A Monkey in Winter [Un singe en hiver] [It’s Hot in Hell] *** (1962, Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon, Gabrielle Dorziat) – Classic Movie Review 9692

Jean Gabin plays Albert Quentin, an elderly boozer trying to forget an old flame, and Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Gabriel Fouquet, a young drunkard visiting his young daughter, who hit the bottle together in a Normandy hotel, in this amusing, nostalgic, and very undervalued 1962 Henri Verneuil comedy drama A Monkey in Winter [Un singe en hiver].

Working from Antoine Blondin’s novel, writers François Boyer and Michel Audiard provide a funny, appealing script with sharply written, wry dialogue. But the main success of the piece lies in the warm, sympathetic performances with a real rapport between the two men, great stars and French icons in different ages, a warmth that was apparently reflected in real life.

It is shot in Calvados, France.

A Monkey in Winter [Un singe en hiver] [It’s Hot in Hell] is directed by Henri Verneuil, runs 103 minutes, is made by Compagnie Internationale de Productions Cinématographiques (CIPRA) and Cité Films, is released by Comacico (1962) (France), Gala Film Distributors (1963) (UK) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1963) (US), is written by François Boyer (adaptation) and Michel Audiard (dialogue), based on Antoine Blondin’s novel, is shot in black and white and Totalvision by Louis Page, is produced by Jacques Bar, is scored by Michel Magne, and is designed by Robert Clavel.

Also in the cast are Noël Roquevert, Paul Frankeur, Gabrielle Dorziat, Hella Petri, Marcelle Arnold, Hélène Dieudonné, André Delbert, Geneviève Fontanel, Gabriel Gobin, Sylviane Margollé, Lucien Raimbourg, and Hans Verner.

Gabin and Belmondo drank tea while filming the bar sequence when they are supposedly drunk.

Un singe en hiver was retitled A Monkey in Winter for America and weirdly It’s Hot in Hell for the UK.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9692

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