Fausses nouvelles

There is a later film, made in the 1960s, that starred Dick Van Dyke and James Garner, which has a similar plot. It's called "The Art of Love", and deals with Van Dyke, as a painter, who disappears, so that Garner can spread the word that he may be dead. Suddenly the works of the "mysterious missing" Van Dyke become valuable, and Garner moves to swankier rooms (with swankier clothes and cars). Van Dyke gets angry, waiting for him to be able to reappear, but Garner keeps putting off the date. So Van Dyke arranges a new set of clues to frame Garner for his murder, intending to reappear only when his former friend's head is on the guillotine. But on the appointed day...well you have to be there to see it.

June Knight is a London musical star with little talent but a huge press following. Bit players Jack Buchanan and Maurice Chevalier nearly get cut from her show. They can't believe the fuss that the press makes about her lost dog, because the dog was only lost a few minutes. They devise a publicity stunt where Chevalier will stage Buchanan's murder. If Buchanan can walk into the courtroom after Chevalier is convicted of murder, they know that they will get a lot of newspaper coverage. The only problem is that nobody seems to care that Buchanan is missing. And when Chevalier finally convinces the police that he is a murderer, Buchanan is mistaken for a Balkan revolutionary and is kidnapped. As Chevalier is waiting on death row, Buchanan is lined up for a firing squad in the middle of a revolution!

This long unseen British comedy by French director Rene Clair is very funny and has a lot of "black" humor that we don't associate with 1930s comedies. It was only released by poverty-row distributor Monogram in the United States, and then with some footage cut out. The ingenious screenplay will keep you guessing until the end of the film. Highly recommended!