Crainquebille is the third film version of Anatole France's satiric novel. The title character, played by Yves Deniaud, is an elderly pushcart peddler much beloved by one and all. Well, almost all: the gendarme on the beat inexplicably despises Crainquebille, and the first chance he gets, he throws the old man in jail. By rights, the peddler should be back on the street in 24 hours, but thanks to a judicial bottleneck he spends two weeks behind bars. Upon his release, Crainquebille finds he is a "marked man," shunned by those who once pledged undying devotion. On the verge of ending it all, Crainquebille finds a ray of hope in the form of a hero-worshipping little boy (Christian Fourquade, who'd previously co-starred with Bing Crosby in 1953's Little Boy Lost).
by Hal Erickson
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