Evan Evans both manages and rules a cosmopolitan group of dancing showgirls. Since he is afraid of losing yet one another of his pretty dancers, he insists on all girls living in convent-like chastity and abstinence. However, real life has this messy habit of intruding...
The great Louis de Funès has starred in a number of immortal comedies, but "L'homme orchestre" is not one of them. The story and screenplay are very slight and do not provide much in the way of merriment, emotion or suspense. The jokes and gags provide the occasional amusement, but they could just as well have belonged in another movie. There's not a genuine tale being told, and, as a result, there's not a genuine tale to be interested in or moved by.
I can't say that I was blown away by the quality of the music, the choreography or the dancing, although they did provide some luxuriant examples of 1970's kitsch and camp.
Moreover, I found something repellent in the idea of a man controlling the looks, the weight and even the love life of his female underlings. It smacked of an abuse of power ; it also smacked of sexism and sex-related discrimation in the workplace. (In case you think I'm exaggerating, feel free to read some real-life cases about hard-working and competent dancers, artists, tour guides, air hostesses... who were humiliated or lost their jobs because they were thought too fat / too old / too ugly / too ethnic / too whatever. And do not forget to study the looks of the men who fired them.)
The great Louis de Funès has starred in a number of immortal comedies, but "L'homme orchestre" is not one of them. The story and screenplay are very slight and do not provide much in the way of merriment, emotion or suspense. The jokes and gags provide the occasional amusement, but they could just as well have belonged in another movie. There's not a genuine tale being told, and, as a result, there's not a genuine tale to be interested in or moved by.
I can't say that I was blown away by the quality of the music, the choreography or the dancing, although they did provide some luxuriant examples of 1970's kitsch and camp.
Moreover, I found something repellent in the idea of a man controlling the looks, the weight and even the love life of his female underlings. It smacked of an abuse of power ; it also smacked of sexism and sex-related discrimation in the workplace. (In case you think I'm exaggerating, feel free to read some real-life cases about hard-working and competent dancers, artists, tour guides, air hostesses... who were humiliated or lost their jobs because they were thought too fat / too old / too ugly / too ethnic / too whatever. And do not forget to study the looks of the men who fired them.)