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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

En Effeuillant La Marguerite (aka Plucking The Daisy) (1956)

After writing a racy novel that scandalizes her father (Jacques Dumesnil), an 18 year old girl (Brigitte Bardot, still an ingenue at this stage of her career) runs off to Paris. However, once there, she needs money so she enters a striptease contest with a cash prize for the winner but she wears a mask so her family and fiance (Daniel Gelin, MURMUR OF THE HEART) won't recognize her. This rather amusing farce is vaguely reminiscent of those 1930s screwball comedies like THEODORA GOES WILD and though the cast is game, they're far from expert farceurs. Much of the time, you're thinking "Oh, this is supposed to be funny" but you're not laughing. Directed with verve by Marc Allegret, everyone plays with so much spirit that it's difficult not to give in to the nonsense. Darry Cowl as Bardot's chain smoking brother gets on one's nerves rather quickly though but the rest of the cast does fine including Luciana Paluzzi, Robert Hirsch and Yves Marie Maurin.

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