De Funès: "La Grande Vadrouille" (2/2)

(Continued from yesterday's article.)

They don't get caught by the Germans, and they have to share the same room for the night in room n°9. Stanislas (De Funès) goes eating. Meanwhile, the 9 went upside-down, becoming a 6, as well as 9 becomes 6 (how unlikely!), so that when he comes back to his room, De Funès is with Major Achbach – whom he thinks to be Augustin Bouvet (Bourvil)…



This is a piece of the French cinema history.

In the other storyline, that of the British pilots whose plane was shot down above Paris, the pilots are brought into a hospital (namely in the Hospice de Beaunes), where they are hid as war invalids…



The old sister is a tough one!
Il vaut mieux être malade ici que bien portant ailleurs. (…) Langue blanche, yeux jaune, nez rouge : le foie ! (…) Il faudra quand même surveiller ce foie !

And finally, a scene which contains one of the most famous lines from Bourvil : "Mes souliers, mon vélo…". Silly.

De Funès: "La Grande Vadrouille" (1/2)

Yesterday, I promised I would show you other extracts from Louis De Funès' work. He's known for his part in La Grande Vadrouille, a film which takes place during the Second World War. He's a conductor (Stanislas Lefort) and tries to rehearse with his orchestra, but he's obliged to interrupt because of the German Major Achbach who says there's a British aviator hidden in the Opéra.



Later in the film, Lefort (De Funès) gets involved with the Resistance and has got to escape the Germans. He meets Augustin Bouvet (Bourvil) and they have to reach the Free Zone, travelling through the country. After many adventures, they arrive in a little village where they're supposed to meet other members of the Resistence that will help them…



Who said the the Germans couldn't laugh? Imagine we could do that at school… It'd be great.