A guerrilla war is raging on an unknown part of South America. Several radio stations have sent correspondents to cover the struggle. Unfortunately, the head of the revolutionary forces is almost impossible to track down. Only Christian Gerber, of the Parisian Radio Plus is able to get a taped interview, which the rebel leader does not want him to take back, he demands to seize the tape recorder. In the meantime, the other so-called reporters are filing fake reports of the ongoing war.
When Gerber gets back he finds a transformed Radio Plus. Everything has been changed to include some form of Christian format in which even the commercials acquire a religious format. What is really going on, Gerber wonders. It appears the owner of the radio station only desire is a gimmick to sell products and tell the news that way for Louis-Marcel Thulle to give the public a distorted view of reality.
Gerber, who is given a prominent role in the programming, goes along up to a point when he decides enough is enough. Then, changing his strategy he adopts a sort of laboratory in which all companies advertising in Radio Plus are tested to see if they really are what the manufacturers claim it to be. As a result, the firms begin to experiencing losses for which Gerber's tenure in the station is questioned. Thulle, a silly man, sides with the different business peers, firing Gerber, who by then, is only too happy to go.
A different satire by Jean Yanne, an actor turned director. The comedy was way ahead of its times. The film is sadly dated, a lot has changed from that era, even though there are still problems with the effectiveness of some of the claims on products being pushed to the general public. Mr. Yanne an actor who enjoyed a long career in the French cinema tried his hand with this biting satire as his first effort at the movies with some mixed results.
Aside from the great take Jean Yanne gives with his Gerber, the great Bernard Blier showed up as Louis-Marcel Thulle, a vapid rich man more interested in playing with children's toys that were a fad at the time than really conducting his business with conviction and dignity. Others in the film include Marina Vlady at the height of her beauty. Michel Serrault, Jacques Francois, a funny Jacqueline Danno, Ginette Garcin, and the rest of the supporting cast contribute to make this an unusual film dealing with real issues.
When Gerber gets back he finds a transformed Radio Plus. Everything has been changed to include some form of Christian format in which even the commercials acquire a religious format. What is really going on, Gerber wonders. It appears the owner of the radio station only desire is a gimmick to sell products and tell the news that way for Louis-Marcel Thulle to give the public a distorted view of reality.
Gerber, who is given a prominent role in the programming, goes along up to a point when he decides enough is enough. Then, changing his strategy he adopts a sort of laboratory in which all companies advertising in Radio Plus are tested to see if they really are what the manufacturers claim it to be. As a result, the firms begin to experiencing losses for which Gerber's tenure in the station is questioned. Thulle, a silly man, sides with the different business peers, firing Gerber, who by then, is only too happy to go.
A different satire by Jean Yanne, an actor turned director. The comedy was way ahead of its times. The film is sadly dated, a lot has changed from that era, even though there are still problems with the effectiveness of some of the claims on products being pushed to the general public. Mr. Yanne an actor who enjoyed a long career in the French cinema tried his hand with this biting satire as his first effort at the movies with some mixed results.
Aside from the great take Jean Yanne gives with his Gerber, the great Bernard Blier showed up as Louis-Marcel Thulle, a vapid rich man more interested in playing with children's toys that were a fad at the time than really conducting his business with conviction and dignity. Others in the film include Marina Vlady at the height of her beauty. Michel Serrault, Jacques Francois, a funny Jacqueline Danno, Ginette Garcin, and the rest of the supporting cast contribute to make this an unusual film dealing with real issues.