King of Hearts (original French title: Le Roi de Cœur) is a 1966 French film set in a small town in France near the end of World War I. As a German army retreats they booby-trap the whole town to explode. The locals flee and, left to their own devices, a gaggle of cheerful lunatics escape the asylum and take over the town — thoroughly confusing the lone Scottish soldier who has been dispatched to defuse the bomb.
Directed by Philippe de Broca, th...
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King of Hearts (original French title: Le Roi de Cœur) is a 1966 French film set in a small town in France near the end of World War I. As a German army retreats they booby-trap the whole town to explode. The locals flee and, left to their own devices, a gaggle of cheerful lunatics escape the asylum and take over the town — thoroughly confusing the lone Scottish soldier who has been dispatched to defuse the bomb.
Directed by Philippe de Broca, the film stars Alan Bates as Charles Plumpick, a kilt-wearing Scottish soldier who is sent by his commanding officer to disarm the bomb.
When Plumpick enters the town, he unknowingly leaves the door to the insane asylum open while being chased by the Germans. When the Germans have left the town, all of the inmates leave the asylum and playfully take over the town. The lunatics crown Plumpick King of Hearts with surreal pageantry as he frantically tries to find the bomb before it goes off.
The film ends with the question of who is more insane,...
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