Ces messieurs de la Santé

"Ces Messieurs de la Santé" are disreputable people since they come from the "Prison de la Santé" (a famous Paris jail whose name means "Health Jail" ).Raimu,at the top of his game ,portrays a crook who escaped from jail after hypnotizing the warden.The character was inspired by a real swindler,Stavisky,whose life was brought to the screen by Alain Resnais in 1974.

Piere Colombier's flick is more fun to watch than the nouvelle vague director's work starring Belmondo.It sometimes lacks tempo ,but when it works,it's whacky!A well-meaning lady (Pauline Carton) runs a corsets shop.She hires the fugitive(she keeps on repeating him: " you inspire me with confidence" who begins to use the shop as a screen.His "affairs " involve machine guns dealing ("you're supposed to sell corsets" ,the captain says),imaginary (?) mines in the Esterel , bets,and other harmless things . The rest of the cast includes Edwige Feuillere who portrays a woman who dreamed of luxury in the too small shop where her mother-in-law acted like a queen mother...till HE came.

Raimu was unique.