Topaze, a shy and idealistic provincial schoolteacher is used as a front by a disreputable financier to sign cheques and take the rap if necessary. But he catches on fast, and ends up by appropriating both his boss’s organization and his mistress. The combination of Jouvet’s magisterial performance and the pungent dialogue of the play that made Pagnol famous is irresistible. Pagnol himself would direct it, with Armoudy in 1936 and Fernandel in 1951 in the title role, and in 1961, Peter Sellers, directed himself disastrously in ‘Mr Topaz’. Reference: Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide.
Credits: Director, Louis Gasnier ; writer, Marcel Pagnol ; photography, Fred Langenfeld.
Cast: Louis Jouvet, Paulet, Edwige Feuillere.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
X000336
Languages
English
French
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)