Drole de Drame (1937)
"Drôle de drame ou L'étrange aventure du Docteur Molyneux" (original title)

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.

Director:

Marcel Carné

Writers:

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

Stars:

Louis Jouvet, Françoise Rosay, Michel Simon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Louis Jouvet	...	Archibald Soper
Françoise Rosay	...	Margaret Molyneux
Michel Simon	...	Irwin Molyneux
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Billy
Jean-Louis Barrault	...	William Kramps dit Le tueur de bouchers
Nadine Vogel	...	Eva
Pierre Alcover	...	L'inspecteur-chef Bray (as Alcover)
Henri Guisol	...	Buffington
Agnès Capri	...	La chanteuse des rues
René Génin	...	Le balayeur (as Génin)
Ky Duyen	...	L'hôtelier chinois de Soho
Marcel Duhamel	...	Le fêtard amoureux des enterrements
Jane Loury	...	Mrs. McPhearson (as Jeanne Lory)
Madeleine Suffel	...	Victory
Jenny Burnay	...	Madame Pencil

Storyline

In Victorian London, the botanist Irwin Molyneux and his wife Margaret Molyneux are bankrupted but still keeping the appearance due to the successful crime novels written by Irwin under the pseudonym of Felix Chapel. Their cook has just left the family, when Irwin's snoopy and hypocrite cousin Archibald Soper that is in campaign against the police stories of Felix Chapel invites himself to have dinner in Irwin's house. Margaret decides to keep the farce of their social position secretly cooking the dinner, while the clumsy Irwin justifies her absence telling the bishop Soper that she had just traveled to the country to meet some friends. However Soper suspects of Irwin and calls the Scotland Yard, assuming that his cousin had poisoned his wife. Irwin and Margaret decide to hide the truth to avoid an exposition of their financial situation, moving to a low-budget hotel in the Chinese neighborhood, getting into trouble.

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Plot Keywords:

bishop | botanist | farce | pseudonym | maid | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

20 March 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bizarre, Bizarre

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Productions Corniglion-Molinier

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in 23 days.

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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...

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

"Complainte"
Written by Jacques Prévert
Composed by Maurice Jaubert
Performed by Agnès Capri

User Reviews

get a new summary

I haven't read the other user comments but whoever did the summary for this film possibly hasn't seen it! It has absolutely nothing to do with a serial killer of women (the killer in question kills butchers because they kill animals) and Soper accuses his cousin Molyneux of having poisoned his (Molyneux's) wife. The whole thing is an absurdist's delight -- a French film set in a London that never was.