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The melodies of You’ve Got That Thing and You Do Something to Me lace the soundtrack but Hollywood did something to the screen version of the Cole Porter musical Fifty Million Frenchmen: It dropped the songs! At the time moviegoers frowned on song-and-dance vehicles so the studio-tinkered result was a frantic contraption of nonstop jokes sassy pre-Code double entendres and the antics of vaudeville/radio stars Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. The slender plot concerns a $50000 bet that lovestruck American-in-Paris Jack Forbes (William Gaxton repeating his Broadway role) can woo and wed the alluring LuLu (Claudia Dell) without his wealth. But the sidebars are more fun: Helen Broderick as a randy tourist who wants to be “insulted” the mischief of Olsen and Johnson (leading the Paris police on a madcap Keystone Kops-like finale chase) and a briefly seen Bela Lugosi as a magician mystic denied his chance to perform. Not to worry for Bela: Fifty Million Frenchmen shared its 1931 opening day with another opus called Dracula and the rest is history. Vive le Hollywood!
Original Release
02/14/1931
US Release
02/14/1931
Links
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Ole Olsen | Simon Johanssen |
Chic Johnson | Peter Swanson |
William Gaxton | Jack Forbes |
Helen Broderick | Violet |
John Halliday | Michael Cummins |
Claudia Dell | Lu Lu Carroll |
Lester Crawford | Billy Baxter |
Evalyn Knapp | Miss Wheeler-Smith |
Charles Judels | Pernasse - Hotel Manager |
Carmelita Geraghty | Marcelle Dubrey |
Directors
Writers
Herbert Fields, E. Ray Goetz, Cole Porter, Joseph Jackson, Eddie Welch, Al Boasberg
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Ole Olsen | Simon Johanssen |
Chic Johnson | Peter Swanson |
William Gaxton | Jack Forbes |
Helen Broderick | Violet |
John Halliday | Michael Cummins |
Claudia Dell | Lu Lu Carroll |
Lester Crawford | Billy Baxter |
Evalyn Knapp | Miss Wheeler-Smith |
Charles Judels | Pernasse - Hotel Manager |
Carmelita Geraghty | Marcelle Dubrey |
Vera Gordon | Jewish Tourist's Wife |
Nat Carr | Jewish Tourist |
Daisy Belmore | Lu Lu's Mother |
Diane Brent | Minor Role |
Kernan Cripps | Jealous Husband |
Jay Eaton | Effete Bar Patron |
Harry Fox | Minor Role |
Bela Lugosi | Orizon - Magician |
Lee Phelps | Bartender |
Norman Phillips Jr. | Jewish Tourist's Son |