In Valentin's filmography ,"A la Belle Fregate " came just before his two greatest achievements "Marie-Martine" and "La Vie de PLaisir".It is not nearly as good as those.
It's a sailors' story;they often sail away and when they return ,the first thing they do is searching girls.One of them -Jean- is shy and he does not know how to go with women.One day ,he meets Yvonne and falls in love with her.But ,alas ,she prefers his good friend René.Another suitor ,Pierre ,owns the "A la Belle Fregate" cafe where Yvonne works as a waitress.
There are two or three colorful scenes:the fair where they used to buy gingerbread pigs on which they wrote their love's name with sugar,now a thing of the past; the quarrel in the streets between respectable well-meaning and "liberal" middle age people;Madam(e )Juliette ,pretending she is helping Yvonne (cause her motto would be "help your fellow man" !) and trying to make her an "entraineuse" for less-than -handsome guests.
Albert Valentin's touch can hardly be felt here,except maybe in the conclusion: the virtuous generous guy is a loser whereas the selfish bon vivant takes it all.
