Smuggler's Ball
Le Banquet des Fraudeurs
Release: 1952-06-08
·Runtime: 90m
·★ 4.8
Comedy
Drama
Smuggler's Ball is the English-language title for this French-Belgian seriocomedy. The action takes place along the borders separating Belgium, Holland and France. It is here that the worldly Pierre (J. P. Kieran) carries on a profitable smuggling operation, all the while romancing Siska (Christian Lenier), the daughter of a local customs official. Various subplots and secondary characters weave in and out as the plotline guides the viewer through the WW II years. Towards the end, the story shifts gears when the Benelux Frontier Agreement eliminates all government regulations. The film's screenplay is by Charles Spaak, himself the descendant of a Belgian political family, and thus well-versed in bureaucracy and red tape.
Production Countries
Belgium
Germany
Production Companies
EFilm
Tevefilm
Cast
Christiane Lénier
as Siska van Moll
Daniel Ivernel
as Jef - le délégué syndical
Eva Ingeborg Scholz
as Elsa Menzler
André Valmy
as Le douanier Louis
Arthur Devère
as Gus
Françoise Rosay
as Gabrielle Demeuse
Käthe Haack
as Moeder van Elsa
Yves Deniaud
as Le brigadier Achille Van Moll
Karl John
as Hans
Kurt Großkurth
as Dikke Charles
Raymond Pellegrin
as Michel Demeuse
Jean-Pierre Kérien
as Pierre
