La Petite chocolatière (1932)
Directed by Marc Allégret

Film Review

Having directed Raimu in one comedy, Mam'zelle Nitouche (1931), Marc Allégret made good use of his comedic talents in another, adapted from Paul Gavault's hugely popular 1909 stage play La Petite chocolatière.  This is the third occasion that Gavault's play had been adapted for cinema, following two silent versions directed by André Liabel and René Hervil in 1914 and 1927 respectively.  Although somewhat dated, Allégret's film is eminently watchable, an amiable little comedy that is sustained by the combined talents of Raimu and his likeable co-stars Pierre Bertin, Jacqueline Francell and Michèle Verly.  Allégret's muse of the period, Simone Simon, crops up in a small 'below stairs' role, awaiting the lead part in the film that would launch her screen career, Lac aux dames (1934).

"Je suis un pinceau qui pense!" declares Raimu, here cast as possibly the world's least competent portrait painter.  Any actor who can deliver a line like that with a straight face is clearly someone of no mean stature, but it is with the visual gags that Raimu seems to have most fun - the scene where his gun explodes in his face would not be out of place in a Marx brothers film or Looney Tunes cartoon.  La Petite chocolatière is a comparatively minor entry in the filmographies of both Raimu and Marc Allégret.  In common with many films of this era, it suffers somewhat from the fact that it resembles a filmed piece of theatre, but the enthusiastic performances make up for this and after a stuttering beginning it ends up being an enjoyable little divertissement.

Film Synopsis

Shortly after getting engaged to his boss's daughter, mild-mannered civil servant Paul Normand invites an artist friend, Félicien Bédarride, and his girlfriend Rosette, to spend a few days with him at his house in the country.  The three friends have settled into a harmonious routine when they receive news that Paul's future father-in-law, Monsieur Mingassol, intends paying a visit with his daughter.  On the night before Mingassol's arrival, a car breaks down outside Paul's house and he is obliged to give up his bed to its owner, Benjamine Lapistolle, the truculent daughter of a chocolate magnate.  When Mingassol arrives the next morning he is scandalised when he sees two attractive young women - Rosette and Benjamine - taking breakfast together under his prospective son-in-law's roof.  Believing that Paul's future is best served by marrying the chocolate heiress, Félicien drives away both Mingassol and Benjamine's fiancé, before setting out to convince Benjamine that Paul is desperately in love with her...