Cartouche (1962)

Director:

Philippe de Broca

Writers:

Daniel Boulanger (writer)
Philippe de Broca (writer)

Release Date:

21 July 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

In the 18th century, Louis de Bourguignon is working with the Malichot's gang, but their ways are too 'unethical' for him...

Cast

Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Louis-Dominique Bourguignon alias Cartouche
Claudia Cardinale	...	Vénus
Jess Hahn	...	La Douceur
Marcel Dalio	...	Malichot
Jean Rochefort	...	La Taupe
Philippe Lemaire	...	Gaston de Ferrussac
Noël Roquevert	...	Le sergent recruteur
Odile Versois	...	Isabelle de Ferrussac
Jacques Charon	...	Le colonel
Lucien Raimbourg	...	Le maréchal
Jacques Balutin	...	Le moine Capucine
Pierre Repp	...	Le marquis de Griffe
Jacques Hilling	...	L'aubergiste
Paul Préboist	...	Un gendarme
René Marlic	...	Petit Oncle, le tavernier

Also Known As:

Swords of Blood (UK)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Aveyron, France

Company:

Filmsonor

Trivia:

Sixth grossing movie of the year in France.

Movie Connections:

Version of Avventure di Cartouche, Le (1954)

A lotta fun

While this certainly isn't one of the deeper or meaningful costume dramas I have seen, I must admit it's a lot of fun--even though the character played by Jean-Paul Belmondo is crazy when it comes to his relationship with the lady played by Claudia Cardinale. It's in many ways a re-telling of the Robin Hood story in 18th century France--with a much more flawed main character. Like Mr. Hood, Cartouche steals from the rich and gives to the poor, but unlike Robin (who was quite happy with Maid Marion, thank you very much), once Cartouche got the girl of any man's dreams, it just wasn't good enough. Claudia Cardinale played a ravishing young thief who was desperately in love with him and ultimately would do anything for Cartouche--and the idiot keeps looking at other women! Ultimately he understands the stupidity of this, but by then it's just too late.

The story excels when it comes to exciting fights and costumes. However, at times, it lets the viewer down because the mood of the film seems to shift too much--almost like there were several versions of the film and they morphed them together. On one hand, it's a romance and in that department it does an excellent job. On the other, it's an exciting adventure yarn and once again it succeeds in this department. But, at some points in the movie (particularly when Cartouche is in the army), it also tries to be a pretty broad comedy. I actually think the film might have been better if the entire thing had been comedy or they removed the comedy altogether. It just seemed disjoint and odd the way it changed styles. However, regardless of this, the film is still worth seeing and is a lot of fun.