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Ils étaient neuf célibataires

  • 19391939
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
236
YOUR RATING
Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
ComedyRomance
Fast-thinking Guitry contrives a scheme to earn easy money from rich women with expiring visas by marrying them with clochards and at the same time to win the charms of beautiful Polish coun... Read allFast-thinking Guitry contrives a scheme to earn easy money from rich women with expiring visas by marrying them with clochards and at the same time to win the charms of beautiful Polish countess. Everything seems to go wrong when the clochards, once married with the foreigners, w... Read allFast-thinking Guitry contrives a scheme to earn easy money from rich women with expiring visas by marrying them with clochards and at the same time to win the charms of beautiful Polish countess. Everything seems to go wrong when the clochards, once married with the foreigners, want to comply with their marital duties...
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
236
YOUR RATING
    • Sacha Guitry
    • Sacha Guitry
  • Stars
    • Sacha Guitry
    • Max Dearly
    • Elvire Popesco
    • Sacha Guitry
    • Sacha Guitry
  • Stars
    • Sacha Guitry
    • Max Dearly
    • Elvire Popesco
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 5User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos51

    Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Toâ (1949)
    Sacha Guitry and Elvire Popesco in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Sacha Guitry in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Elvire Popesco in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Victor Boucher, Saturnin Fabre, and Anthony Gildès in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Raymond Aimos, Gaston Dubosc, and Sinoël in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Max Dearly, André Lefaur, and Georges Morton in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Sinoël in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Christiane Isola and Simone Paris in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Saturnin Fabre in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)
    Sacha Guitry in Ils étaient neuf célibataires (1939)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Sacha Guitry
    Sacha Guitry
    • Jean Lécuyer
    • (as M. Sacha Guitry)
    Max Dearly
    Max Dearly
    • Athanase Outriquet
    Elvire Popesco
    Elvire Popesco
    • Comtesse Stacia Batchefskaïa
    Victor Boucher
    Victor Boucher
    • Alexandre
    André Lefaur
    André Lefaur
    • Adolphe
    Saturnin Fabre
    Saturnin Fabre
    • Adhémar Colombinet de la Jonchère
    • (as Saturnin-Fabre)
    Raymond Aimos
    Raymond Aimos
    • Agénor
    • (as Aimos)
    Gaston Dubosc
    Gaston Dubosc
    • Antonin Rousselier
    Sinoël
    • Amédée
    Georges Morton
    • Aristide
    • (as Morton)
    Anthony Gildès
    • Anatole
    • (as Gildès)
    Gustave Libeau
    • M. Kaequemops
    • (as Libeau)
    Marguerite Deval
    • Mme Picaillon de Chéniset
    Marguerite Moreno
    Marguerite Moreno
    • Consuelo Rodriguez
    Marguerite Pierry
    • Isabelle Patureau
    Betty Stockfeld
    Betty Stockfeld
    • Margaret Brown
    Pauline Carton
    Pauline Carton
    • Clémentine
    Geneviève Guitry
    • Joan May
      • Sacha Guitry
      • Sacha Guitry
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Final film of Christiane Isola.
    • Connections
      Featured in La vie du bon côté: Episode dated 18 June 1973 (1973)

    User reviews5

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    4/10
    A truffle, a trifle.
    I'm trying to think of a British or American film figure whose career is similar to Sacha Guitry's, and the nearest I can get is Preston Sturges ... who was himself quite French-influenced, having spent his formative years in Paris and being a lifelong Francophile.

    Guitry was an original. An extremely prolific playwright, working in various forms but favouring naughty farces, he was also an actor and director, often starring in his self-directed plays and films. I'm only slightly familiar with his work, but people who know far more about him than I do have told me that 'Ils Étaient Neuf Célibataires' is his best film. It's certainly a distinctive work, though I found it only sporadically funny.

    'They Were Nine Celibates' (as I translate the title) finds Guitry running a matrimonial agency in Paris. Half of his clientele are attractive young foreign ladies who want permanent resident status in France, and are willing to marry total strangers to get it. (Shades of Gérard Depardieu in 'Green Card'.) Each of these ma'mselles is a clearly defined national type. We get an exotic Chinese dancer (played by someone cried Princesse Chio), a strait-laced English Rose, a brassy American chanteuse, and so forth. Conveniently, all of these women are quite good-looking. Even more conveniently (and implausibly), all of these women are well-heeled ... financially, I mean. This last detail makes it hard for me to believe that they have no better alternative than Guitry's matrimonial agency.

    The other half of Guity's clientele (the bachelors) are elderly pensioners, all native Frenchmen. It's understood that this is strictly a business arrangement: the husbands give their wives French citizenship in exchange for access to their wives' money. It's agreed that the husbands won't be given access to anything *else* (nudge, wink) of their attractive young wives' assets.

    Ostensible hilarity ensues when the elderly husbands (being French, after all) decide they want the physical pleasures of their marriages. Meanwhile, Guitry has picked out the best bride for himself: a Polish countess.

    This film has dated badly, and I can't help noticing that it was made in 1939: when people in France -- and in Europe generally -- had more pressing matters to occupy their attentions. I can see why a countess would be eager to get out of Poland in 1939, but why would she move to Paris? It would make more sense for her to reach Le Havre and board a transatlantic steamship.

    The most interesting thing about this movie is the sexy ma'mselles ... partly because of their sex appeal, but largely because they represent the French perception of other nationalities. The Englishwoman represents the French stereotype of prim repressed Britons. The brassy chanteuse epitomises the French perception of all extrovert Yanks, and so forth. I'll rate this French trifle 4 out of 10.
    helpful•1
    8
    • F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
    • Mar 1, 2005

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 7, 1942 (United States)
      • France
      • French
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Studios Pathé-Cinema, Joinville-le-pont, Val-de-Marne, France
    • Production company
      • Les Films Gibé
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 25 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Mono

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