In the wake of the huge success of "Le Corniaud" and "La Grande Vadrouille" ," Poisson D'Avril" was theatrically re-released in the mid-sixties in France and it is sure easy to see why:it was the first time comic superstars Bourvil and Louis De Funès had played together,and they thought it was the right time to capitalize on the success of this golden pair.Actually ,De Funès has only one scene (a five-minute appearance ) and it can,from that point of view ,be considered a shameless exploitation of the commercial phenomenon.That said,Gilles Grangier is not lacking in practical experience ,and although his metier was essentially the thriller in the fifties ,he made an entertaining (and often very funny) comedy in the grand tradition of what the French call 'Théâtre De Boulevard ".The scene of the chic dinner in the luxury house ,where Bourvil and Pierre Duc tell their war "memories" is hilarious .Good support by Annie Cordy who often played with Bourvil ,not only in the movies,but also on stage .

This story is an awesome vaudeville that keeps you wondering how it will end as it gets more and more intricate and confusing for the characters. Everything is tight and plausible. Note that this is the first time you can see Bourvil and Louis De Funes in a same film (9 years before "Le Corniaud" !) despite De Funes's short appearance as a fishing guard. Why this film has remained so obscure is beyond me.*SPOILERS AHEAD ??*It's hard to talk about it without giving too much away and ruining the fun of it. However this is how the story unfolds: Emile lies to his wife to go fishing with his son instead. He visits his cousin Annette who tells him he should go fishing on her lover's land - a very wealthy married man. The fishing guard spots him, fines him and decides to report the incident to the wealthy man since Emile said he had his authorization through his cousin Annette. Unfortunately, his wife picks up the phone and later tells her husband about this man Emile fishing in their river. He doesn't mind about that but is more troubled about the kinship between Emile and his mistress Annette. As his wife wants to investigate further about Emile and Annette, her husband gets nervous and pretends to know Emile who supposedly saved his life at war. His wife insists to have him and Annette for dinner, wanting to meet the man who saved her husband's life and thinking Annette is his fiancee (from what her husband told her). Emile accepts after the wealthy man threatens Emile to tell his wife that he goes fishing instead as he found out from Annette.Confusing ? Maybe when I tell it, but the dialogue is great (Audiard of course) and the film is paced without any loose ends in the script. The story goes on past this memorable dinner scene to take the characters into crazier situations and they even manage to make the film end in a way that works. Now what more do we need ?!!