Friday, 5 December 2025

LE COUP DE POUCE (ANTENNE 2, 1975)

Le coup de pouce is a colour 97-minute French mystery TV movie produced by ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) and aired by Antenne 2 on January 16, 1975.
 
It's also a very peculiar episode of the feature-length detective series Les Cinq Dernières Minutes, which ran from 1958 to 1996.
 
Les Cinq Dernières Minutes is one of the first series in the History of French television. Created by journalist, director, scriptwriter and producer Claude Loursais, it was launched on January 1, 1958 on the only channel of RTF (Radiodiffusion Télévision Française), the predecessor of ORTF. Les Cinq Dernières Minutes went through several changes in three "eras" until France 2 shown its 149th episode on December 20, 1996. The first era (1958-1973) was penned by Loursais — who helmed most of it — with Fred Kassak, Louis C. Thomas, Michel Lebrun, Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe, Henri Grangé, André Maheux, Jean Cosmos, etc. This version starred Raymond Souplex as Inspecteur/Commissaire Antoine Bourrel and Jean Daurand as Inspecteur Dupuy. 
 
Les Cinq Dernières Minutes was originally a mystery gameshow aired live. After the format and live broadcasting were dropped,  the series explored different socio-professional environments in episodes shot in studio on video and on 16mm film for the locations. The popularity of the programme peaked in the 1960s-1970s and turned Raymond Souplex and Jean Daurand into TV stars. Bourrel's catchphrase (« Bon Dieu, mais c'est bien sûr! ») even entered the vernacular. From 1967 to 1973 there was a German adaptation called Dem Täter auf der Spur. Les Cinq Dernières Minutes switched from black and white to colour in 1971. Dupuy was gradually phased out after Jean Daurand's health issues.  
 
In September 1972, Raymond Souplex worked on the 56th episode, Un gros pépin dans le chasselas. The shooting was interrupted by the ORTF rolling strikes of October but the scenarios of two episodes, Les griffes de la colombe and Fausse note, were ready (1) so Souplex rehearsed the former on November 20. He died two days later from cancer, aged 71. Claude Loursais decided that Episode 56, finished thanks to script changes and editing, would be the last one (2). Nevertheless, four TV movies were tested between July 1974 and January 1975 (not in production order) on the Deuxième chaîne and Antenne 2 (3): Rouges sont les vendanges, Fausse note, Si ce n'est toi (formerly Les griffes de la colombe) and Le Coup de pouce. 
 
Those films, independent from the series though built on its "formula", tried new investigators and they are retrospectively considered as "La période intermédiaire" of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes. The famous theme music by Marc Lanjean (4) was notably absent. Written by Jean Cosmos (in 1973) and directed by Claude Loursais, Le coup de pouce was aired by Antenne 2 on January, 16, 1975. Christian Barbier, who reached fame with the ORTF drama L'Homme du Picardie (1968), returns as the Commissaire Le Carré from Rouges sont les vendanges. Le Carré's dog Rougeole is back too but not Inspecteur Ménardeau (Marc Eyraud). Rouges sont les vendanges was the third appearance of Ménardeau. In Si ce n'est toi, the character was the colleague of Commissaire Lindet (Henri Lambert) and he solved a case on his own in Fausse note.
 
Adrien Ridon, an old sculptor, lives with other artists in a Parisian cité soon to be demolished. Jacques Mouriez, an industrialist, and his wife Cathy invite Adrien for a drink at their appartment. Ridon gets to know a friend of Mouriez, chef de cabinet at the ministry of culture, and asks him if he could help listing his master work as a monument to prevent the demolition of the cité and the expulsion of the artists. Cathy Mouriez meets sculptor Yves Le Gouverneur, a friend of Adrien Ridon. Later, Yves dies in an apparent accident. The second Le Carré is nowhere near as good as Rouges sont les vendanges. Talkative and overlong, Le coup de pouce was majoritarily shot (5) in the Buttes-Chaumont studios. Christian Barbier arrives after 49 minutes.
 
