THE WORLD AT NIGHT

A sincere Parisian filmmaker/boulevardier confronts the German occupation in the dark days of 1940 in this unintentionally silly book, full of stereotypes and pseudo-urbane Gallicisms such as, "You are always f-king ze girls, Jean-Claude." It is most suitable for the very unsophisticated listener, who won't catch the gaucheries, or the super-sophisticated, who will take pleasure in them. "I have a hotel keeper's view of ze world," one character philosophizes in discussing a movie star's apparent suicide, "continual disorder, chaos and stolen towels." The French accent is supplied by British narrator Stephen Thorne, whose Europeans seem to have stepped out of an MGM musical. Except for his lisp, he performs feelingly and sometimes hysterically in sync with ze text. Y.R. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 00]