The Story:
In the rigid world of a 1906 French military barracks, stern Colonel Touplard (André Lefaur), a widower obsessed with moral discipline, enforces grueling marches on his troops to suppress any hint of vice, while his eccentric sister Hortensia (Pauline Carton) pens a verse tragedy called “The Roman Orgy” that he decides to stage as wholesome regiment entertainment, enlisting the clever orderly Patard (Fernandel) and his resourceful “dégourdis” soldiers to bring it to life.
Chaos erupts when the Colonel hires sultry professional actress Nina Vermillon (Ginette Leclerc) to star, igniting infatuations among the men—including the Colonel himself—turning rehearsals into a riotous farce of toga-clad troops stumbling through ancient debauchery, just as the incognito Inspector General Burnous (Saturnin Fabre) arrives to scrutinize the barracks’ morals, mistaking the theatrical mayhem for outright scandal.
Prepare for uproarious laughter in this sparkling 1937 comedy of military mishaps and hypocritical passions, where stiff-upper-lip discipline dissolves into hilarious Roman revelry, proving that even the strictest colonel can’t resist the allure of the stage!
