Que personne ne sorte (1962)
Directed by Ivan Govar

Film Review

Stanislas-André Steeman's detective hero Inspecteur Wens makes his final bow in this Franco-Belgium comedy-thriller, this time in the guise of Philippe Nicaud, playing the son of the original Inspecteur Wens of L'Assassin habite au 21 (1942) as portrayed by Pierre Fresnay. Que personne ne sorte is very different to Wens's previous screen outings - a much lighter affair with none of the film noir trappings of those moody 1940s films. In fact, it would be more accurate to describe it as a thriller parody, similar in vein to Georges Lautner's Monocle films and his subsequent hit Les Tontons flingeurs (1963).  By accident or by design, the film also has some surprising similarities with the 1955 British classic comedy The Ladykillers (1955).

The film's main asset is Jacqueline Maillan, the doyenne of popular French comedy, in a role perfectly suited to make the most of her comedic talents. As in Pouic-Pouic (1963) (the film that made Louis de Funés a star) and the zany wartime comedy Papy fait de la résistance (1983), Maillan makes an already absurd situation many times more hilarious by playing things straight and apparently failing to notice the mahyem going on around her. Who better to portray an amiable widow playing host to a houseful of trigger-happy gangsters? In common with all of the half a dozen or so films directed by the now forgotten Belgian filmmaker Ivan Govar Que personne ne sorte was not a commercial success, although it is hard to see why - it is a very funny film.

Film Synopsis

A lonely widow Adélia is delighted when Jo, the charming man she met on holiday, turns up at her Bruges mansion one Christmas Eve.  She is less pleased when Jo's five other friends and an attractive young woman appear a short while later, but she agrees to let them all stay in her home.  She does not realise that her guests are a band of notorious gangsters who have just kidnapped an ambassador's daughter.  She is equally unaware that Inspecteur Wens has just been assigned to eliminate the six gangsters in the shortest possible time...