Drôle de Drame [Bizarrre, Bizarre] ***** (1937, Louis Jouvet, Françoise Rosay, Michel Simon, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Jean-Louis Barrault) – Classic Movie Review 8515

Director Marcel Carné’s 1937 French pre-war classic Drôle de Drame [Bizarrre, Bizarre] is a marvellously funny and brilliantly inventive black comedy, taken at a breathlessly fast slapstick lick. It is graced with stupendous performances by some of the great and true of Thirties French cinema, and offers an enchanting, most bizarre portrait of late-Victorian England thanks to magical designs by the brilliant art director Alexandre Trauner.

The screenplay is by the great Jacques Prévert, based on the novel The Lunatic at Large by J Storer-Clouston. In London, 1900, an English botany professor, Docteur Molyneux (Michel Simon), writes crime thrillers under a pseudonym, Felix Chapel. His cousin the Anglican Bishop of Bedford (Louis Jouvet), who crusades against impious books, comes to dinner. Molyneux (Simon) and his wife (Françoise Rosay) disappear because they do not want to admit that they cannot afford servants and also want to hide from the bishop who is leading a campaign against the evils of crime fiction. The bishop suspects murder and investigates. The professor returns disguised by a beard as the pseudonymous writer. Then there is vegetarian William Kramps (Jean-Louis Barrault), who is murdering butchers, and the lovelorn milkman Billy (Jean-Pierre Aumont). Naturally, all this degenerates into general hysteria and madness.

With its breathtaking plotlines, hilarious characters, hysterical situations, sly wit, farcical speed, and its totally unwarranted attack by the French on the manners of the charming English, Drôle de Drame is one of the must-see, essential peaks of Thirties French cinema.

It is also known as Drôle de Drame ou L’étrange aventure de Docteur Molyneux.

It runs 105 minutes but the US version cut to 84 minutes.

Also in the cast are Pierre Alcover, Nadine Vogel, Henri Guisol, Annie Carriel, Jeanne Lory, Madeleine Suffel, René Génin, Sinöel, Marcel Duhamel, Ky Duyen, Jenny Burnay, Agnès Capri, Max Morise, Guy Decomble and Foun-Sen.

Drôle de Drame [Bizarrre, Bizarre] [Drôle de Drame ou L’étrange aventure de Docteur Molyneux] is directed by Marcel Carné, runs 105 minutes, is made by Productions Corniglion-Molinier, is released by Pathé Consortium Cinéma (1937) (France) and Lenauer International Films (1939) (US) (English subtitles), is written by Jacques Prévert, based on the novel The Lunatic at Large by J Storer Clouston, is shot in black and white by Eugen Schüfftan, is produced by Edouard Corniglion-Molinier, is scored by Maurice Jaubert and is designed by Alexandre Trauner.

It was shot in 23 days at the Studios Joinville, Joinville-le-pont, Val-de-Marne, France.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8515

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