La traversée de Paris AKA Four Bags Full (1956) FotW #329

[Cocoa]

Film of the Week #329: La traversée de Paris AKA Four Bags Full (1956)



Summary:
Two men, a painter and a poor guy, have to cross over Paris by night during World War II and to deliver black market meat. As they walk along dark Parisian streets, they encounter various characters and adventures until they are arrested by German police.

#235 on 500<400, with 351 checks.
Nominated by blocho, Cocoa, and xianjiro.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#235(⇧187, #422) La traversée de Paris (1956)
[Four Bags Full]

Directed by: Claude Autant-Lara
(378.49 Pts, 10 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–0–4
History: 235←422←191←202←320←970←NA

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ICheckMovies: 341 Checks , 23 Favourites , 3 Official lists

List of Voters:

hurluberlu (22)
toromash (27)
VVKT (29)
cayado-coro (47)
Tarris1 (65)
clemmetarey (72)
Nopros (135)
Cinephage (165)
Gershwin (193)
Kasparius (287)

This movie fits the current 1950s Challenge.



Here is a schedule of all the FotWs.

[Cocoa]

This also fits the Doubling the Canon Nominations challenge.

[Tim2460]

Jaaaannnnvviiiiieeeeerrrrr

I do hope you'll like it
Real french classic

[kongs_speech]

I hate to be that guy yet again, but if somebody could PM me this ... thanks so much!

[blocho]

The animal people are gonna hate this one, but I found it an amusing romp, though I wonder if the comedy is lost in translation a bit. Gabin and Bourvil are a fine pairing.

[Cocoa]

I thought the film was okay, I didn't love it but I also didn't hate it. Definitely my least favorite of the three Claude Autant-Lara films I've seen (Sylvie et le fantôme (1946) and Douce (1943)).

[mathiasa]

I‘m a bit a late, just saw the movie. It‘s the second movie this week I‘ve seen about the French occupation. The first being La silence de la mer, I liked this one even better. It reminded me a bit of the poetic realism.
Also liked the sympathetic treatment that the black market got.
dope stuff. 8.5/10

[xianjiro]

Watched two nights ago and thought it was an average war film and better as a comedy than as commentary on the time depicted or the life of Parisians during the occupation. Felt very made-in-a-studio and even a bit expressionist in terms of sets. Gabin was Gabin, not sure much more to say there.

But I just didn't love this film partly because I've seen so many WWII films that it takes something different to keep me from feeling bored or annoyed. Will say this is a different take and the characters can be funny, but overall I didn't really find the movie funny, well, other than Gabin's character extorting the underground/black market butcher.

I also didn't care for the ending - sure it was a comedy but it just didn't sit right for me. Seemed like a missed opportunity.

Wasn't easy for me to decide on a rating and I settled on 7/10 though the temptation to go down a notch was there.