Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969)

Réalisateur:

Ken Annakin

Scénaristes:

Jack Davies (original story and screenplay) and
Ken Annakin (original story and screenplay)

Date de sortie:

juin 1969 (UK)

Genre:

Comedie

Accroche:

It was a race to the finish... if only they could finish!

Intrigue:

An international car rally across Europe is complicated by smuggling, cheating, love at first sight, etc. etc.

Plot Keywords:

Cheating | Smuggling | Monte Carlo | Race | Slapstick Comedy

Avis des utilisateurs:

A fun film to watch if you like the cast

Ensemble

Bourvil	...	Monsieur Dupont
Lando Buzzanca	...	Marcello Agosti
Walter Chiari	...	Angelo Pincelli
Peter Cook	...	Major Digby Dawlish
Tony Curtis	...	Chester Schofield
Mireille Darc	...	Marie-Claude
Marie Dubois	...	Pascale
Gert Fröbe	...	Willi Schickel & Horst Muller (as Gert Frobe)
Susan Hampshire	...	Betty
Jack Hawkins	...	Count Levinovitch
Nicoletta Machiavelli	...	Dominique
Dudley Moore	...	Lt. Kit Barrington
Peer Schmidt	...	Otto
Eric Sykes	...	Perkins
Terry-Thomas	...	Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage

Autre(s) titre(s):

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (Australia) (USA)
Gonflés à bloc (France)
Il ralleye di Montecarlo... e tutta quella confusione (Italy)
Le rallye de Monte Carlo (France)
Monte Carlo Rally
Montecarlo Rally (France)
Quei temerari sulle loro pazze, scatenate, scalcinate carriole (Italy)

Durée:

Spain:120 min | USA:122 min | UK:125 min

Pays:

UK | France | Italy

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Rapport de forme:

2,35 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Iceland:L | UK:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | USA:G

Lieux de tournage:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Société:

Arthur Conn

Anecdotes:

This followup to Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965) had the same director (Ken Annakin), writers (Jack Davies and Annakin), composer (Ron Goodwin), and five actors. Terry-Thomas played the son of his character in the earlier movie, and Eric Sykes' character was again an employee of Terry-Thomas'. Gert Fröbe, William Rushton, and Michael Trubshawe played unrelated roles.

Goofs:

Erreurs dans la géographie: The scenes showing Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Gert Fröbe romping about on a frozen Swedish lake show mountains, reindeer and cable cars. Would had been OK if they hadn't been on their way to Malmö in the south of Sweden, where there are no mountains and no reindeer. Thus, the sign "Eslöv 5 km" (or whatever) got an extra laugh in Sweden.

Connexions De Film:

Référencé sur I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (2008) (TV)

Bande son:

Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies

A fun film to watch if you like the cast

My wife prefers "The Great Race" over this film. Both films are period comedies involving automobile races. Both star Tony Curtis. As for me, I prefer "Those Daring Young Fools in Their Jaunty Jalopies" (aka "Monte Carlo or Bust.") Why? The supporting cast.

First of all, I'm a huge Terry-Thomas fan. So for me, this was reason enough to purchase a LaserDisc of this film. Eric Sykes, Gert Frobe, et al are all good too! This is also a sequel of sorts to "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines." Terry-Thomas plays the grown son of the character that he played in the earlier film. And, Eric Sykes is back as his side-kick. Both films also feature Gert Frobe as a German, and both films were directed by Ken Annakin.

There is an awkward edit just prior to the final stage of the rally, but it appears to have been done on purpose (for effect).

I've suddenly remembered that there are at least two versions of this film. The European cut of this film ran 122 minutes. The American cut ran 93 minutes. The LaserDisc release (which I mentioned earlier) is the longer European cut in widescreen with the American opening title sequence. I have never seen the shorter version, so I can't comment on it's relative merits as compared to the longer version.