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The Secret of Polichinelle (1936)

Directed by André Berthomieu

Overview

Secret de Polichinelle roughly translates as Open Secret. The “secret” in question is an illegitimate child, the offspring of young-and-foolish Henri (Bernard Lacret). The baby is adopted by its grandparents, Monsieur and Madame Jouvenol (Raimu and Francoise Rosay). At first taking charge of the child because it is their duty, the Jouvenols come to love the little nipper as if he were their own son. At this point, the film threatens to drown in a morass of sentiment, but the actors and the director manage to stem the bathos with some first-rate comedy vignettes revolving around the care and feeding of the bouncing baby boy.

Length 90 minutes

Actors

Raimu | Françoise Rosay | André Alerme | Janine Crispin | Ginette Darcy | Jeanne de Fava | Jean Diéner | Gaston Dubosc | Vincent Hyspa | Bernard Lancret | Alain Michel | Gaston Secrétan | Made Siamé | André Siméon