Dated,
ridiculous and absurd. "Mondo Cane" to modern men's eyes, looks like
this. And its subject wouldn’t have place even in the worst
sensationalist show of the worst regional TV. But if we try to imagine
the 1962 society and the dissemination
of information of the time we realize how "Mondo Cane" was surprising
and innovative, and why it has so much influence on the world of cinema.
The return of Michel Gentil, leaves us a bit 'confused. We left a
happy Jean Rollin who had rediscovered the joy of directing and certain
serenity. And why we find his "porn alter ego"? The mystery is not so
interesting. The French director is in a movie just commissioned.
Jean-Claude Benhamou already author and actor in "Les trottoirs de
Bangkok" produces this 1985 film in which he is also one of the main
actors. A paternity almost total which as Rollin says in an interview,
pushes Benhamous to want to control almost everything.
So we can imagine the director who here is like an employee. I.e., he
sits behind the camera, he does what he has to do and then come home
with the salary in his pocket.
"Ne pas le prends poulets pour des pigeons" has its peak of interest in
this genesis. For the rest there isn’t anything by Rollin cinema
and even some ingenious idea. We talk about it, just for completeness.
This is a typical comedy of the period, which mixes screwball comedy and slapstick-based on a crime story.
The head of the narcotics police of Paris sends two policemen a little
'clumsy with a dog on the French Riviera to thwart a drug trafficking
that is hidden behind a factory of carnival masks.
Indicated only for those who want to see everything, absolutely everything by French director.
