Les Nouveaux riches (1938) Directed by André Berthomieu
Comedy
Film Review
Les Nouveaux Riches starts out
promising to be a cogent satire on corporate greed (in a similar vein
to Marcel L'Herbier's L'Argent (1929)) but ends up
as a pretty lame morality tale, more in keeping with much of director
André Berthomieu's lowbrow output. Already a popular
screen icon, Michel Simon goes out of his to demolishes his 'nice guy'
image by playing a despicable cad, leaving little in the way of
limelight for his equally celebrated co-star Raimu. The two
actors had previously worked together well on Claude Heymann's more
enjoyable comedy Les Jumeaux de Brighton (1936),
but here you can too readily sense their professional rivalry and it's
no surprise that Raimu refused ever to work with Simon again after this
film. Despite a somewhat lacklustre script (which is not helped
by Berthomieu's even more lacklustre direction), Les Nouveaux Riches is amply
redeemed by the presence of its two iconic lead actors, ably assisted
by a likeable supporting cast that includes the vivacious Betty
Stockfeld, who seemed to make a career of livening up mediocre French comedies
such as this.
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Film Synopsis
Once factory foremen, Legendre and Martinet are now millionaires.
Martinet ruined his former employer's company on the stock
exchange. Legendre comes to the latter's aid by buying his
château. To finance a newspaper he is editing, Martinet
must sell shares in his own company. Now installed as the proud
owners of a superb château, Legendre and his wife hold a party at
their new home. Their guests include the actress Betty Stepherson
and her lover Fronsac, who hope to persuade their host to back their
next film. To save money, Martinet orders that
tungsten-reinforced steel be replaced with ordinary steel in his car
manufacturing plant. As a result, his son Georges suffers a
serious accident whilst driving one of his cars in a race...
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