A young man announces to his father that he wants to marry a charming girl named Suzy. Alas, Suzy is but the daughter of a couple of travelling actors, whereas the young man stems from a family of well-off bourgeois. After a serious quarrel with his father, the fiancé storms off in order to join the same theatrical company as his beloved. He is about to discover the many joys of a touring actor's existence, such as crummy venues, ramshackle dressing rooms and vile acoustics...
"Les tortillards" is a nearly forgotten black-and-white comedy with actors like Jean Richard, Roger Pierre and Louis de Funès. (You'll notice how De Funès, at this point, had already perfected his short-tempered, excitable comic persona.) The movie follows the adventures of a young man adopted by a modest but merry group of travelling actors. After a somewhat tame beginning it gains steadily in speed and fun. The plot isn't anything to write home about, but there are amusing jokes and gags to enjoy.
The climactic highlight consists of the performance of a fictional play called "Romulus le connétable". (A tragedy dealing with the Punic Wars, the play was updated to the Middle Ages in order to go with the costumes.) During the performance everything that can go wrong does go wrong, up to and including a lament on famine getting overrun by ever more animals and ever more people carrying foodstuff. The result is an inspired chaos.
If you like "Les tortillards", feel free to take a look at "Noises Off" (1992), with Michael Caine.
"Les tortillards" is a nearly forgotten black-and-white comedy with actors like Jean Richard, Roger Pierre and Louis de Funès. (You'll notice how De Funès, at this point, had already perfected his short-tempered, excitable comic persona.) The movie follows the adventures of a young man adopted by a modest but merry group of travelling actors. After a somewhat tame beginning it gains steadily in speed and fun. The plot isn't anything to write home about, but there are amusing jokes and gags to enjoy.
The climactic highlight consists of the performance of a fictional play called "Romulus le connétable". (A tragedy dealing with the Punic Wars, the play was updated to the Middle Ages in order to go with the costumes.) During the performance everything that can go wrong does go wrong, up to and including a lament on famine getting overrun by ever more animals and ever more people carrying foodstuff. The result is an inspired chaos.
If you like "Les tortillards", feel free to take a look at "Noises Off" (1992), with Michael Caine.