In February 1973, Claude Loursais considered the idea of a new series centered on a commissaire and a juge d'instruction (investigating judge) (6). In Le coup de pouce, Commissaire Le Carré works with a debonair judge, played by Maurice Jacquemont. Bernard Musson is Fosseuse, his sarcastic clerk, after an appearance as another character in Si ce n'est toi. There was a juge d'instruction in Un gros pépin dans le chasselas, co-written by Jean Cosmos. Years later, the screenwriter co-created Julien Fontanes, magistrat (1980-1989) for TF1. Maurice Barrier delivers a great performance as Yves Le Gouverneur. Sybil Saulnier (Cathy) was noticed by Life Magazine in 1963 for a "striking resemblance" with Marilyn Monroe. Actress and singer Jacqueline Danno plays Raymonde, Yves' ex-wife. 
 
With Harry Max (Adrien Ridon), Jean-François Poron (Jacques Mouriez), Josée Yanne (Hélène), Philippe Valauris (Albert), Hélène Vallier (Gina Solari), Maurice Lédé (Pol Sapiterni), Louis Lyonnet (Robert), Louis Julien (Frédéric), Nicole Derlon (Hairdresser), Jean Labib (Inspecteur Martineau), Nicole Huc (Lucienne), Eric Meningand and Roland Husson. Produced by Hélène Rambert and Oreste Delsale. Cinematography by Pierre Mareschal. Video editing by Christiane Coutel. Film editing by Joseph Neveu.  Sculptures by Pierre Sizonenko and Simon Jacquemond. Metal sculpture by Michel Hennique. There's no original music, as often for the ORTF productions, and no credited sound illustrator for the use of library music.
 
In 1974, it was announced that Jacques Debary (Poker d'as) was the unnamed commissaire of Loursais' new (as yet untitled) mystery drama, whose shooting of the first episode had begun. Called Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires, this episode was aired by Antenne 2 on May 10, 1975 as part of... Les Cinq Dernières Minutes. Commissaire Broussard (Jacques Debary) had to be renamed Commissaire Cabrol prior to transmission because there was a real-life supercop named Broussard. Marc Eyraud returned as Ménardeau in the following episode for an association with Cabrol which lasted until 1991. Pierre Santini (Un juge, un flic) as Commissaire Julien Massard and Pierre Hoden (Inspecteur Antoine Barrier) were the final duo of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes from 1992 to 1996.  
 
Perrette Souplex, the daughter of Raymond Souplex, guest starred as Bourrel's daughter in a 1995 episode. The episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes from 1958 to 1991 are available on Madelen, the streaming service of INA. Brigade des Mineurs, the 1977-1979 social drama series created by Claude Loursais and starring Jean Daurand as Commissaire Dupuy, is on Madelen too. 
 
(1) Michel Lebrun in Télé 7 Jours.
(2) Télé 7 Jours.
(3)  ORTF was dismantled in December 1974 and the Deuxième chaîne was renamed Antenne 2. The latter became France 2 in 1992.
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Thursday, 6 November 2025

LES CINQ DERNIÈRES MINUTES: PATTE ET GRIFFE (ANTENNE 2, 1975)

Commissaire Cabrol and his deputy Ménardeau investigate the death of a fashion designer.

Patte et griffe is an episode of the feature-length French detective series Les Cinq Dernières Minutes, which ran from 1958 to 1996. 

Created by journalist, director, scriptwriter and producer Claude Loursais, Les Cinq Dernières Minutes is one of the first series in the History of French television. It was launched on January 1, 1958 on the only channel of RTF (Radiodiffusion Télévision Française), the predecessor of ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française). Les Cinq Dernières Minutes went through many changes in three "eras" until France 2 aired its 149th episode on December 20, 1996.  The first era (1958-1973) was penned by Loursais — who directed most of it — with Fred Kassak, Louis C. Thomas, Michel Lebrun, Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe, Henri Grangé, André Maheux, Jean Cosmos, etc. This version starred Raymond Souplex as Inspecteur (later Commissaire) Antoine Bourrel and Jean Daurand as Inspecteur Dupuy. 

