Un de la légion (1936)
Directed by Christian-Jaque

Film Review

In the 1930s, legionnaire films were all the rage in France.  Some have stood the test of time (Jacques Feyder's Le Grand jeu (1935), Julien Duvivier's La Bandera (1935)); many more have faded from memory (Pierre Billon's La Piste du sud (1938)).  Given the genre's popularity, there had to be spoofs, and the best of these is undoubtedly Christian-Jaque's Un de la légion, a vague parody of P.C. Wren's novel Beau Geste.  Christian-Jaque was early into his long and prolific career when he made this film, although he had already distinguished himself with the jaunty comedy Compartiment de dames seules (1934).  His best known films - Les Disparus de Saint-Agil (1938), L'Assassinat du père Noël (1941) and Fanfan la Tulipe (1952) - were some way off.

Un de la légion was the perfect comedy vehicle for Fernandel, who within half a decade had risen to become France's most popular comic performer.  It was the first feature on which the horse-faced comedian had been directed by Christian-Jaque, although they had previously worked together on the comedy short Ça colle (1933).  It was followed by a further seven collaborations which included some of Fernandel's most successful films - François Premier (1937), Raphaël le tatoué (1938) - and the very last film that the actor worked on before his death in 1971, Don Camillo et les contestataires (a film that had to be halted and re-cast).

With extensive location shooting in the south of France and North Africa, Un de la légion has the look and feel of a pukka legionnaire film rather than the cheap pastiche that you might have expected.  The film begins as a typical Fernandel comedy, with some obvious gags being milked from a familiar case of mistaken identity, but takes on a completely different complexion towards the end, where it becomes much darker in tone and shifts into adventure-drama territory.  This sudden transition from light-hearted comedy to grim drama was practically unheard of in cinema at the time (and even now it is pretty rare).  The film's producers were taking a tremendous gamble by attempting this, and probably would not have risked it if Fernandel had not already shown his aptitude for playing serious drama in Marcel Pagnol's Angèle (1934).

It was probably the most challenging assignment Fernandel had so far been given, to convincingly portray a man turning from submissive mouse to gung-ho war hero and model legionnaire.  It seems hard to believe that even an actor as charismatic as Fernandel could carry this off, but somehow he does, and the crucial scene in which his character is suddenly transformed (after seeing his buddy's head blown off) is one of the great moments of his screen career.  Admittedly, what follows does vaguely resemble a recruitment film for the French Foreign Legion, but it provides as exciting and authentically realised a climax to any legionnaire film you can name. The fact that Fernandel is lobbed into the apocalyptic denouement like a comedy grenade and somehow end ups looking like a cross-between Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone doesn't detract from its sobering visual impact.

Those familiar with Fernandel's portrayals of infantrymen in such films as Maurice Tourneur's Les Gaîtés de l'escadron (1932) and Maurice Cammage's Le Coq du régiment (1933), the kind of sad sack that cannot hold a rifle in his hands without it falling to pieces, will be staggered by what Un de la légion offers - Fernandel the fearless, death-defying killing machine. Sadly, the actor's own military career was not quite so  glorious.  On his first tour of duty as a squaddie in WWII he managed to cause a riot and ended up being confined to barracks...  an outcome that is much easier to believe.  The film's other noteworthy principal actor, Robert Le Vigan, proved to be an even bigger disgrace.  Far from being the honourable military man he plays in the film, he opted to become a Nazi collaborator during the war and he ended his days eking out a miserable existence in Argentina.  If it's real-life heroism you're after look no further than Christian-Jaque - he earned a nation's gratitude by serving in the FFI (Forces françaises de l'intérieur), an alliance of resistance fighters that played a crucial part in the liberation of France.

Film Synopsis

Fernand Espitalion is a timid man who quietly accepts the humiliations heaped on him by his domineering wife Antoinette.  Theirs is a marriage of convenience not mutual tenderness.  When Antoinette lost her first husband, a ready replacement was found in her submissive cousin Fernand.  After enduring the frozen wastes of Canada, Fernand accompanies his wife to sunny Marseille so that the latter can claim an ample inheritance left to her by a wealthy aunt.  As Antoinette goes through all the legalities with a notary, Fernand is happy to stand outside in the street like a well-trained poodle.  As he does so, he attracts the attention of another man, who invites him to have a drink with him.

Naturally, Fernand is unused to strong liquor, as this is one of the things his wife forbids him to indulge in, so it takes only a few mouthfuls of pastis before he is dead to the world.  His drinking partner wastes no time exchanging his identity papers with Fernand's and the hapless goon is left insensible by the docks.  When he comes to Fernand is surprised to find himself on a ship bound for Oran in Algeria.  According to his identity papers he is Pierre Durand, a man who has recently enlisted in the Foreign Legion.  Fernand's attempts to explain the situation fall on deaf ears and in no time he is in uniform, billeted with the Legion's Ninth Company at a camp in Sidi Bel Abbes.

The life of the legionnaire soon begins to appeal to Fernand, who finds military discipline a welcome change from the cold tyranny inflicted on him by his wife.  He feels like a bird that has just been let out of a cage.  Fernand gets his first taste of adventure when his company is sent on a mission to relieve another unit that is under attack from Arab rebels.  In the ensuing desert conflict Fernand proves himself a hero, but on his return to barracks he has a terrible surprise in store for him.  His wife has been on his tail and now threatens not only to expose him as an imposter but also to take him away from his beloved legion and resume their former domestic arrangements...