Anchor Bay presents

Come Dance With Me (Voulez-vous danser avec moi?) (1967)

"I'm not leaving until I discover who the killer is."- Virginie Dandieu (Brigitte Bardot)

Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Henri Vidal, Dawn Addams, Dario Moreno
Other Stars: Georges Descrieres, Serge Gainsbourg, Francois Chaumette, Pascal Magotti, PaulFrankeur, Noel Roquevert, Philippe Nicaud
Director: Michel Boisrond

Manufacturer: Crest National
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nudity, sexual situations)
Run Time: 01h:31m:07
Release Date: 2000-04-25
Genre: mystery

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
A-	B+	A	A-	D+

 

DVD Review

After a long string of romantic comedies, Brigitte Bardot stretched a bit with a murder mystery, Come Dance With Me. This rather peculiar entry into her filmography manages to be quite an entertaining little whodunit, which allows Bardot's character to rather cynically use her ample charms to get the information she needs and to manipulate the male police investigators whenever they look like they're getting close to her husband as a suspect.

Dentist Herve Dandieu (Henri Vidal) and his wife of three months, Virginie (Bardot), have a falling-out that sends him looking for comfort in a nightclub. While there, he meets dance instructor Anita Flores (Dawn Addams), who takes him home for a night of passion. Although he starts to get romantic, he breaks it off and returns home, but not before Anita's accomplice Leon (Serge Gainsbourg) has taken some incriminating photos. Anita begins to blackmail Herve, and Virginie becomes suspicious of the goings-on, despite their reconciliation. Virginie finds him standing over the dead body of Anita Flores at the dance studio, but she has faith in her husband's insistence that he had nothing to do with her death. This leads Virginie to work undercover at the dance studio to figure out who killed Anita and clear her husband. The story takes a great many twists and turns, but holds together at least as well as any American film noir.

Bardot is quite wonderful in this film and effective as the not-quite-competent amateur detective. Her maturing figure is put to good use as she voluptuously overflows her black dress, which she wears on some of her investigations. Her dance background allows her to quite competently masquerade as a dance instructor, with some comical sidelights as she interacts with the patrons while at the same time investigating the murder. Henri Vidal is better than the usual leading man, managing to at least show a range of emotion including desperation. He's effective enough that we're never sure that Virginie should be quite as trusting of him as she is. A wide array of other suspects pass before the camera, and the whodunit aspect of the film is rather cleverly handled. The world of kink makes an appearance as well, with such places as the Sexy Club and the Blue Fetish (a transvestite nightclub) being prominently featured in the movie.

This is easily the most enjoyable picture in the Brigitte Bardot Collection from Anchor Bay and definitely worth a look.

Rating for Style: A-
Rating for Substance: B+

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.66:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	yes

Image Transfer Review: As is the case with most of the other volumes in the Brigitte Bardot Collection, Anchor Bay produces a winning image. Colors are bright and natural (though the color schemes are a little dated) and detail is sharp and crisp. Blacks are excellent and shadows are well detailed. Bit rate is decent, above 5 Mbps much of the time. There are occasional jumps which appear to be missing frames, but otherwise a first-rate image.

Image Transfer Grade: A
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Mono	French	no

Audio Transfer Review: The 2.0 French mono is quite acceptable. The only instance of distortion I noticed was the low bass of the organ in the wedding scene early on in the film. Music is otherwise clear, as is dialogue. Hiss and noise are absent.

Audio Transfer Grade: A- 

Disc Extras

Static menu with music
Scene Access with 23 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
Cast and Crew Biographies
Cast and Crew Filmographies
Packaging: other
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: No theatrical trailer is provided. The same extensive Bardot biography and selected filmography which appear on the other discs is used here as well. The subtitles are removable

Extras Grade: D+
 

Final Comments

An engaging and amusing little romantic mystery, with some genuine suspense and a surprisingly good performance from Bardot, given a beautiful transfer by Anchor Bay. Recommended.

Mark Zimmer 2000-11-26