PLUCKING THE DAISY (EN EFFEUILLANT LA MARGUERITE) (MADEMOISELLE STRIPTEASE)

(director/writer: Marc Allegret; screenwriters: from a story by William Benjamin/Roger Vadim; cinematographer: Louis Page; editor: Suzanne de Troeye; music: Paul Misraki; cast: Brigitte Bardot (Agnes Dumont), Daniel Gelin (Daniel Roy), Robert Hirsch (Roger Vital), Jacques Dumesnil (General Dumont), Luciana Paoluzzi (Sophia), Nadine Tallier (Magali), Darry Cowl (Hubert Dumont), Mischa Auer (Cabbie), Yves-Marie Maurin (Toto), Madeleine Barbulée (Madame Dumont); Runtime: 98; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Raymond Eger/Pierre Schwab; Film Ege (HVe-Home Vision Entertainment); 1956-France-in French with English subtitles)
“The innocuous comedy should satisfy the BB body watchers.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A silly chauvinistic sex comedy exploiting the attributes of sex kitten Brigitte Bardot. It’s shot in b/w and limply co-written and directed by Marc Allegret (“Julietta”/”The Naked Heart”), with spurts of comedy that actually work (like the museum tour of Balzac’s residence). Roger Vadim, the former assistant director to Allegret, is the co-writer (he’s also Bardot’s hubby). It’s based on a story by William Benjamin. Agnes Dumont (Brigitte Bardot), the rebellious but innocent teenage daughter of the proper Vichy provincial General Dumont (Jacques Dumesnil), writes a sexy paperback novel, Plucking the Daisy, under an alias. When she tells her strict dad the truth, he orders her to a convent fearing a scandal. She escapes by taking a train to Paris, with plans to live in a mansion with her disinherited brother Hubert (Darry Cowl). On the train she meets the photo-journalist Roger (Robert Hirsch) and his partner, the magazine reporter Daniel (Daniel Roy). After Roger gives her Daniel’s ticket, she promises to pay him back. In Paris, she’s disappointed to find out she was misinformed about her brother, who it turns out is not a rich artist but a poor guide living in the Balzac Museum. Hoping to get living expenses, she sells a rare Balzac in the museum for cheap to a bookseller not realizing it’s a valued original owned by the museum and not owned by her brother. To get back the book, Agnes enters an amateur striptease contest to win the top money prize. Her new sexist boyfriend Daniel is covering the event for his magazine and doesn’t realize that his girl is undressing on the stage because she wears a mask. The final striptease takes place in Vichy, where her father is a judge and she has brought Daniel for him to ask his permission to marry. The innocuous comedy should satisfy the BB body watchers.

REVIEWED ON 8/28/2016 GRADE: B-