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List Price: $19.95Amazon.com's Price: $17.99 You Save: $1.96 (10%)Prices subject to change.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780780026407
Format: Black & White, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0780026403
Label: Homevision
Manufacturer: Homevision
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Homevision
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 29, 2003
Running Time: 109 minutes
Sales Rank: 82867
Studio: Homevision
Theatrical Release Date: March 20, 1939
Editorial Review:
Description:
From the creators of Children of Paradise comes a screwball comedy about a vegetarian serial killer. When the Archbishop of Bedford suspects his eccentric cousin of poisoning his wife and disposing of the body, he sets off a wild and uproarious series of events spurred on by an upper-class disdain of scandal. A wonderful farce set in Edwardian London, this decidedly French comedy owes more to artifice and comic twists of plot reminiscent of René Clair and films like Le Million than the tragic pessimism found in the later work of Carné and Prévert such as Quai des Brumes or Children of Paradise.
Amazon.com:
As its title suggests, Drôle de Drame is a very droll drama indeed. It's a farce, to be specific, deftly handled by director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, eight years before the release of their masterpiece, Children of Paradise. Surprisingly, this was the only box-office flop of Carné's early career, later recognized as a classic ahead of its time, comparable to American screwball comedy but subtler in wit and delivery. Set in Edwardian London and illustrating the absurd lengths that the social elite will go to preserve their privileged status, it follows the exploits of M. Molyneux (Michel Simon), who's accused of murdering his wife by his cousin (Louis Jouvet), a self-righteous bishop who denounces popular crime novels written by... well, it's best not to give too much away. Plot twists, romance, and an elegant parade of comedic circumstances make Drôle de Drame a real treat for Anglophiles, Francophiles, and cinephiles alike. No wonder critic Pauline Kael called it 'Dadaist frivolity, with sequences one giggles over happily for years.' --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Droll, indeed; a terrific combination of complicated farce and social pretensions, expertly acted
If you think French farce is something you'll gladly pass by, consider Drole de Drame. Among other things, the film includes a vegetarian serial killer who disembowels butchers, a bishop of the Church of England who'd have God praying for forgiveness within 30 seconds, a professor of botany whose two loves are mimosas and carnivorous plants, as well as an imposing wife, a delectable maid and a milkman who delivers endless bottles of milk. "A Droll Drama, or the Strange Adventures of Professor Molyneux" ... Read More
Rating: - bizarre, surreal, unique
It's hard to stereotype this very unique, very worthwhile bit of pre-war French comedy. It's not so much screwball as surreal (what WAS that fellow in drag doing at the Bishop's lecture?). Although set in Edwardian London it speaks more to French class absurdities. To cinema buffs, it's an early sample of the work that Marcel Carne would bring to its fullest in 1945's epic Children of Paradise -- not to mention an early role here by John-Louis Barrault, who would play Paradise's main role as the mime. Here, ... Read More
Rating: - A first-rate absurdist farce. A true classic.
I've been looking for a good clean version of this film for many years, having spent many blissful & lucky summer hours at the old Thalia movie theater in NYC devouring the great French films of the 1930s. Now at last the treasure has arrived. Three of the giants of the golden age of French film are present in this film: Jouvet, Simon & Barrault, masters of farce, tragedy, voice, movement, gesture & innuendo.
Drôle de Drame is a cornucopia of hilarious moments: Michel Simon catching ... Read More
Rating:  - WEIRD FRENCH SILLINESS
From 1937, DROLE DE DRAME (Home Vision Entertainment) is a French farce set in Edwardian England 0f 1900 that almost defies description.
Director Marcel Carne and writer Jacques Prevert (who later collaborated on Children of Paradise), leapfrogged ahead of contemporary trends and came up with a zany film adaptation of J. S. Clouston's nutty "The Lunatic At Large."
When the Archbishop of Bedford suspects his weird cousin of killing his wife and hiding the body, he sets off an outrageous ... Read More
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