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Pretty Good

Great Film overall

Excellent but underrated film

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

'Cette sacree gamine' is French for 'this holy little girl'; or, to translate it better, 'this marvelous baby'.You'll understand this points to 21-year old Brigitte Bardot. And, oh yes, in this film young Brigitte steals your heart away. The more so, while 'Cette sacree gamine' has several dancing scenes - you may know that BB was a fully educated ballet dancer.Unfortunately the same cannot be said about this film's plot. Telling its story takes too much time, even to 1950-s standards. Its built-up, complete with dancing and slapstick, looks somewhat unbalanced. While watching you feel an urge to check your watch, wondering how long you'll have to sit this one out.

Wanted by the police, is Nightclub owner Paul Latour, as he's suspected of forgery within a counterfeit ring. So he leaves the country to try the clear his name. In doing so, he has left his "baby" daughter Brigitte to stay with his nightclub performer Jean Clery, who's soon to be married to psychoanalyst Lily. When Brigitte enters Jean's life, everything turns upside as he tries to cope until Paul returns back for her. Knee-jerk and overly quirky French romantic comedy farce sees the drop dead gorgeous Brigitte Bardot (looking real adorable) getting into a lot of trouble with her ditsy and free-spirited character. The material (written by Roger Vadim and Michel Boisrond) isn't nothing we hadn't seen before, but it holds a solid foundation to draw upon many amusing avenues and the script had a juicy, chic and snappy vibe that only added more to the fun. Director Michel Boisrond's lively sense keeps the running gags flowing (which do work), inventive visuals (split-screens), fast rhythm and sets-up a couple of very well choreographed dance numbers that go onto show how alluring the young lady could be. A very-light weight, silly, bright and zesty feature goes onto shape it with plenty of humorous appeal and charm that streams throughout to its chaotic climax and finally surprising conclusion. Also seducing the audience other than Bardot is the tantalizing music score. Joseph Brun placed the camera in the ideal spot with some adventurous framing finding its way in too. Jean Bretonnière who appears opposite of his co-star, holds his own nicely. Mischa Auer was perfectly tailored for the zany comic touches. An enjoyably fashionable slice of Brigitte Bardot.

Brigitte is so damn cute in this movie. And that's all that matters. But since I'm obligated to write a 10-line review, I guess I'll go ahead and bore you with my supercilious cinematic spiel. Feel free to skip the rest of the review and go watch the movie.I was particularly surprised that France was capable of making a movie in the 50s that wasn't some desultory, experimental, existential ramble. Not that I have anything against all that, but after watching my 3rd Truffaut film and my 5th Godard film, I was ready for a breath of fresh air. And this film definitely delivered.It's silly and mostly predictable but in the most charming way, like an old Cary Grant flick. But of course Brigitte has better legs than Cary Grant. And she can dance like a water nymph, ballet, acrobatic, provocative or hippy. Her acting style is genuine and impish much like Audrey Hepburn; however Brigitte adds a powerful sensuality to the presentation.It helps to know French, but if not, here's what you do. Watch it once with subtitles on. Then watch it with subtitles off. The 2nd time, you'll get much more of the humour by simply watching their gestures and listening to their tones of voice. Have fun with it!

Bardot is gorgeous and so is the production, which aspires to a near-Hollywood gloss, but this is mainly tired, formula comedy smelling faintly of imitation Damon Runyon. Bretonniere is no Yves Montand, and BB's big dance number is a failed imitation of Leslie Caron's introduction in "An American in Paris". Fans of "Time Code" (or perhaps "Tucker") may enjoy some clever split-screen effects that appear to have been achieved with trick sets instead of multiple exposures. A potential guilty pleasure for those who crave 50s CinemaScope eye candy.