Mademoiselle Strip-tease (1957)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Pierre Foucaud

Writer:

Alice Colanis (writer)

Release Date:

13 November 1957 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Striptease

Cast

Philippe Nicaud	...	Jacques Bersan
Agnès Laurent	...	Sophie Durville
Dora Doll	...	Rita
Simone Paris	...	Mme. de Breule
Jack Ary	...	Brutus (as Jacques Ary)
Michel Bardinet	...	Hubert
Charles Bouillaud
Paul Demange	...	Le régisseur
Jacques Dufilho	...	Pedro
Sam Endel	...	Jo
Evelyne Autran
Janine de Andréa
Germaine Grainval	...	La grand-mère
Alix Mahieux
Picolette

Also Known As:

Fast (USA) (bowdlerized title)
The Fast Set (USA) (promotional title)
The Nude Set (USA) (dubbed version)
The Undressed Set (USA) (bowdlerized title)

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1959)

It's worth watching, barely.

This film's not quite as trashy as its title might suggest. There's no more nudity than you'd seen in a typical Brigitte Bardot film from the period, only most of BB's movies were a lot better than this. There are no sex scenes at all.

There's about 10-15 minutes worth of good cinema here, mostly where the movie's just kind of noodling along, showing us scenery. There are some cool shots of the characters zipping around Paris in a funny little Eurocar. And then there's the nightclub, with some cool late 50s jazz and the associated dancing. I liked that. At times it felt like a low-rent Fellini film, La Dolce Vita-era. And then there are the several stripteases. The stripteases aren't overly explicit, but they're nice. There's an innocence to them. It's about the art of striptease; it doesn't feel exploitative. Some of the scenes are quite creatively choreographed, although not particularly creatively filmed. The camera just kind of stands and stares. But I guess if you've got something inherently beautiful and interesting on screen, there's no reason to overcomplicate it.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie insists on having a plot, and not a very interesting one. It was hard to sit through.

But overall, this film was worth a rental. I like the late 50s style. And I like vintage nudity. I'm probably being overly generous, but I'll give this a 6/10.

BTW, the DVD version I saw had, I think, the original 1950s dubbing to English. It was among the worst I've ever heard. All the male voices sounded like they'd been tape recorded and then played back at 2/3 speed. Everyone sounded like James Earl Jones. And some of the female voices sounded exactly like Monty Pythonesque female impersonations. I wonder what my neighbors were thinking; they must have been able to hear this through the wall.