La Crise est finie
1934 Comedy / Musical   
 
Credits
  • Director: Robert Siodmak
  • Script: Jacques Constant, Frederick Kohner, Max Kolpé, based on a novel by Frédéric Lohner and Curt Siodmak
  • Photo: Eugen Schüfftan
  • Music: Jean Lenoir, Franz Waxman
  • Cast: Albert Préjean (Marcel), Danielle Darrieux (Nicole), Régine Barry (Lola Garcin), Jacques Beauvais, Marcel Carpentier (Bernouillin), Suzanne Dehelly (Olga), Suzy Delair, Alla Donell, Pedro Elviro, Paul Escoffier (Le manager), René Lestelly (Alex), Jeanne Lory (Mme Bernouillin), Albert Malbert, Jeanne Marie-Laurent, Milly Mathis (La gouvernante), Franck Maurice, Ilse Nast, Véra Ossipova, Adrienne Trenkel, Paul Velsa (Le machiniste)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 74 min; B&W
  • Aka: Finie la crise; The Depression Is Over; The Slump Is Over
 
 
 
Summary
A theatrical troupe is making a tour of the provinces when a bust up occurs.  Unable to tolerate the caprices of the leading lady, the rest of troupe decide to form a new group and head off for Paris to mount a show.  To their surprise, the roads of the capital are not paved with gold and, without any money, their dreams soon begin to fade.  Luckily, they find an empty theatre where they can live and rehearse for their new show.  With a little cunning and a certain amount of dishonesty, they acquire the materials they need to make the sets and costumes.  However, they still lack a piano.  The beautiful debutante Nicole spends an evening with the piano seller Monsieur Bernoullin, hoping he will give them a piano in exchange.  She doesn’t know that her boyfriend, the troupe’s musician Marcel, has already given him a cheque.  Unable to cash the cheque, Bernoullin refuses to deliver the piano, so another member of the troupe, Olga buys it with her savings.  Vexed, Bernoullin determines to prevent the show from going ahead.  To that end, he hires the theatre and intends converting it into a cinema.  The crisis is far from over...

Review
With the rise of Nazism, director Robert Siodmak left Germany in 1933 and moved to Paris, where he continued his filmmaking career for a few years before settling in Hollywood.  La Crise est finie is the second film he made in France, an effervescent musical comedy set against the backdrop of economic depression and political uncertainty, very similar to Mervyn LeRoy’s Gold Diggers of 1933.  It is interesting that Siodmak manages to retain his expressionist style - which evokes the hardship and pessimism of the period - yet, at the same time, inject so much fun and energy, making this a joyously entertaining piece.  The film’s stars are Albert Préjean and Danielle Darrieux, who would both have hugely successful film careers.  Darrieux, here in one of her earliest screen roles, radiates charm and vitality, and was a major contributor to the film’s great success in France.

© James Travers 2006


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