50 Million Frenchmen (film)
Fifty Million Frenchmen is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon. It was photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film was produced and released by Warner Brothers, and was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical Fifty Million Frenchmen.
| Fifty Million Frenchmen | |
|---|---|
 Lobby card | |
| Directed by | Lloyd Bacon |
| Written by | Joseph Jackson Eddie Welch Al Boasberg |
| Based on | 1929 Musical play: Cole Porter Herbert Fields |
| Starring | John Halliday Claudia Dell William Gaxton Helen Broderick Ole Olsen Chic Johnson |
| Cinematography | Devereaux Jennings (Technicolor) |
| Edited by | Robert O. Crandall |
| Music by | Cole Porter |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $484,000[1] |
| Box office | $430,000[1] |
The film was originally intended to be released, in the United States, late in 1930, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite waiting a number of months, the public proved obstinate and the Warner Bros. reluctantly released the film in February 1931 after removing all the music. The film was released outside the United States as a full musical comedy in 1931.
Plot
Set in Paris, the story concerns the exploits of wealthy Jack Forbes (William Gaxton), who bets his friend Michael Cummings (John Halliday) that he can woo and win Looloo Carroll (Claudia Dell) without using any of his money or connections. Cummings hires Simon and Peter (Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson), a pair of erstwhile detectives, to make sure that Forbes doesn't win his bet.
Instead, Simon and Peter befriend our hero and decide to help him out. Olsen & Johnson have all the best material, notably an early double entendre encounter with a randy American tourist (Helen Broderick) and a scene in which Olsen impersonates a mind-reading fakir (Bela Lugosi) – who loses his clothes in the process! The finale has the comedians being chased by every law officer in Paris.
Cast
- Ole Olsen as Simon Johanssen
- Chic Johnson as Peter Swanson
- William Gaxton as Jack Forbes
- Helen Broderick as Violet
- John Halliday as Michael Cummins
- Claudia Dell as Lu Lu Carroll
- Lester Crawford as Billy Baxter
- Evalyn Knapp as Miss Wheeler-Smith
- Charles Judels as Pernasse – Hotel Manager
- Carmelita Geraghty as Marcelle Dubrey
- Nat Carr and Vera Gordon as Jewish tourists
- Bela Lugosi as Orizon the Magician (uncredited)
Music
50 Million Frenchmen was originally a Cole Porter musical, but the songs were omitted from all prints of the film in the United States because box-office receipts for musical films at that time were down.
Box office
According to Warner Bros records the film earned $401,000 domestically and $29,000 internationally.[1]
Preservation
Only a black and white copy of the cut print released in 1931 in the United States seems to have survived. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States where a backlash against musicals never occurred. It is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists.
See also
References
- Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 11 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551