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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Gentle anarchy during military service, 30 March 2005
8/10
Author: guido-vermeulen from Brussels, Belgium

I love Tire-au-flanc for the gentle crazy anarchy Renoir pictures in this movie. This is not just another stupid satire on army life. The army is the utmost symbol of the order in a society. The disorder comes from the people operating in that order and there is a sweet conspiracy in this movie between the servant (played by Simon) and his rich master. Both have to go to the army. The valet adapts better to the situation than the master who is a dreamer and a poet, so by definition crazy!

After a fight between the poet and the bully of the dormitory both end in jail. The servant will help his master with food and good advice: you have to make sure that the others respect you because after all they are not bad kids. The poet at that moment really is at the end of his rope because his fiancée is seduced by an officer (fantastic scene in the prison window where the officer offers the girl a flower growing at the window, the poet jumps to see what is happening because the flower disappears and witnesses the kiss, so a betrayal of his own feelings by members of his own social group). He'll follow the advice of his servant and both will create amok during the colonel's feast. The complete chaos that follows is such that there is no punishment possible! In the meantime the bully gets what he deserves. The chaos is rewarded by a double marriage: the servant marries the maid and the poet marries the sister of his former fiancée who had a secret crush on him all the time. The closing shot is fantastic. First you see the celebration of the servants and then Simon goes to the other room to poor wine at the dinner table of his master who is also celebrating his own marriage. You can't help wondering on the nature of the future evolution of their relationships.

The beautiful window scene (it is amazing how important windows are in the Renoir movies, with inner and outer perspectives on events) reminds of the German cinema. The craziness of other scenes is tributary to the American slapstick silent movies. Renoir unites all elements to create his own universe. The same concerns will surface and will be translated in other movies.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A Comic Delight, 9 January 2003
9/10
Author: bensonj from New York, NY

TIRE AU FLANC shows Renoir to be a master of comedy and farce, with this tale of a rich, flaky poet and his servant (Simon) who both join the army and wind up in the same barracks. There's a wealth of great comic performances and witty ensemble playing, and a healthy sense of anarchy which, as Truffaut says, must have influenced Vigo's ZERO FOR CONDUCT. There's a lot going on, including landing in the brig, romantic mix-ups and some hilarious amateur theatricals at the army ball (the poet plays pan and Simon is a lady angel strung from a wire). The action is inventive and the timing is impeccable. The original sight gags are on a par with the great silent American comedies.

The visual style is audacious. There are tracking shots throughout, panning across details, pulling back for long shots, following people through crowds, etc. The opening farewell party sequence has many flash-pans, from one room to another (taken from the connecting hall), from one face to another, from one action to another. When Simon's girl sneaks into the barracks to say goodnight, the utter pandemonium is filmed with a rolling, tossing hand-held camera right in the center of the action, and lots of quick cutting that creates a sense of confusion, although it's almost always clear exactly what's happening. But when troops on maneuvers are fumbling about blindly because they have on gas-masks, they're filmed with stationary long-shots that are held for a long time, allowing nothing to distract from their antics.

A very funny film, and another masterpiece from Renoir.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Flanc Verse, 22 July 2008
5/10
Author: writers_reign from London, England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If you substitute a caserne for a desert island then what you have here is essentially The Admirable Chrighton in army fatigues; a tale of role reversal when master and servant leave behind the status quo and find themselves in an alien world in which the master is ill equipped to survive and the servant is right at home. It's somewhat unusual to find Michel Simon - even as a young man carrying a lot of heft - as an ardent young swain but even in his salad days the acting chops were well in evidence. Renoir is one of those directors who tend to be over feted as opposed to overrated (as in Hitchcock); a man who made several exceptional films - La Grande Illusion, La Crime de Monsieur Lange, French Can Can - and a lot more average titles unlike Duvivier, Decoin, Carne' etc who turned out consistently better than average movies across long careers. This is certainly enjoyable if you can get past the unfortunate background music which sounds as if someone has scored a madrigal for accordion though the vaguely Shakespearean music is perhaps apropos for the finale with the sets of lovers happily united.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Too gentle, 19 May 2006
5/10
Author: dbdumonteil

"Tire -au -flanc" belongs to a genre which is really an acquired taste,the coarse comedy.It reached its peak in the thirties when Raimu and Fernandel starred in "les Gaietés de l'Escadron" or "Ignace" ,not those two actors at their best.

It's not because a movie was made by Jean Renoir (or..... fill in the blank)that it must be looked upon as an immortal masterpiece.Although they did not take place in barracks ,"la chienne" and even "on purge bébé" had a stronger anti-militarist feel.Here,when Jean Renoir regains his humor,his wit and his rebellious spirit ,it's principally in the subtitles :his lines (and cartoons)seem to possess something the pictures sometimes lack.

Of course,there are funny scenes: the girl's presence in the barracks is good fun.But the last pictures are finally a capitulation;after all,-I quote the colonel- the Army succeeds in making men! Is that really funny to press-gang young men into a relatively comfortable army?Opinions differ.

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