I just watched the movie again after more than 40 years and I still liked it very much. It is a gentle comedy about mistaken identities taking place on a Christmas day.

Gilbert Becaud is young, Francoise Arnoul beautiful and the music is excellent. Truly enjoyable Christmas movie.

.. is not to have to watch Gilbert Becaud trying to play ONE role let alone two, and that's before he starts to sing. There were, of course, only two male singers of popular song in twentieth century France; Yves Montand and all the rest and Montand could have acted Becaud off the screen with one gesture tied behind his back. That leaves Marcel Carne, a giant in French cinema and co-inventor, with seven-time colleague Jacques Prevert, of poetic realism. Alas, here he is a shadow of his former self and one wonders what he saw in this heavily diluted take on A Comedy Of Errors in the first place. On the plus side there are some pleasant visuals but that's about it.

As befits the man who was called Monsieur 100,000 volts, Gilbert Bécaud displays all the charm and magnetism he was famous for in this film; he is playing two characters, Julien Barrière and Éric Perceval. One is a drifter with no fear, the other is a timid pianist in the cabaret run by a very jovial Gabriello. The lovely Françoise Arnoul is courted by both men. The plot is unnecessarily complex: there is Julien's evil uncle Ludovic (Jean Toulout) who wants Julien to do something--don't know what really--and three louts keep turning up wanting to beat Julien up. Françoise Arnoul as Marinette the waitress is the soul of charm: here she is playing a nice girl instead of the vixens she became known for.

I give ten stars for Bécaud and the rest of the superb cast, but only four for Carné's uninspired direction, the fake sets and the candy-floss color cinematography. Carné is trying to repeat the successes of the past and it does not work; a more improvisational feeling, relying more on Bécaud's magnetism would have been better.