Le roi des Champs-Élysées (1934)

Director:

Max Nosseck

Writers:

Arnold Lipp (writer)
Yves Mirande (writer)

Release Date:

11 December 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

In Paris, a stage-struck would-be actor is mistaken for an escaped convict.

Plot Keywords:

Actor Shares First Name With Character

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	Buster Garner / Jim le Balafré
Madeleine Guitty	...	Madame Garnier
Paulette Dubost	...	Germaine
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Raymond Blot		(as Blot)
Lucien Callamand		(as Callamand)
Paul Clerget
Colette Darfeuil	...	Simone
Jacques Dumesnil	...	Un gangster (as Dumesnil)
Gaston Dupray		(as Dupray)
Jim Gérald
Franck Maurice
Pierre Piérade		(as Piérade)
Henry Prestat

Also Known As:

The King of the Champs Elysees (USA) (informal literal English title)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Nero Films

Trivia:

This is a rare movie in which Buster Keaton actually smiles at the end.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Buster Keaton did not speak French, so his dialog in this Paris-made talkie was dubbed by an actor whose vocal pitch was an incongruous tenor. In one scene with Colette Darfeuil (who played Simone) the dubbing engineer missed a line, and we can plainly hear Buster say "Go get me a drink" in English, in his distinctive gravelly voice.

Movie Connections:

References Le testament du Dr. Mabuse (1933)

mixed

Someone in France must have thought to exploit the potential of Buster as a schlemiel and a comic mime (which is his character in a nutshell, no?). Certainly this movie respects and uses him better than, say, "What, No Beer?" He is the central character and he gets a chance to run & look beleaguered, but the film lacks any sort of brilliance or madcap inventiveness, except in little details where Buster may have been adlibbing. It's worth seeking out for Keaton fans, for a few reasons: Buster gets to speak French (though he is speaking the lines, his voice is dubbed with a sort of scratchy French voice -- except at one point where his actual voice says "Ouvrir la porte!"); he gets to play a bad guy, an escaped American gangster who leads a chase for the "good" Buster & who shoots cops as he flees them (a surreal perversion of Buster's usual dilemma); and, probably the strangest sight, which comes just before the final fade (to "Fin") where Buster gets the girl, says "Oh, Baby!" and breaks into a big grin. Keaton fans can just imagine how odd it is to see that smileless face (& he remains stonefaced throughout the movie) lighten up and show how happy he is. The fact that this film is in unsubtitled French isn't too much of a drawback, since its sense is conveyed through action. Buster gets to dissolve societal order into chaos at least three times (he tosses away 5 million francs, he gets caught in a knight's helmet & disrupts a stage show, and he leads the cops & gangsters onto the stage of a very boring play, where they shoot each other & the stodgy orchestra, and rouses the audience from its lethargy). Some have said that this movie might have revived Keaton's career from its 1930's abyss, but I don't think so; the acting is too European and the setting is obviously not America, yet it's commonplace, rather than "exotic." It's true that Buster looks good and is in fine form, rather than seeming obviously drunk & depressed, but that doesn't necessarily relate to a movie's acceptance. A curio, particularly if you don't understand French.