Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: the adaptation of Jacques Antoine’s novel, “True Story”.
Author of some twenty short films between 1947 and 1950, Henri Verneuil made a decisive encounter in the person of Fernandel, who agreed to play in his first feature, La Table aux crevés, in 1951. Their collaboration then resulted in several successes (The Forbidden Fruit, The Five-Legged Sheep, The Great Chief…), the most emblematic of which remains The Cow and the Prisoner.
Made in 1959, this film is inspired by real events – (recounted by Jacques Antoine in “A true story”) -, in this case, the escape of a French prisoner of war in Germany during the Second World War. world since the farm where he is employed and his crossing of the country flanked by a cow named Marguerite.
In the lead role, Fernandel delivers a performance that is alternately funny and moving. At the time, it was for his characteristic playing that the French public flocked to dark rooms. With nearly 9 million admissions (8,851,241 to be exact), The Cow and the Prisoner was the biggest French box office success of 1959.
In addition to its iconic hero, the film is also served by magnificent landscapes (during filming, Fernandel really traveled the 200 kilometers from Munich to Stuttgart with a cow) and tasty dialogues.
The Cow and the Prisoner by Henri Verneuil with Fernandel, Pierre-Louis, Albert Rémy…
Tonight on C8 at 9:10 p.m.