Bizarre, Bizarre (1937)

Bizarre, Bizarre (French: Drôle de drame) is a 1937 French comedy film directed by Marcel Carné. It is based on the 1912 novel His First Offence by J. Storer Clouston.

Plot

At a meeting in London, Bishop Soper denounces scandalous literature, in particular the latest crime novel from Felix Chapel. An invited member of the sparse audience is his cousin Irwin Molyneux, who is asked to speak but is interrupted by William Kramps, a serial murderer of butchers who is on the run. After the meeting ends in uproar, Soper invites himself to dine and sleep at the Molyneux house.

This throws Mrs Molyneux into confusion, as her servants have just left her and she, pretending to be called away, cooks the meal while the secretary Eva serves it. Soper finds Molyneux's feeble excuses for his wife's absence bizarre and, once he has gone to bed, Mr and Mrs Molyneux flee to a boarding house in Chinatown, unaware that the next room houses William Kramps. In the morning, finding both now gone, Soper rings Scotland Yard.

All London is intrigued by the mystery and a newspaper hires the noted crime writer, Felix Chapel, to investigate. This is Mr Molyneux in a false beard, but he has no idea how to construct a mystery because his plots all come from Eva. She in turn confesses that she is equally clueless, since she gets them from the milkman Billy, who is in love with her.

While he is in his own house searching for clues to his wife's disappearance, back in Chinatown she has caught the attention of William Kramps, who woos her with flowers and flattery. When Molyneux arrives and reveals to Kramps that he is the writer Felix Chapel, while the lady is the missing Mrs Molyneux, the two men get happily drunk together and go back to the Molyneux house.

There they find Soper disguised as a kilted Scottish soldier, trying to recover an incriminating signed photo of a showgirl that he fears he left there, and a sleeping police detective. An angry crowd has gathered outside, wanting to hang the bishop for the murder of Mrs Molyneux. She slips in through the garden, to find William Kramps sleeping off his binge naked beside the pond. Going inside, her husband advises her to hide in a closet for safety. The sleeping detective, who also was drunk, wakes up to say that the body was revealed to him in a dream and, opening the closet, finds Mrs Molyneux.

William Kramps comes in to say he has killed Mr Molyneux and is arrested, but assures Mrs Molyneux he will escape. Mr Molyneux decides to stay as Felix Chapel, because it is better paid and more fun.

Cast

Michel Simon as Irwin Molyneux, botany professor, alias Félix Chapel, crime writer

Françoise Rosay as Margaret Molyneux, his wife

Louis Jouvet as Archibald Soper, bishop of Bedford, his cousin

Nadine Vogel as Eva, his secretary

Jean-Pierre Aumont as Billy, the milkman in love with Eva

Jean-Louis Barrault as William Kramps, the murderer of butchers

Pierre Alcover as Inspector Bray of Scotland Yard

Henri Guisol as Buffington, the journalist

Agnès Capri as street singer

René Génin as sweeper

Marcel Duhamel as partygoer

Jeanne Loury as aunt Mac Phearson

Madeleine Suffel as Victory

Jenny Burnay as Mrs Pencil

Annie Cariel as Mrs Soper

Ky Duyen as Chinese hotel owner

Jean Sinoël as prison warden

Yves Deniaud as policeman (uncredited)

Fabien Loris as policeman (uncredited)

Frédéric O'Brady as policeman (uncredited)

Max Morise as James, the valet

Pierre Prévert as newspaper vendor (uncredited)

Guy Decomble as pimp (uncredited)

Foun-Sen as Chinese woman (uncredited)

Jean Marais as drunken man who gets mugged (uncredited)

References

External links

Bizarre, Bizarre at IMDb