The Secret of Polichinelle

Overview

Secret de Polichinelle roughly translates as Open Secret. The "secret" in question is an illegitimate child, the offspring of young-and-foolish Henri (Bernard Lacret). The baby is adopted by its grandparents, Monsieur and Madame Jouvenol (Raimu and Francoise Rosay). At first taking charge of the child because it is their duty, the Jouvenols come to love the little nipper as if he were their own son. At this point, the film threatens to drown in a morass of sentiment, but the actors and the director manage to stem the bathos with some first-rate comedy vignettes revolving around the care and feeding of the bouncing baby boy.

Cast

Raimu

Mr. Jouvenel

Françoise Rosay

Mrs. Jouvenel

André Alerme

Mr. Trévoux

Janine Crispin

Marie

Ginette Darcy

Jeanne de Fava

Jean Diéner

Gaston Dubosc

Vincent Hyspa

Bernard Lancret

Henri Jouvenel