928 and saw him working with some of the greatest talents of his time - Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Brasseur, Miche Simon, Raimu, Bourvil, and many others.  He was never a particularly original director but he had a flair for making films with broad popular appeal.  Whilst he did occasionally turn out something of merit - Le Mort en fuite (1936), Les Nouveaux riches  (1938), L'Ange de la nuit (1944) - most of his work is pretty uninteresting and deserves its place in the oubliettes of French cinema.

Film Synopsis

La Famille Duraton is one of the most popular radio programmes in France, but this isn't something that anyone with the name Duraton is ever likely to be grateful for.  In the small town of Chatelbourg, the headmaster Jules Duraton has become an object of ridicule at his school and is forced to resign his place on the town council just because his name happens to be Duraton.  His wife Irma, son Roger and daughter Solange suffer similar indignities.  In the end, Monsieur Duraton decides he has no other option but to prosecute the company Radio-Monde, the creator of the radio show that has brought so much misery into his life.  Things take an unexpected turn when Maître André Martin, the lawyer hired to defend Radio-Monde, takes a romantic interest in Solange...