Un soir de réveillon (1933) - film review

One Christmas Eve, Monique is invited to dine with her aunt, who is hopeful that she will marry Monsieur Landier, a man whose only attraction is his wealth.  That same night, Monique visits her friend Viviane and persuades her to invite her to a Christmas Eve party, where she will be chaperoned by her father’s loyal servant, Honoré.  At the party, Monique, passing herself off as Viviane’s sister Ninon, attracts the attentions of a handsome young playboy, Gérard.  Aware of the immense gulf between their social positions, Monique tries to dissuade her new admirer, without success...

The main attraction of this somewhat dated operetta is its wonderfully eccentric cast, which includes the delightful Arletty – the future star of Hôtel du nord (1938) and Les Enfants du paradis (1945) - in one of her early film appearances.  The plot is a typical 1930s muddle of coincidence and mistaken identities, the songs are so abysmally bland they ought to have been cut, but the cast inject so much verve and humour into it that, overall, the film is quite entertaining.

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