La fête à Henriette

Post-war French cinema faced something of a crisis with the massive influx of movies from Hollywoodland and this utterly delightful piece from Julien Duvivier, one of his country's greatest cinéastes, reflects his own dilemma as to whether to remain faithful to his pre-war style or to give audiences films with maximum action and minimum psychology. He and his frequent collaborator Henri Jeanson often disagreed, as do the scénarists here, played by Louis Seigner and Henri Crémieux, and we are shown the sometimes tortuous creative process and the multiple developments a story can take.

The performances are delicious with Dany Robin at her most enchanting whilst Georges Auric's scintillating score, Roger Hubert's camerawork and the cutting of Duvivier's editor of choice Marthe Poncin, notably in the splendid chase sequence, contribute to the creation of an overlooked Gallic gem.

On the principle that bigger is not necessarily better, it is probably kinder to pass over in silence Richard Quine's expensively mounted but leaden remake.