Two small-time song-and-dance men come up with what they believe is a surefire publicity stunt, guaranteed to keep their names in the public eye--one of them will "disappear" in what looks like a murder, and the other will be convicted of the crime. Then the "dead man" will suddenly show up at his partner's murder trial. Unfortunately, things don't quite go as planned. For one thing, no one seems to much care that the "dead man" is missing, and for another thing he's mistaken for the leader of a Balkan revolutionary group and is kidnapped by the other side.
Reviews
Fantastic!
Absolutely Brilliant!
A lot of fun.
Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
God knows what possessed Rene Clair to remake Le Morte en fuite a scant two years after the French gem was released and if he had to remake it surely he could have found someone better than the inept Jack Buchanan and insipid Maurice Chevalier to recreate the roles originally played to perfection by Michel Simon and Jules Berry. Whatever the reason it wasn't strong enough and Clair - who I find overrated at the best of times had a serious off day when he called out 'Scene One, Take One. Almost nothing works, almost everything is third rate and no doubt Cole Porter couldn't wait to delete this credit from his CV. See it only if you have a penchant for tacky, mediocre remakes of French gems.
There is a later film, made in the 1960s, that starred Dick Van Dyke and James Garner, which has a similar plot. It's called "The Art of Love", and deals with Van Dyke, as a painter, who disappears, so that Garner can spread the word that he may be dead. Suddenly the works of the "mysterious missing" Van Dyke become valuable, and Garner moves to swankier rooms (with swankier clothes and cars). Van Dyke gets angry, waiting for him to be able to reappear, but Garner keeps putting off the date. So Van Dyke arranges a new set of clues to frame Garner for his murder, intending to reappear only when his former friend's head is on the guillotine. But on the appointed day...well you have to be there to see it.
June Knight is a London musical star with little talent but a huge press following. Bit players Jack Buchanan and Maurice Chevalier nearly get cut from her show. They can't believe the fuss that the press makes about her lost dog, because the dog was only lost a few minutes. They devise a publicity stunt where Chevalier will stage Buchanan's murder. If Buchanan can walk into the courtroom after Chevalier is convicted of murder, they know that they will get a lot of newspaper coverage. The only problem is that nobody seems to care that Buchanan is missing. And when Chevalier finally convinces the police that he is a murderer, Buchanan is mistaken for a Balkan revolutionary and is kidnapped. As Chevalier is waiting on death row, Buchanan is lined up for a firing squad in the middle of a revolution!This long unseen British comedy by French director Rene Clair is very funny and has a lot of "black" humor that we don't associate with 1930s comedies. It was only released by poverty-row distributor Monogram in the United States, and then with some footage cut out. The ingenious screenplay will keep you guessing until the end of the film. Highly recommended!
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