Si tous les gars du monde…

The crew of a trawler in the North Atlantic is stricken with botulism and radios for help. A succession of short-wave amateurs from Togoland to Paris to East and West Berlin and finally Denmark rise above their personal problems, obtain the necessary serum and, just in time, get it parachuted down to the fishermen. At no point does anyone suggest contacting any official organisation - was there really none? The film skids along efficiently enough from one crisis to the next, and its theme of international co-operation at street level is a Cold War antidote. But it's superficial stuff, of interest today for the involvement of the usually more cynical H-G Clouzot (he co-scripted), for marking the debut of Trintignant and - for British audiences - providing the genesis of Tony Hancock's TV classic 'The Radio Ham'. Pierre Fresnay narrates.