Les Cinq Dernières Minutes started as a live mystery gameshow. After the format and live broadcasting were dropped, the programme explored different socio-professional environments in episodes shot in studio on video and on 16mm film for the locations. The popularity of the series peaked in the 1960s-1970s and turned Raymond Souplex and Jean Daurand into TV stars. They even played similar police detectives in a couple of movies (1) and Bourrel's catchphrase (« Bon Dieu, mais c'est bien sûr! ») entered the vernacular.  From 1967 to 1973 there was a German adaptation called Dem Täter auf der Spur. In 1971, Les Cinq Dernières Minutes switched from black and white to colour. Dupuy was gradually phased out after Jean Daurand's health issues.

After the death of Raymond Souplex in 1972, four TV movies were tested by Loursais between July 1974 and January 1975 (not in their production order) on the Deuxième chaîne and Antenne 2 (2): Rouges sont les vendanges, Fausse note, Si ce n'est toi and Le Coup de pouce. Those films, independent from the series though built on its "formula", tried new investigators and they are retrospectively considered as "La période intermédiaire" of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes. The famous theme music by Marc Lanjean (3) was notably absent. Claude Loursais almost kept Christian Barbier  (L'Homme du Picardie), who starred as Commissaire Le Carré in two of the TV movies, but they didn't agree on the financial terms. In 1974, it was announced that actor Jacques Debary (Poker d'as) was the unnamed commissaire of Loursais' new (as yet untitled) mystery drama, whose shooting of the first episode had begun.  

This episode, called Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires, was shown by Antenne 2 on May 10, 1975 as part of... Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (4). Prior to airing, Debary's character was introduced to the press as Commissaire Broussard but had to be renamed Cabrol because of a real-life supercop named Robert Broussard. La mémoire longue, his second case, marked the return of Marc Eyraud as Ménardeau. The Columbo-esque Officier de police principal/Inspector was first seen in Si ce n'est toi, Fausse note and Rouges sont les vendanges (5). Filmed in May 1975 and aired by Antenne 2 on November 15, 1975, Patte et griffe (initially titled Veuf mode) was written by Jean Cosmos and directed by Claude Loursais. Produced by Antenne 2, it's the third Cabrol in airing order (6). Commissaire Cabrol and Ménardeau are sent to the fashion house of Lucas de Lucé, a renowned Haute Couture designer found dead in the lift of his Parisian building.

Lucé was severely diabetic and he died while he was stuck in the lift during a power outage but Commissaire Cabrol finds something strange in the lift shaft. Soon the investigation narrows in on a model name Cynthia and the husband of the designer's mistress. The conventional plot of Patte et griffe is carried by the contrast between the cynical Cabrol and the not fully awake Ménardeau plus an excellent guest cast but heavied by too much exposition, including a lecture on the remuneration of the apprentices in the Haute Couture industry and a 13-minute conversation in the middle of the episode. Stage, cinema and television actress Nadine Alari is Madeleine, Lucas' right-hand woman. On November 15, 1975 she could be seen on two channels simultaneously as she was also on FR3 in a recording of the play Marie Tudor (7). 

Though he appeared in Le lièvre blanc aux oreilles noires as a different character, François Dyrek plays Riton. Actress Anémone (Nadine) had supporting roles in three episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes in a row, this one included. In the 1980s, she became a star of the big screen and had a versatile career in films such as Le père Noël est une ordure (1982) or Le grand chemin (1988). With Prudence Harrington (Cynthia), Danielle Duroux (Alice), Pierre Zimmer (Lucas de Lucé), Claude Nicot (Fleuret Coutillier), Jeanne Herviale (Fleuret's mother), Bernard Dumaine (Charles Boutok), Paula Dehelly (Madame de Ravens), Annick Roux... Produced by Pierre Terrier. Cinematography by Albert Schimmel. Video editing by Christiane Coutel. Film editing by Joseph Neveu. 

There's no original music, as often for the ORTF productions, and no credited sound illustrator for the use of library music (from the Patchwork catalogue). The association between Cabrol and Ménardeau lasted until 1991. They were replaced by Pierre Santini (Un juge, un flic) as Commissaire Julien Massard and Pierre Hoden (Inspecteur Antoine Barrier) from 1992 to 1996. Perrette Souplex, the daughter of Raymond Souplex, guest starred as Bourrel's daughter in a 1995 episode. The episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes from 1958 to 1991 are available on Madelen, the streaming service of INA. Brigade des Mineurs, the 1977-1979 social drama series created by Claude Loursais and starring Jean Daurand as Commissaire Dupuy, is on Madelen too.  

