Fernandel is funny, but Pas un mot à ma femme is a bit of a mess

If you're looking for a lost masterpiece, keep moving, but if you want to see a ridiculously young Fernandel flailing around in a dusty 1931 short, this might kill 35 minutes for you. People who hate scratchy old audio and doors that visibly wobble when they shut should probably stay far, far away. 🚪

The whole thing is basically a frantic stage play crammed into a tiny recording studio. It's all about a husband trying to hide his shenanigans from his wife, a plot as old as time itself.

Honestly, the plot is so thin it makes One Embarrassing Night look like high literature. It's greatest sin is that it just sort of runs in circles until the time runs out.

What saved it for me was just watching the actors try not to bump into the cheap furniture. The sets look like they were painted about five minutes before the camera started rolling, and I swear you can see a shadow of the microphone at one point.

Fernandel pops up and you can immediately see why he became a massive star later on. Even back then, his face did things that shouldn't be physically possible for a human skull. 🐴

There is this one bit where a character gets so frustrated he just sort of waves his arms and yells "Ah!" and the scene abruptly cuts. I'm convinced the actor forgot his line and the director just said "good enough, print it."

The sound quality is pretty terrible, honestly. Half the time it sounds like they are talking through a tin can filled with hot gravel, which makes the fast French yelling hard to follow.

But there's a weird charm to how cheap it all feels. It is like watching a local theater play where everyone got a bit too excited during rehearsals.

I did find myself checking my phone even though the movie is barely over half an hour. That's never a great sign, is it?

Still, if you're a vintage film nerd who wants to check off every early French talkie from your list, you could do worse. Just don't expect anything mind-blowing.