''The Turkey'' (French: ''Le Dindon'') is a 1951 French

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Claude Barma Claude Barma (3 November 1918, in Nice – 30 August 1992, in Paris), was a French director and screenwriter, and an early creator of French television programmes. Biography After studying electrical engineering, he entered television in 1946 with ...

and starring

Nadine Alari Nadine Alari (born Bernadette Nicole Frédérique Bovarie; 23 February 1927 – 24 November 2016) was a French film and television actress. Selected filmography * ''Jericho'' (1946) * ''Tuesday's Guest'' (1950) * '' Great Man'' (1951) * ''T ...

Jacqueline Pierreux Jacqueline Pierreux (15 January 1923 – 10 March 2005) was a French film and television actress.Philip Mosley p.105 From the early 1970s onwards she also enjoyed success as a producer. She was the wife of screenwriter Pierre Léaud and the moth ...

and

Denise Provence Denise Provence (1921–2011) was a French stage, film and television actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in mode ...

. It is an adaptation of

Georges Feydeau Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parent ...

's 1896 play '' Le Dindon'' (''The Turkey'' or ''Sauce for the Goose''). It was shot at the

Epinay Studios The Epinay Studios are film production studios located in Epinay in northern Paris. It was a complex with two distinct and separate structures. The earliest was built in 1902 by Eclair Film. A second studio was controlled by the French subsidia ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Henri Schmitt.

Synopsis

In Paris during the

Belle Epoque Belle may refer to: * Belle (''Beauty and the Beast'') * Belle (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Belle (surname), a list of people Brands and enterprises * Belle Air, a former airline with headquarters in Tirana, Albania ...

, Monsieur Pontagnac loves his wife but also has a wandering eye that gets him into trouble. This happens particularly when he becomes entangled with Lucienne Vatelin, the wife of a lawyer. A variety of other characters have various suspicions and intrigue and all gather at the same hotel with

farcical Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

results.

Cast

as Lucienne Vatelin, the notary's wife *

as Armandine *

as Clotilde Pontagnac *

Gisèle Préville Gisèle Préville (1918–2006) was a French film actress and beauty contestant. She entered the film industry after being crowned Miss Paris in 1934 and Miss France in 1935. While she mainly featured in French films, she also starred in the Bri ...

as Maggy Pacarel * Jane Marken as Mrs Pinchard *

Louis Seigner Louis Seigner (23 June 1903 – 20 January 1991) was a French actor. He was born in Saint-Chef, Isère, France, the son of Louise (Monin) and Joseph Seigner, and died in Paris. He was the father of actress Françoise Seigner, with Marie Cazeaux, ...

as Mr Pinchard *

Jacques Charon Jacques Charon (27 February 1920 – 15 October 1975) was a French actor and film director. Born in Paris, Charon trained at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (CNSAD) and made his début at the Comédie-Française in 1941. D ...

as Mr Pontagnac * Robert Hirsch as Mr Rédillon * Jacques Morel as Maître Vatelin, notary and Lucienne's husband *

Pierre Larquey Pierre Larquey (10 July 1884 – 17 April 1962) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1913 and 1962. Born in Cénac, Gironde, France, he died in Maisons-Laffitte at the age of 77. Selected filmography * ''Patr ...

as Géronte *

Fred Pasquali Alfred-Adolphe Pasquali (31 October 1898 – 12 June 1991) was a French actor and theatre director. Theatre Comedian * 1921 : ''La Dauphine'' by François Porché, Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier * 1925 : ''La Robe d'un soir'' by Rosemonde Gé ...

as Mr Pascarel *

Louis de Funès Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. He is France's favourite actor, according to a series of polls conducted since the late 1960s, having played over 150 roles in fil ...

as the manager * Gaston Orbal as the commissioner *

Paul Bisciglia Paul Antoine Alphonse Bisciglia (30 July 1928 – 18 April 2010) was a French film actor. Career Throughout his acting career, Bisciglia appeared in more than one hundred feature films. He made his debut in the 1950 film ''Trois télégram ...

as Victor, the groom * as the night look-out * as the second commissioner *

Georges Bever Georges Bever (1884–1973) was a French film and television actor.Goble p.38 Selected filmography * '' The Crystal Submarine '' (1927) * ''The Man in Evening Clothes'' (1931) * '' When Do You Commit Suicide?'' (1931) * ''Fun in the Barracks'' ...

as a client * as Mr Grossback * as the clerk

References

Bibliography

* Hayward, Susan. ''French Costume Drama of the 1950s: Fashioning Politics in Film''. Intellect Books, 2010.

External links

*
''Le Dindon'' (1951)
frenchfilms.org 1951 films 1950s historical films French historical films French comedy films 1950s French-language films French black-and-white films Films based on works by Georges Feydeau Films directed by Claude Barma French films based on plays Films scored by Gérard Calvi 1951 comedy films Films shot at Epinay Studios 1950s French films Films set in the 19th century Films set in Paris {{1950s-France-film-stub