The Cabrol-Ménardeau era was shown in Germany on ZDF as Kommissar Cabrol ermittelt - Die Fälle des Monsieur Cabrol.

(1) L'assassin viendra ce soir (1964) and La malédiction de Belphégor (1967).
(2) ORTF was dismantled in December 1974 and the Deuxième chaîne was renamed Antenne 2. The latter became France 2 in 1992.
(3) Arsenic Blues, composed by Marc Lanjean for the movie La Peau de l'ours (1957).
(4) Also called  "Les Nouvelles Cinq Dernières Minutes" by TV magazines.
(5) In Patte et griffe, Ménardeau is introduced as "Officier de police judiciaire Ménardeau" by Commissaire Cabrol and credited as "Inspecteur Ménardeau" in the end.
(6) According to Télé 7 Jours in January 1975, Le collier d'épingles (aired as the fourth episode) was about to be completed before Patte et griffe.
(7) Télé 7 Jours. 
  
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Monday, 1 September 2025

SIAL IV (TSR/ORTF, 1969)

Long after Armageddon, a man of the 20th century emerges from hibernation in a future where humans live with androids.
 
In the year 1970, apocalypse is imminent. An engineer named Denis Lange meets Nathanaël de Geoffroy, a professor of philosophy who gets drunk to face the end of the world. Later, Lange checks an anti-atomic shelter when an explosion shakes the place and knocks him unconscious. After more than a century in suspended animation, Denis Lange is awakened in 2145 by some android doctors. Paul Cassius, the human in charge of welcoming Denis, explains him that he's in Sial IV. It's one of the six subterranean cities built on Earth after the nuclear war. Men live now a life of leisure, happiness and serenity, while androids perform complex tasks. Machiavel, their master, wants to use Lange as a pawn against "Les Inadaptés", a group of humans which resists the Sial IV way of life.
 
The rebels are lead by Nathanaël de Geoffroy, great-grandson of the philosopher. Denis Lange is given a "personal" female android called Diana. Sial IV is a 4 x 55-minute (1) science-fiction drama in black and white, made in Switzerland for Television suisse romande and French pubcaster ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) by Telvetia SA. Officially founded in 1968, Telvetia was a joint venture between SSR (Société suisse de radiodiffusion et de télévision) and French company Telfrance (Thierry la Fronde, Desert Crusader). Sial IV, one of the very first prime time Swiss dramas, was shown weekly on TSR from May 30, 1969 to June 20, 1969. Before that, the channel aired two sci-fi TV movies: La dame d'Outre-nulle part (1966) and Temps mort (1968) (2). In 1966, its youth programme Le 5 à 6 des jeunes presented SOS Terre, a  science-fiction drama (3).
 
French of Greek origin film critic, director and writer Adonis "Ado" Kyrou helmed all the episodes of Sial IV. Ado Kyrou was a friend of the Surrealism movement and he won the Honorary Award at the Week of Greek Cinema festival for his film Bloko (1965). Kyrou directed four episodes of the ORTF series Allô Police (1966-1970) produced by Telfrance.  Geneva-born Claude Delarue wrote the scenario of Sial IV,  based on the novel Deadly Image (AKA The Uncertain Midnight, 1958) by English author Edmund Cooper. Previous to working for six months on the script, Delarue was a sound illustrator and journalist for TSR. He benefited from a special scheme set up by SSR to encourage young scriptwriters to write for Swiss TV. Ado Kyrou and him revised the scenario in Paris during the events of May 1968. Henri Gilabert, a French theatre actor seen on TV in Rue barrée (1967) and The Aeronauts (Les Chevaliers du ciel, 1967-1970), stars as Denis Lange. 
 
