Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) Boudu sauvé des eaux (original title)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writer:

René Fauchois (play)
(more)

Release Date:

23 February 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Boudu, a tramp, jumps into the Seine. He is rescued by Mr Lestingois, a gentle and good bookseller, who gives shelter to him...

Plot Keywords:

Tramp | Paris France | Drowning | Homelessness | Rescue From Drowning

Cast

Michel Simon	...	Priape Boudu
Marcelle Hainia	...	Emma Lestingois
Sévérine Lerczinska	...	Chloë Anne Marie, la bonne
Jean Gehret	...	Vigour
Max Dalban	...	Godin
Jean Dasté	...	L'étudiant
Charles Granval	...	Édouard Lestingois (as Charles Granval Sociétaire de la Comédie Française)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geneviève Cadix
Jacques Becker	...	Le poète (uncredited)
Georges D'Arnoux	...	Un invité à la noce (uncredited)
Régine Lutèce	...	La promeneuse (uncredited)
Jane Pierson	...	Rose, la voisine (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Renoir

Writing credits
René Fauchois		(play)
Jean Renoir		screenplay (uncredited)
Albert Valentin		screenplay (uncredited)

Produced by
Michel Simon	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Georges Asselin		(as Asselin)
Marcel Lucien		(lighting cameraman)

Film Editing by
Suzanne de Troeye
Marguerite Renoir		(uncredited)

Production Design by
Jean Castanyer		(as Castanier)
Hugues Laurent		(as Laurent)

Production Management
Clément Ollier	....	unit manager
Jean Gehret	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jacques Becker	....	assistant director
Georges D'Arnoux	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Igor B. Kalinovski	....	sound (as Kalinowski)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean-Paul Alphen	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Giandomenico Zeppa	....	final colorist: digital restoration (uncredited)

Music Department
Jean Boulze	....	musician: flute solo (as J. Boulze)
Edouard Dumoulin	....	chorus

Production Companies

• Les Établissements Jacques Haïk (presents)
• Les Productions Michel Simon
• Crédit Cinématographique Français (CCF) (support) (as CCF)

Distributors

• Les Établissements Jacques Haïk (1932) (France) (theatrical)
• Pathé (2006) (France) (DVD) (for series 'Pathé Classique')
• Park Circus (2010) (UK) (theatrical)
• Contemporary Films (2006) (UK) (all media)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS) (English subtitles)
• Kinokuniya (2007) (Japan) (DVD) (box set)
• Pathé Contemporary Films (1967) (USA) (subtitled)
• Pathé (2006) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• René Chateau Video (2002) (France) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Studios Éclair, Épinay-Sur-Seine  recording studio (as Éclair d'Epinay)

Also Known As:

"Boudu sauvé des eaux" - France (original title)

Runtime:

France:85 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.19 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Berges de la Seine, Paris, France

Company:

Les Établissements Jacques Haïk

Trivia:

The poet on the bench at the beginning is Jacques Becker, assistant director for that movie. He later directed Casque d'Or (1952) and other famous movies.

Quotes:

Édouard Lestingois:The man who spits in Balzac's "Physiology of Marriage" is less than nothing to me.
Priape Boudu:Who is that man?
Édouard Lestingois:Ask my wife.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Boudu (2005)

Soundtrack:

Danube bleu (An der Schönen, blauen Donau)

Hanging loose

Actually it's hard to overpraise any of Jean Renoir's movies. They all have, but this one particularly, a wonderful openness, and thereby freedom for characters to make fresh choices. Propped in a door frame, cleaning his shoes, whatever Boudu does seems unplanned, Renoir saying "Why not?" to anything Michel Simon invented in the liberty of his hair and costumes. Freer maybe than the more carefully scripted inventions of Chaplin and Keaton; right up there with Jean Vigo's "Zero de conduite." Renoir could do crowds; he could do both boating on a stream and a country wedding. He could do human beings, which gives us humanity. Art needs this bouduisme, and long may Boudu live, preferably on a good DVD.