Le Fauteuil 47 (1937)
Directed by Fernand Rivers

Film Review

In the course of his prolific career, the French playwright Louis Verneuil (1893-1952) put his name to over sixty plays, many of which were adapted for the cinema. These include Marguerite Viel's La Banque Némo (1934), René Guissart's L'École des contribuables (1934), Henri Decoin's Mademoiselle ma mère (1937) and Irving Rapper's Bette Davis vehicle Deception (1946).  His 1923 stage play Le Fauteuil 47 (which originally featured the future French film star Gaby Morlay) was adapted twice - first in 1926 by Gaston Ravel, then in 1937 by Fernand Rivers.

Rivers is all but forgotten today but he was extraordinary prolific as an actor, director and film producer, starting in the early days of silent cinema and ending in the early 1950s.  By the mid-1910s, he was one of Pathé's star actor-directors, first finding fame with his comic character Plouf.  He ended his directing career with a pretty respectable adaptation of a Jean-Paul Sartre play, Les Mains sales (1951).  Before this, he had helmed some other notable films - Cyrano de Bergerac (1946), Ces dames aux chapeaux verts (1949) and Tire au flanc (1950) - and he also assisted Sacha Guitry on his first few films, Pasteur (1935) and Bonne chance (1935).
 
For Le Fauteuil 47, Fernand Rivers assembles a remarkable cast comprising some of the most high-profile and talented actors of the time.  Taking centre stage, in a role that appears to have been written for her, is a magnificent Françoise Rosay, who is best known for her collaborations with her husband Jacques Feyder - La Kermesse héroïque (1935), Pension Mimosas (1935), Les Gens du voyage (1938).  Playing Rosay's rejected husband is a comparable talent, Raimu, and in the role of her wannabe lover is Henri Garat, an incredibly popular actor and singer of the time.  The director's brother Rivers Cadet also shows up in a supporting role.

Making her screen debut as the eye-catching ingénue is Denise Bosc, an actress whose film career was massively eclipsed by her stage work.  And then there is the great André Lefaur, a remarkably versatile actor whose main claim to fame is that he created the title role of Marcel Pagnol's stage play Topaze.   This extraordinary ensemble brings more than a touch of class to what is a fairly routine French farce, one where the plot is driven by curious coincidences and improbable misunderstandings.  Offering little in the way of directorial or cinematographic innovation, Le Fauteuil 47 now appears somewhat dated but, enlivened by its ebullient performances and uplifting musical numbers, it manages to be an engaging little divertissement.

Film Synopsis

During his frequent visits to his sister's boarding house, Paul Séverac attracts the attention of a friend of hers, an attractive young woman named Loulou.  Paul can have no idea that this delightful ingénue is the daughter of the woman he worships - the celebrated stage actress Gilberte Boulanger.  Every night without fail, Paul is compelled to watch his idol's latest histrionic triumph, always from the same seat in the theatre, number 47.  Paul's devotion has not gone unnoticed.  One evening, not long after leaving her lover, the great actress instructs her director to bring her admirer to her dressing room.  Unfortunately, during the interval, Paul's place in seat 47 is taken by another man, the wealthy Baron Edouard Lebray.

The baron is honoured to be invited to see the great prima donna in person, and when she realises how rich he is the financially embarrassed Gilberte takes an instant liking to him.  It isn't long before these happy two are an item.  Unaware of this development, Paul pays a personal call on Gilberte at her home so that he can reveal his ardent feelings for her.  Once again fate intervenes and he is mistaken as a suitor for Gilberte's daughter Loulou.  Naturally the actress is delighted to grant her daughter's hand in marriage to such an amiable young man.

Paul and Louou's wedding passes off without incident but it isn't long before disillusionment sets in.  In response to Loulou's decision to dine out with a male friend, Paul finds himself a mistress.  Appalled by the prospect of a marital breakdown, Gilberte feels she must intervene to save the marriage.  This she feels she can accomplish, with the help of the baron.  To her chagrin, the same idea also occurs to her ex-husband Juste Auguste Theillard, an ageing gym instructor who happens to be Loulou's father.  Ignoring Gilberte's please to leave well alone, Theillard directs his attention to trying to bring about a happy reconciliation between his daughter and Paul, but in doing so he only makes matters worse... .