Known in France and Hollywood, Marcel Dalio is Machiavel. His resume includes Pépé le Moko (1937), La Grande Illusion (1937), The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Casablanca (1942), Sabrina (1954) and many other movies like the comedy Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (1973). Claude Cerval, the evil Comte de Nansac of the ORTF drama Jacquou le Croquant (1967), plays the 20th century Nathanaël de Geoffroy and his descendant. Swiss actress Lise Lachenal was one of the presenters of Le 5 à 6 des jeunes and a radio host. TV critics noticed her performance in Gillian, a 1967 episode of the anthology Spectacle d'un soir (1964-1979). In Sial IV she appears as "the young woman" in Episode 1 and then plays Diana. Her fellow countryman Jacques Verlier (Cassius) made a name for himself on the Parisian stage and in cinema in the 1950s-1960s.
 
Swiss television director Roger Gillioz plays Barnon. With Simone Bach (Mélanie), François Chodat (Tibère), Jacqueline Damien (Olga), Guy Fox (Johan), Violaine Lachenal (Karen), Marcel Vidal (President Bar), Jean Vigny (Kingston) Georges Wod (Siegfried), etc... According to Ado Kyrou, the cast comprised eighty-two actors. The filming of  Sial IV took place from September 9, 1968 to November 3, 1968 in Geneva (Telvetia Studio at Palais des Expositions, the airport, Cinéma "Paris", Musée d'art et d'histoire), the countryside (Jussy and Bernex in September 1968), a gravel quarry and the dam in Verbois, and at the Montreux Palace Hotel (4).  Telfrance and Telvetia used the Transflex process to insert characters in set elements projected frontally on a screen. The music of Sial IV is one of the numerous collaborations of French composer François de Roubaix (Le Samuraï) with Telfrance.
 
Produced by Gérard Dethiollaz. Cinematography by Jacques Manson. Editing by Pierre Houdain and Michel Hirtz for Telfrance. Special sound effects by Pierre Angles. Sets designed by Philippe Ancellin. Make-up by Jocelyne Blankenstijn. Igaal Niddam was the cameraman. Claude Delarue didn't rule out the possibility of a sequel. Most critics praised Sial IV but viewers weren't hooked. The repeat of May 1971 precised for the first time in the opening credits that Sial IV was adapted from the novel of Edmund Cooper. Reader of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Isaac Assimov, Claude Delarue didn't mention that Cooper was the source of his inspiration. Sial IV was saved from both oblivion and the ravages of time by Didier Bufflier, head of ArchiLab at RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), in 2023 when he restored and digitized the four episodes. That year, the attendees of the  Festival du film fantastique de Neuchâtel (NIFFF) had the opportunity to discover two of them. 
 
Sial IV has undeniable  ambitions despite its budget limitations. The story has modern resonances and the ambience is quite reminiscent of The Prisoner (1967). The casting is excellent, particularly Henri Gilabert, Marcel Dalio, Lise Lachenal and Claude Cerval. Claude Delarue had a drama project that would have been shot entirely on a terrace but it never materialized. Anyway, he became a successful novelist and playwright.  Henri Gilabert pursued his career on stage and played in movies such as L'attentat (1972) or Le Juge Fayard dit Le Sheriff (1977).  In 1974, he appeared in a famous advert (« En France on a pas de pétrole, mais on a des idées »). Lise Lachenal remained popular amongst young viewers as the voice of Blanche in Blanche et Gaspard (1969-1976). From 1973 to 2000, she was a collaboratrice à la fiction for TSR and was the first in Francophonie to buy The Bold and the Beautiful.
 
Ado Kyrou worked again with Telfrance on the ORTF drama Face aux Lancaster (1971) and directed The Monk (Le Moine, 1972), a film starring Franco Nero. In the 1980s, actor Jacques Verlier invented a non-reusable syringe and a cable cutter for Pen Duick boats. Verlier was also a painter. Sial IV is available on Play RTS. The INA catalog indicates that it was aired in France in 1973.
 
(1) 10 half-hour episodes, then 5 x 60-minute episodes were considered.
(2) Both directed by Jean-Jacques Lagrange, pioneer of the science-fiction genre at TSR, and adapted from novels by George Langelaan (author of The Fly).
(3) Made at the Théâtre-club de Genève.
(4) October 8 and 9, 1968.
 
 
See also: 
 
https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2025/08/le-chirurgien-de-saint-chad-tsrantenne.html (Le chirurgien de Saint-Chad, another drama from Telvetia)

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