Fanfan La Tulipe [Criterion Collection]

"Pauline Kael once characterized the French adventure film Fanfan the Tulip as a ""Louis XV western"". This is a pretty broad interpretation, though it is true that the film never stops moving--an excellent method of sustaining audience attention and plugging up the plot holes. Gerard Philipe plays Fanfan, a handsome, athletic and self-impressed young peasant soldier. Fanfan is as adept in the boudoir as on the battlefield; it has been prophesied that he will wed the king's daughter, thus h...