''The Five-Legged Sheep'' () is a 1954 French

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International F ...

. It won the

Golden Leopard The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to b ...

at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

and was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Story The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenpl ...

Plot

An old farmer who has hated his five

quintuplet A multiple birth is the culmination of a multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such births ...

s for over twenty years is visited by villagers who believe they should be reunited, and a search for them begins.

Cast

Fernandel Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French comic actor. Born in Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, a town located in th ...

as Édouard Saint-Forget / Les quintuplés : Alain, Bernard, Charles, Désiré, Etienne *

Françoise Arnoul Françoise Arnoul (born Françoise Annette Marie Mathilde Gautsch; 3 June 1931 – 20 July 2021) was a French actress who achieved popularity during the 1950s. Early life Born in Constantine, French Algeria, the daughter of stage actres ...

as Marianne Durand-Perrin *

Andrex Andrex is a British brand of toilet roll. It is owned by the United States, American company Kimberly-Clark. The "Andrex Puppy", a Labrador Retriever puppy that appears on the company's television advertisements, is synonymous with the brand. T ...

as Un marin *

Édouard Delmont Édouard Delmont (5 December 1883 – 22 November 1955) was a French actor born Édouard Marius Autran in Marseille. He died in Cannes at age 72. Filmography *1930 : ''L'Arlésienne (1930 film), L'Arlésienne'' de Jacques de Baroncelli *1930 ...

as Le docteur Bollène *

Georges Chamarat Georges Chamarat (30 March 1901 – 21 November 1982) was a French actor. He appeared in more than 100 films and television shows between 1929 and 1981. He starred in the film '' The Adventures of Arsène Lupin'', which was entered into the ...

as M. Durand-Perrin, le père *

Paulette Dubost Paulette Dubost (8 October 1910 – 21 September 2011) was a French actress who began her career at the age of 7 at the Paris Opera. She appeared in over 250 films and worked with directors such as Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir, Max Ophüls ('' L ...

as Solange *

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 fi ...

as Pilate *

René Génin René Génin (25 January 1890 – 24 October 1967) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1931 and 1965. Selected filmography * ''Vertigo'' (1935) * '' The Mutiny of the Elsinore'' (1936) * '' The Bri ...

as Le maire *

Denise Grey Denise Grey (born Édouardine Verthuy; 17 September 1896 – 13 January 1996) was an Italian-born actress who became a naturalized French citizen. Biography Édouardine Grey was born in Châtillon in the Aosta Valley of north-west Italy, close ...

as Mme Durand-Perrin, la mère *

Tony Jacquot Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * ...

as L'instituteur * Ky Duyen as Un chinois *

Darío Moreno David Arugete (; 3 April 1921 – 1 December 1968), commonly known under his stage name Darío Moreno, was a Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer, an accomplished composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He attained fame and made a remarkable career centr ...

as Un matelot américain *

Noël Roquevert Noël Roquevert (born Noël Louis Raymond Bénévent; 18 December 1892 – 6 November 1973) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1932 and 1972. Roquevert was born in Doué-la-Fontaine and was married ...

as Antoine Brissard *

Lolita López ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession a ...

as Azitad *

Michel Ardan ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...

as Un marin *

Edmond Ardisson Edmond Ardisson (23 October 1904, in Marseille – 30 November 1983, in Jouarre) was a French people, French actor. He appeared in more than ninety films between 1938 and 1983. Filmography External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ardisson, Edmond ...

as Le brigadier *

Manuel Gary Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

as Le docteur *

René Havard René Havard (20 December 1923 – 7 December 1987) was a French film actor. He appeared in 80 films between 1946 and 1985. He was born and died in Paris, France. Selected filmography * ''That's Not the Way to Die'' (1946) – L'assistant ...

as Le liftier * Yette Lucas as Mariette *

Albert Michel Albert Michel (1909–1981) was a French stage, film and television actor.Paietta p.40 Selected filmography * ''Je chante'' (1938) - Un laitier (uncredited) * ''Ne bougez plus'' (1941) - Clanpinet * ''Chèque au porteur'' (1941) * ''Fièvres' ...

as Le patron du bistrot *

Gil Delamare Gil or GIL may refer to: Places * Gil Island (disambiguation), one of several islands by that name * Gil, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province, Iran * Hil, Azerbaijan, also spelled ''Gil, a village in Azerbaijan * Hiloba, also spelled ''G ...

as Le chauffard *

Leopoldo Francés Leopoldo is a given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese form of the English, German, Dutch, Polish, and Slovene name, Leopold. Notable people with the name include: *Leopoldo de' Medici (1617–1675), Italian cardinal and Governor of S ...

as Le métis *

Nina Myral Nina Myral, stage name of Eugénie, Hortense Gruel, (26 June 1884 – 30 March 1975) was a 20th-century French actress, dancer and singer. Filmography * 1916: ''Paris pendant la guerre'' by Henri Diamant-Berger * 1917: ''Ils y viennent tous a ...

as La bonne * Yannick Malloire as Une petite fille *

Raphaël Patorni Raphaël Patorni (1911–1986) was a French film actor.Hayward p.439 Selected filmography * ''The Mysteries of Paris'' (1943) * '' The Island of Love'' (1944) * ''Jericho'' (1946) * ''The Secret of Florida'' (1947) * ''Vertigo'' (1947) * '' Colom ...

as Rodrigue *

Max Desrau Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

as Le nouveau patron des pompes funèbres * Jocelyne Bressy *

Micheline Gary Christiane Micheline Guary (1 October 1925 – 25 December 2022), better known as Micheline Gary, was a French film and stage actress who was active in the French film industry throughout the 1950s. In 1960 she married the actor Paul Meurisse. G ...

as L'hôtesse de l'instutut de beauté

Reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that "it is probably the cleverest and most hilarious French comedy we've seen since the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

." He added, "This reviewer is still laughing fondly at the fantastic humors it unfolds." Crowther saved his highest praise for Fernandel, saying that he "works harder than the rest of the cast rolled into one. We hope he was paid six salaries for this picture. He certainly earns them, every one."Crowther, Bosley. "Screen: Fernandel, Pere et Cinq Fils; He Plays All 6 in ''The Sheep Has Five Legs''," ''The New York Times'', Wednesday, August 10, 1955.
Retrieved December 18, 2024.

References

External links

* 1954 films French black-and-white films French comedy films Films directed by Henri Verneuil Golden Leopard winners Quintuplets 1954 comedy films 1950s French films {{1950s-France-comedy-film-stub