Playboy of Paris

Playboy of Paris
Directed byLudwig Berger
Written byTristan Bernard (play)
Percy Heath
Vincent Lawrence
Produced byLudwig Berger
StarringMaurice Chevalier
Frances Dee
O.P. Heggie
Stuart Erwin
CinematographyHenry W. Gerrard
Edited byMerrill G. White
Music byHoward Jackson
John Leipold
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • October 31, 1930 (1930-10-31)[1]
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Playboy of Paris is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Ludwig Berger and starring Maurice Chevalier, Frances Dee (in her film debut), and O.P. Heggie. It was based on a 1911 play The Little Cafe by Tristan Bernard which had previously been adapted into a 1919 French silent film.[1] Paramount produced a separate French-language version Le Petit Café, also starring Chevalier, which broke records for an opening-day attendance in Paris.[2]

The film introduced the song "My Ideal", composed by Richard A. Whiting and Newell Chase with lyrics by Leo Robin, which became a jazz standard.

Plot

Albert Loriflan, a waiter in a Paris cafe, unexpectedly inherits a large sum of money from a wealthy relative. His unscrupulous boss, Philibert, refuses to release him from his long-term contract in the hope that Albert will buy him off with a large payment. But Albert refuses, and continues to work at the cafe even though he is now very rich. Before long he falls in love with Philibert's daughter Yvonne.

Main cast

References

  1. ^ a b Bradley, p. 118
  2. ^ The Films and Career of Maurice Chevalier (Gene Ringgold, Dewitt Bodeen, The Citadel Press, 1973), ISBN 0-8065-0354-8. P.95.

Bibliography

  • Bradley, Edwin M. The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography Of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932. McFarland, 2004.