Fric-Frac Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Fric-Frac Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 21, 2019

Maurice Lehmann's "Fric-Frac" (1939) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinetrove International. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film as well as a newly produced featurette. Also included with this release is a leaflet with vintage stills. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Reigon-A "locked".

Amateurs

Apparently, it was a good idea to explain the title of the film even to French viewers, so here’s the English translation that appears in the short prologue: “Fric-Frac, Noun. To steal or burglar with force.” The term is actually a form of French slang and apparently very few people that spoke ‘proper’ French understood what it meant. Also, the slang that two of the key characters in the film routinely use when they communicate is actually used to highlight an entirely different issue, which will be addressed later on.

The iconic actor Fernandel plays a middle-aged bachelor named Marcel who works as an assistant in a popular jewel store somewhere in the heart of Paris. It is a boring job that he has managed to do rather well, but recently he has started having second thoughts about it because Renee (Helene Robert), the opinionated daughter of the store’s owner, has made it very clear to him that she intends to marry him – with or without his cooperation. Marcel has been trying to be kind to Renee, but her aggressiveness has started to wear him down and even affect his efficiency behind the desk.

Marcel’s ‘relationship’ with Renee reaches a breaking point when he decides to go out on a date with another girl, Loulou (Arletty), and asks for a small advance that would cover his expenses. He lies to Renee that he is meeting old friends for drinks and receives the advance, but she discovers that he has been trying to get involved with another girl and makes him realize that his job at the jewel store is in serious jeopardy. The actual date then turns out to be a major disappointment because Loulou arrives with her partner in crime, Jo (Michel Simon), who is a pickpocket and does not know how to handle himself in public.

A few days after the ‘date’, Marcel and Renee agree on a truce and go out in the countryside with Loulou and Jo. However, Marcel’s uncultured friends immediately disappoint Renee with their manners and awful slang and she concludes that it is only a matter of time before he becomes like. She is proven right when not too long after that Marcel agrees to help Loulou and Jo rob the jewel store. Then, on a dark and windy night, they go to work.

What makes the film intriguing and frankly worth seeing is the great interplay between its three iconic leads -- Fernandel, Simon, and Arletty -- as well as the shift in the second half that eliminates the faux moral superiority of their characters. Here’s exactly how the latter is done: In the first half Renee is the pretentious petite bourgeois outsider whose observations are systematically ridiculed because she apparently does not see and appreciate life as ‘normal’ folks do. It is why the slang is emphasized throughout the film -- it separates Renee’s kind from the ‘normal’ folks. However, after Marcel’s gentle corruption Renee suddenly emerges as the voice of reason and all of her warnings are legitimized. So, the message that emerges here is that sometimes there could be enough on the cover of a book to figure out what’s inside it.

The rest of the material is not exactly memorable. There are splashes of good humor here and there but it is usually the personalities of the leads that add the real quality. The writing isn’t bad, it is just that virtually all of the situations before and after the robbery are entirely predictable.

The opening credits highlight only Maurice Lehmann’s name, but the great director and writer Claude Autant-Lara was apparently very closely involved with the film’s production.

This recent release of Fric-Frac from Cinetrove Inernatrional is sourced from a 2K restoration of the film, which is part of a new initiative supported by Les Films de la Pleaiade/Les Films du Jeudi.

Fric-Frac Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.32:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Maurice Lehmann's Fric-Frac arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinetrove International.

The release is sourced from a wonderful recent 2K restoration. I don't have any technical credits to share in our review, but it is very, very easy to tell that this was a full-blown restoration -- not simply a 2K scan that produced a remaster -- because the entire film looks exceptionally healthy and has an enormously pleasing organic appearance. Digital work has been done to rebalance some of the visuals, but there is plenty of grain that is nicely exposed. Some density fluctuations are noticeable, but it appears that they are inherited from the original materials that were scanned during the restoration work (compare screencaptures #1 and 19). The grading is excellent. The blacks are stable and healthy, while the grays and whites come with strong and nicely balanced nuances. Image stability is very good. There are no distracting debris, cuts, damage marks, warps or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Fric-Frac Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional yellow English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio has been fully remastered. The exchanges are clean, clear, and nicely balanced. When the volume is turned up, there are no distracting background anomalies either. Hiss, hum, and rackle have been thoroughly removed, and I did not detect any unnatural 'thinning' to report in our review.

Fric-Frac Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Fric-Frac. In French, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080i).

• Featurette - this featurette offers interesting information about the production history of Fric-Frac and its box-office success in France. In English and French, with optional English subtitles where necessary. (8 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - leaflet with vintage stills. (See screenshots).

Fric-Frac Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Folks that are interested in early and classic French cinema should pay very close attention to what Cinetrove International is doing because the label's first two releases, School for Love (1955) and Fric-Frac (1939), are sourced from high-quality restorations that would usually appear via the Criterion Collection. Fric-Frac unites three legendary stars of French cinema -- Fernandel. Michel Simon, and Arletty -- and is about an odd robbery that produces some unexpected laughs. Next week, Cinetrove International is set to release on Blu-ray Georges Lacombe's Monsieur La Souris. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.