Drôle de drame ou L'étrange aventure du Docteur Molyneux (1937)

Director:

Marcel Carné

Writers:

J. Storer Clouston (novel) and
Jacques Prévert (adaptation)

Release Date:

20 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A French farce set in Victorian London where a botanist and his wife get into trouble when they pretend to go missing in order to hide from their sanctimonious cousin -- an Anglican bishop who is leading a campaign against such writing.

Plot Keywords:

Bishop | Farce | Nude Swimming | Drunk Scene | Disguise

Cast

Louis Jouvet	...	Archibald Soper, l'évêque de Bedford
Françoise Rosay	...	Margaret Molyneux
Michel Simon	...	Irwin Molyneux, alias Felix Chapel
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Billy, le laitier
Jean-Louis Barrault	...	William Kramps
Nadine Vogel	...	Eva
Pierre Alcover	...	L'inspecteur Bray (as Alcover)
Henri Guisol	...	Buffington, le journaliste
Agnès Capri	...	La chanteuse des rues
René Génin	...	Le balayeur (as Génin)
Ky Duyen	...	L'hôtelier chinois
Marcel Duhamel	...	Un fêtard
Jeanne Lory	...	La tante McPhearson
Madeleine Suffel	...	Victory
Jenny Burnay	...	Madame Pencil

Also Known As:

Bizarre, Bizarre (USA)
Drôle de drame (France) (short title)
Funny Drama or The Strange Adventures of Doctor Molyneaux (International: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

94 min | USA:84 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | West Germany:16 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Studios Joinville, Joinville-le-pont, Val-de-Marne, France

Company:

Productions Corniglion-Molinier

Trivia:

Shot in 23 days.

Quotes:

The Bishop: Moi j'ai dit bizarre, bizarre ? Comme c'est étrange... Pourquoi aurais-je dit bizarre, bizarre ?
Molyneux (Michel Simon): Je vous assure, cher cousin, que vous avez dit bizarre, bizarre.
The Bishop: Moi j'ai dit bizarre ? Comme c'est bizarre...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Un compositeur pour le cinéma: Maurice Jaubert (1985)

Soundtrack:

Complainte

Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet

Of the six films written by Jacques Prevert and directed by Marcel Carne I have now seen five - and I have the published screenplay of 'Jenny' their initial collaboration and now the only one I have yet to see. This is the kind of film that brings out the hybridologist in reviewers, the Marx Brothers Meet Mel Brooks type of Screamers and it has to be said that the film does lend itself to that type of journo's trick. Of course any film written by Prevert and directed by Carne is going to be worth seeing whatever the story and whoever the cast. In terms of cast this is a doozy; Michel Simon, Francoise Rosay, Louis Jouvet, Jean-Louis Barrault, Jean-Pierre Aumont, on the surface the cream of French cinema between the wars, but if we stop and look again we realize that what we have here is a series of disparate acting styles so the logical question is what type of story can possibly accommodate this bizarre melange. Answer: Precisely the sort of story Prevert has supplied in which a group of top French actors are transplanted to Edwardian London and given names like Archibald Soper, Irwin Molyneux, William Kramps and, wait for it, Billy, The Milkman. Do we really need a plot after this? Well, in case the answer is yes how about a hypocritical bishop (Jouvet) who gets his kicks denouncing detective fiction (this was in its heyday in 1937, when the film was made, but hardly causing much of a stir in Edwardian England) whilst his cousin (Simon) leads a double life as a timid gardener who moonlights as a best-selling author of detective fiction. When Soper invites himself to lunch at his cousin's London home, the lady of the house (Francoise Rosay) having antagonised the staff to the point of their departure, prepares the meal herself and then, on grounds of rampant snobbery, absents herself for the duration. From this seemingly innocuous move Soper convinces himself that Molyneux has murdered his wife and the scene is set for things to spin in ever widening circles. Still a huge hit in France and shown regularly on TV it has never, to my knowledge, played in England. Seeing it for the first time in 2004 I was completely captivated and drawn into its spiralling plot. 9/10