Fifty Million Frenchmen (film)

Infobox Film
name = Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931)

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producer =
director = Lloyd Bacon
writer = Joseph Jackson, Eddie Welch, Al Boasberg
based on the musical play by Cole Porter, Herbert Fields, E. Ray Goetz.
starring = John Halliday, Claudia Dell, William Gaxton, Helen Broderick, Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson
music = Cole Porter
cinematography = Devereaux Jennings "(Technicolor)"
editing = Robert O. Crandall
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = February 14, 1931
runtime = 74 min.
language = English
country = USA
imdb_id = 0021859

"Fifty Million Frenchmen " is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical. It 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 (since there was no backlash against musicals outside the United States) as a full musical comedy in 1931.

ynopsis

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 randy American tourist Helen Broderick and a scene in which Olsen impersonates 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.

Music

This 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.

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.