Le cavalier noir

Georges Guetary while well known to older French people is recognized if at all in the US for being the elegant middle aged dude in An American In Paris who does the "I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise" number and almost steals the show from Kelly and Caron. Here he is a youthful matinee idol ,fought over by several women and continuing to elude the aristocrats and the cavalry who are hunting him for border smuggling. The film is disappointing as a swashbuckler because there is little action but there is a nice castle setting and several pleasant songs that Guetary puts over with his distinctive voice Nice support from Andre Alerme as the pompous nobleman and Jean Tissier as the befuddled cavalry captain. So while there is charm in this old fashioned Cinema Du Papa entry ,little competition is offered to Fairbanks, Ty Power or Errol Flynn.