Une Ravissante idiote is adapted from the eponymous novel by Charles Exbrayat, who produced a number of (sometimes humorous) policiers. This film is certainly of the humorous variety, and although sometimes a little too much so, this is highly engaging, not at all as bad as the film poster suggests.
Harry Compton (Tony Perkins) is English, although Perkins's French is very good, and much of this film takes place in England, where he falls for Penny Lightfeather (Brigitte Bardot) about the same time as he gets the sack from his job in a bank of Russian origin. So he decides to become a Soviet spy to avenge himself.
Penny is a creature of great beauty but appears to be hopelessly stupid. However, Harry (or whatever Russian name he chooses to call himself) is smitten and it so happens that the spying mission he's given by Bagda (Grégoire Aslan) is to steal vitally important papers from Sir Reginald Dumfrey (André Luguet), and Penny is the seemtress of his gossipy wife Lady Barbara (Denise Provence). And what do you know? Lady Barbara is so gossipy that she gives away the combination of her husband's safe (where the papers are held) to her friends (including Penny), as though Sir Reginald wanted it to be broken into. (Which he did, but that's another story.)
So Harry (assisted by Penny, who apparently also has communist sympathies) try to get the papers, and although the film tips into farce here with the perigrinations and they seem irrecoverably lost to Sir Reginald's safe, Penny seems to be so stupid (and so stupidly successful in telling the truth and getting away with it) that she can't be for real.
Of course, she's not for real and she's a major detective for Great Britain, but then she gets her real man, Harry, and they live happily ever after, of whatever the model (Hollywood) intended. But this is much better than the vast majority of Hollywood movies.
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