That Riviera Touch

This is not as funny as The Intelligence Men' but a better film and contains the gorgeous Suzanne Lloyd.

The French Riviera is the setting and its a good story about two bumbling blokes on holiday who get involved in a diamond theft, Its well acted and the stunts are good, at least they have French actors playing French characters.

The photography and scenery is very good and its well directed, ignore the negative reviews, they are idiots who don't know their arse from their elbows.

This is how comedy film should be made, with style.

I'd forgotten that Ernie Wise fancied himself as a bit of a crooner, but not for long as his opening title song - "Riv-yerra Touch" sets the cat-sat-mat style of lyrical tone for this really rather ordinary comedy. He and Eric Morecambe are traffic wardens who accidentally try to put a parking ticket on the mother of all British VIPs. They reckon it's best to get out of there and so head to the Cöte d'Azur for an holiday. Before they even get through the douanier, their dilapidated old motor has been marked to be part of an operation to smuggle some valuable jewels out of the country. Paul Stassino ensures that his glamourous sidekick "Claudette" (Suzanne Lloyd) captivates the two gullible Brits and as they settle into their villa, they become easy marks for the criminals. Well that's the plan, anyway, but as the plot develops and the body count mounts (and disappears) the police and the tourists become a little more wise to events - but can they thwart the cunning plans of "le Pirate"? There are fleeting moments when the chemistry between these two men shines through, and there is the odd one-liner to raise a smile, but for the most part this just looked like an excuse for everyone to head to the Med and have an holiday. The scenario is contrived and there's more than a little of the "Carry On" too it, as the score helps reinforce the smuttily unfunny stereotypes of sex and language. It's not that it is dated, though it is, it's more that had you never seen their popular television shows in the UK, you might legitimately wonder why it had been made with this pairing at all - it's all so predictably flat. More entente banal than cordiale.

Having accidentally given a parking ticket to the Queen, traffic wardens Eric and Ernie decide that it is a good time to get away for a while and decide to take a holiday in the south of France. Arriving at the airport, the two are unwittingly selected by a gang of criminals to be used as patsies in a daring robbery of valuable jewels. The gang plan to hide the jewels on the pairs' car to get them out of the country unsuspected. With the gang guiding their every move, Eric and Ernie are seemingly unaware of the situation they find themselves in.

In the UK as with the US, small screen comedians will inevitably be given a shot at big screen success and forty odd years ago was no different, with Morecambe and Wise being given several bites at the cherry – of which this film was the second. As with all their films, the material is just not up to scratch – either in terms of plotting or in terms of laughs. The plot sees them involved in a crime caper but it is so badly handled that you never really care about what is happening or who is doing what to whom. This wouldn't have been a major problem if the film had been funny enough to cover it but it really isn't. There are few funny routines and mostly the film just seems to have a very basic script that relies on the abilities of its stars to make something out of nothing.

Of course when you are talking about Morecambe and Wise then it is rare that they will do nothing right and thus they manage to get some laughs even with little or no help from the material. Morecambe was always the funniest of the pair and he brings his stage personae to this film really well – he is responsible for poor material being funny and although this is miles away from their best, he and Ern deserve praise for preventing this being awful. Wise enjoys himself and gets laughs, showing that he is not just a straight man; he even gets to sing – something that Eric would never have let him get away with on the small screen! The support cast are all pretty poor, with none making an impression but I suppose the focus is on the stars.

Overall this is a poor film and is not the place to come to experience M&W at their best – in fact all of their films should be ignored if this is what you are looking for. The material is poor and the film is not very funny at all and it is only the talent of Eric and Ernie that prevent it from being a total waste of time.

April 2021

That riviera touch, equally on par with the other 2 Morecambe and Wise films from the 1960s.

Why are the IMDB scores so low for them?

I think they are great.

See if you can spot Alexandra Bastedo from the Champions fame.

9 out of 10.

The English comedy team of Morecambe&Wise made only a few film appearances and never even tried to break into the American market as did their contemporaries Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Having seen clips of their television work I can say that after watching That Riviera Touch they were strangely subdued for this film.

Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise play a pair of traffic enforcement officers who decide to take an immediate holiday after ticketing Queen Elizabeth's own illegally parked vehicle. I guess that's one of the real perks of royalty.

When they get to the Riviera scheming Susanne Lloyd figures these two not too bright Englishmen are the perfect pigeons to hide and transport some stolen jewels. She's working for gang and another gang is also interested in the swag. Not to mention the authorities.

They convince Eric and Ernie to stay in a special villa that has trap doors and secret passages and tap water spigots that if turned the right way will kill you. A perfect place for a pair of tourist yokels.

The final scene with Eric on water skis and Ernie trying to rescue him is pretty funny and well executed. Still the film overall is not as good as some of the television material I've seen.

It's a good introduction though for American fans.