L'enfant prodigue

Cécile Guyon is young Pierrot. He has fallen in love with the laundress, pretty Jane Renouardt. However, she wants more than a lover whose poor fashion sense impels him to dress as a stage clown. She wants jewelry, pretty clothes, and probably a string of poloponies, so Guyon robs his parents' safe and steals their life savings so he can run off with Mlle Renouardt.

The Pathe-baby cutdown of this short feature was in moderately good shape for its age. It was directed by Michel Carré from a stage play he co-wrote. Why he should have felt it necessary to make this about Pierrot is a bit of a mystery to me; so far as I can tell, using this set figure set up the audience for his inevitable frustration and lent an air of antiquated dignity to a simple story. Maybe it did to a French audience in that period. Nowadays it looks as bizarre as THE JEW OF MALTA.