Fifty Million Frenchmen

odinthor · Post by **odinthor** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:55 pm

Yes, they can't be wrong; but they sure can be hard to find! Does anyone know if any collections on Earth (perhaps overseas) have copies of the full (with the music) version of this Olsen & Johnson pic of 1931, from Cole Porter's Broadway show? I can't even find a source for purchasing a copy of the non-musical edition of the film (anyone know where one is available?) . . .

mndean · Post by **mndean** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:23 pm

odinthor wrote:Yes, they can't be wrong; but they sure can be hard to find! Does anyone know if any collections on Earth (perhaps overseas) have copies of the full (with the music) version of this Olsen & Johnson pic of 1931, from Cole Porter's Broadway show? I can't even find a source for purchasing a copy of the non-musical edition of the film (anyone know where one is available?) . . .

Didn't TCM show this once? I may be wrong as to that, but I swear I've seen it somewhere. Pretty sure what I saw was the non-musical version.

Hal Erickson · Post by **Hal Erickson** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:14 am

The songs were cut for the original release because the public was, in the words of Bebe Daniels, "off musicals" in 1931. My question is: Does an original Technicolor print of this film exist anywhere?

Richard M Roberts · Post by **Richard M Roberts** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:30 pm

Hal Erickson wrote:The songs were cut for the original release because the public was, in the words of Bebe Daniels, "off musicals" in 1931. My question is: Does an original Technicolor print of this film exist anywhere?

Apparently not, it's another of those early Vitaphone films preserved only because AAP made black and white 16mm negs for TV distribution in the 50's. I've got it around here someplace, it's not as bad as GOLD DUST GERTIE, but not as good as OH SAILOR BEHAVE, which is no classic either.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 6:36 am

Barrios says ALL the music was cut. No musical numbers were even filmed even though Warners backed the Broadway show specifically with the idea of filming it as a lavish musical comedy.

perfectjazz78 · Post by **perfectjazz78** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:50 pm

Fifty Million Frenchmen Vitaphone soundtrack

http://archive.org/details/FiftyMillion ... Soundtrack" target="_blank

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 5:07 pm

Interesting stuff but the "trailer" isn't really a soundtrack; it just has incidental music from the stage show. The 78 recording is pretty much the same thing.

ajabrams · Post by **ajabrams** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 5:13 pm

You can get PAREE,PAREE, a 1934 "Broadway Brevity" short, which I believe was Bob Hope's film debut. It's essentially a cut-down version of FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN and does have some of the Porter songs. It is included as one of the extras on the DVD release of 'SILK STOCKINGS.

Richard Finegan · Post by **Richard Finegan** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:18 am

ajabrams wrote: You can get PAREE, PAREE, a 1934 "Broadway Brevity" short, which I believe was Bob Hope's film debut...

It's actually his third film appearance. It was released Sept. 8, 1934.
Before it he made the Educational short GOING SPANISH (released March 3, 1934) and the Universal "Mentone" series short SOUP FOR NUTS (released July 9, 1934).

ajabrams · Post by **ajabrams** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 12:14 pm

Richard Finegan wrote:It's actually his third film appearance.

Thanks Richard. I stand corrected. -- Allbest

BixB · Post by **BixB** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:11 am

TCM is airing FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN on November 20th at 4:45am.

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