Originally titled The Road To Bordeaux, Jean-Paul Rappeneau's follow-up to Cyrano De Bergerac and The Horseman On The Roof shows the septuagenarian French helmer has lost none of his appetite for period spectacle. Set during the Fall of France in June 1940, it's a rollicking adventure yarn with a stellar cast and an engaging Hitchcockian flavour. If there is a hint of 'Allo 'Allo in the rather farcical intrigue, it's a small price to pay for such a well-crafted and spirited caper.

With Paris occupied by the Germans and the entire capital relocating to Bordeaux, it's clear that the problems of the little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. For young writer Frédéric (Grégori Derangère), however, this pivotal stage in history takes a backseat to his devotion for pampered screen star Viviane (Isabelle Adjani, filling in for the pregnant Sophie Marceau). Only after he agrees to carry the can for the murder of her boyfriend does he realise that she's played him for a sap.

"OLD-FASHIONED MIX OF ESPIONAGE AND ROMANCE": Luckily for Frédéric, the authorities empty the jails before his life sentence can begin. Teaming up with conman Raoul (Yvan Attal) he sets off after Viviane, only to find her in the arms of a minister (Gérard Depardieu) who's in the process of establishing a collaborationist government. Throw in a Nazi spy (Peter Coyote), a pretty student (Virginie Ledoyen), and a vital supply of hard water, and you have an old-fashioned cocktail of espionage and romance that makes up for what it lacks in coherence with oodles of style. OK, it's a little hokey, with the nostalgic glow never quite masking problems with focus or a screenplay that doesn't know how to resolve its myriad subplots satisfactorily. If you share the director's passion for 40s melodrama, however, you're in for a treat. In French with English subtitles.

RADIO Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Ed Harris makes Radio. Cuba Gooding Jr. has the showy title role of a mentally handicapped youth - so called because of his love for the wireless - but Harris provides heart and soul as the high school American Football coach who befriends him. Normally a stalwart supporting player, the crinkle-eyed character actor carries the movie, his still, sure presence providing emotional truth to a based-on-fact story that could have suffocated in schmaltz. Cynics should still skip it - and its racial politics seem too good to be true - but its innocence and charm make for warmly enjoyable entertainment.

Coach Jones (Harris) first spies James 'Radio' Kennedy (Gooding Jnr) watching football practice. And after star player Johnny Clay (Riley Smith) and his pals abuse the simple-minded loner, the teacher decides to compensate by involving him in their sporting set-up. "I'm not sure that he's not being used as some sort of glorified mascot," says the head mistress (Alfre Woodard) and she has a point: Radio does little more than goof off in front of the crowd and smile a lot. But his smile is infectious and even though Gooding Jnr tries a little too hard to be winsome (it's a difficult role to pull of without seeming cutesy), it's credible that this tender outsider should enrich the lives of the supposedly 'normal' folks around him.

"IT'S HARD NOT TO GRIN": Obviously not everyone is happy with Radio's new role, but the objections of Johnny's smarmy father Frank (Chris Mulkey) are always rather muted - the film is too afraid of rupturing its cosy atmosphere to allow a really hissable villain. Towards the finale this proves a problem, as there is no great challenge for Coach and Radio to overcome: just the mild protestations of a group of puppyish concerned citizens. It seems unlikely that '70s South Carolina was so devoid of racism (perhaps this is another Hollywood whitewash to anger Spike Lee), but when the closing credits include footage of the real Radio and Jones, it's hard not to grin.

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