The Sheep Has Five Legs

The Five-Legged Sheep is a 1954 French comedy film directed by Henri Verneuil. It won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for [Best Story].

Plot

An old farmer who has hated his five quintuplets for over twenty years is visited by villagers who believe they should be reunited, and a search for them begins.

Cast

Fernandel as Édouard Saint-Forget / Les quintuplés : Alain, Bernard, Charles, Désiré, Etienne
Françoise Arnoul as Marianne Durand-Perrin
Andrex as Un marin
Édouard Delmont as Le docteur Bollène
Georges Chamarat as M. Durand-Perrin, le père
Paulette Dubost as Solange
Louis de Funès as Pilate
René Génin as Le maire
Denise Grey as Mme Durand-Perrin, la mère
Tony Jacquot as L'instituteur
Ky Duyen as Un chinois
Darío Moreno as Un matelot américain
Noël Roquevert as Antoine Brissard
Lolita López as Azitad
Michel Ardan as Un marin
Edmond Ardisson as Le brigadier
Manuel Gary as Le docteur
René Havard as Le liftier
Yette Lucas as Mariette
Albert Michel as Le patron du bistrot
Gil Delamare as Le chauffard
Leopoldo Francés as Le métis
Nina Myral as La bonne
Yannick Malloire as Une petite fille
Raphaël Patorni as Rodrigue
Max Desrau as Le nouveau patron des pompes funèbres
Jocelyne Bressy
Micheline Gary as L'hôtesse de l'instutut de beauté

Reception

of The [New York Times] wrote that "it is probably the cleverest and most hilarious French comedy we've seen since the war." He added, "This reviewer is still laughing fondly at the fantastic humors it unfolds." Crowther saved his highest praise for Fernandel, saying that he "works harder than the rest of the cast rolled into one. We hope he was paid six salaries for this picture. He certainly earns them, every one."