Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Masterpiece!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A light comedy by Michel Deville written ,as such was often the case in the first phase of his career,in collaboration with Nina Companeez.The cast and credits is an update of Sacha Guitry's style:as the movie begins in an airport,it takes the form of airport announcements .A handsome young gold trafficker uses air hostesses to help him with his crooked plans ;he meets three gorgeous girls who share the same apartment between two flights ,although one of them has resigned .Sami Frey is engaging as a happy -go-Lucky "villain" ;Sylva Koscina was the queen of the sword and sandal and one of the hotties of the sixties (remember "deadlier than the male" );Mylène Demongeot was one of the most promising newcomers of the late fifties ("Les Sorcières De Salem")but the producers wanted her to become another Bardot and her career suffered accordingly afterward;I mistook the third one ,German Renate Ewert ,for English Dawn Adams .The male supporting cast includes efficient Daniel Ceccaldi and bland Jean-François Calvé.All in all ,this is an entertaining little comedy ,which remained unsung next to Deville's most famous works ("Benjamin" "Raphael Ou Le Débauché" "Le Mouton Enragé")A note about Renate Ewert who plays "Lolotte" ;she mysteriously died three years after the movie,age 33 : alcohol,drugs ,anorexia-she weighed 34kg (74 lb)-?.Unable to deal with the tragedy,her parents poisoned themselves shortly afterward.