La petite de Montparnasse

Plot : A young aristocrat ,André,has severed all links with his father ,He leads a bohemian life with a girl from the people ,Nicolette : he has become a singer/songwriter who performs in a Montparnasse cabaret : his big success tells the audience that when you've got a penny to your name, you're happy. Well perhaps so.... But when the bailiff comes around, there's the rub. André decides to satisfy his dad and to get engaged to a nouveau riche's daughter,Georgette , and to divorce her when he gets daddy's dough.

It' s an uneven musical. Best moments :

-The happy-go-lucky viscount performing his ditty and dragging the bailiff on stage.

-The couple giving out victuals to all the neighbors around .

-The arrival in the nouveau riche''s desirable mansion,snobs who try to imitate the aristocrats ; an entirely sung dialogue, predating "les parapluies de Cherbourg" by thirty years; the uncle 's interminable speech (the audience is spared the content)

On the other hand ,Nicolette's night in the aristocratic house is derivative .Besides, the wealthy father's change of mind is a facile twist .