King of Hearts (1966)

 

            “Le Roe De Couer” is a French film directed by Philippe de Broca.  It was not a critical or box office success, but it became a cult classic in the U.S.  This was partly the result of numerous midnight showings similar to “Rocky Horror Picture Show”.  A movie about lunatics in war was appealing to college kids during the Vietnam War.  Go figure.

            The movie is set in a French town in the closing days of the Great War.  Before the Germans evacuate the city, they set up a booby trap that will blow up the town.  The residents flee, including the staff of the local lunatic asylum.  And they leave the gate open.  The inmates take over the town.  A British general “volunteers” Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates) to go in and check for explosives.  The general is the typical buffoon that inhabits WWI comedies.  And Plumpick is a stereotypical sad sack.  He is on the opposite side of royalty.  Queue the irony.   When he meets the lunatics, they crown him the “King of Hearts”.  Hilarity ensues.  If you are a college student who is drunk or high at a midnight showing.

            Some cult classics hold up over the years and some don’t.  “King of Hearts” is in the second category.  It bludgeons the audience with its theme of “who are the insane in war?”  Surprisingly, the most believable aspect of the movie is the behavior of the inmates.  The cast that portrays the lunatics is good.  It’s the sane characters that bring the movie down.  They are played too broadly.  Plumpick is joined by three idiots to make the crazy people seem sane.  It’s the kind of movie that gets increasingly desperate for laughs.  There are not a lot of those.  The movie is more whimsical, as indicated by the music, than hilarious.  It gets increasingly silly as it rolls along.  This leads to a stupid, but predictable ending.  By this time, hippies in the theater were probably asleep.  Of course, it doesn’t hurt if your potential viewers forget they saw the movie and come back every Friday. 

GRADE  =  D