The Italian Straw Hat (film)
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''The Italian Straw Hat'' (french: Un chapeau de paille d'Italie) is a 1928 French silent film comedy written and directed by
René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...
, in his feature debut, based on the 1851 play '' Un chapeau de paille d'Italie'', by
Eugène Marin Labiche Eugène Marin Labiche (6 May 181522 January 1888) was a French dramatist. He remains famous for his contribution to the vaudeville genre and his passionate and domestic pochads. In the 1860s, he reached his peak with a series of successes i ...
and Marc-Michel.


Plot

On the day of Fadinard's wedding, his horse eats a lady's hat on a bush at the roadside, while the lady is hidden behind the bush with her lover Lieutenant Tavernier. Because she is married, she cannot return home hatless without being compromised, and Tavernier orders Fadinard to replace the hat with one exactly like it - or else he will wreck his new home. In an elaborate sequence of complications, Fadinard tries to find a hat while keeping to his marriage schedule.


Cast

* Albert Préjean as Fadinard *
Geymond Vital Geymond Vital (24 January 1897 – 6 December 1987) was a French film, stage and television actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the ...
as Lieutenant Tavernier *
Olga Tschechowa Olga Konstantinovna Chekhova (; russian: Ольга Константиновна Чехова; 14 April 1897 – 9 March 1980), known in Germany as Olga Tschechowa, was a Russian-German actress. Her film roles include the female lead in Alfred ...
as Anaïs de Beauperthuis, the compromised wife *
Paul Ollivier François Hilarion Paul Olivari, stage name Paul Ollivier (10 February 1876 - 10 June 1948) was a French film actor. Selected filmography * ''The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge'' (1925) * ''The Queen of Moulin Rouge'' (1926) * ''The Imaginary Voyag ...
as Vésinet, the deaf uncle * Alex Allin as Félix, the valet *
Jim Gérald Jim Gérald (4 July 1889 – 2 July 1958) was a French actor. Gérald was born Gérald Ernest Cuénod in Paris. He died in Paris in 1958. Selected filmography * ''La légende de soeur Béatrix'' (1923) - Un soudard * ''The Imaginary Voyage' ...
as Beauperthuis * Marise Maia as Hélène, the bride *
Valentine Tessier Valentine Tessier (5 August 1892 – 11 August 1981) was a French actress who appeared in around thirty films during her career. She played the title role in Jean Renoir's 1934 film version of ''Madame Bovary''.Donaldson-Evans p.193 Selected fi ...
as a customer in the milliner's shop * Louis Pré, fils, as Bobin, the cousin with one glove * Alexis Bondireff as the cousin with a crooked tie *
Alice Tissot Alice Tissot (1 January 1890 – 5 May 1971) was a French actress. Partial filmography * ''Poum à la chasse'' (1908) * ''Le devoir'' (1908) * ' (1909) * ' (1909) * '' The Two Girls'' (1921) * '' A Son from America'' (1924) * '' Captain Rasca ...
as his wife * Yvonneck as Nonancourt, the bride's father


Production

When René Clair was first offered the job of adapting the farce of Labiche and Michel for the cinema by Alexandre Kamenka of the Albatros film company, he was unenthusiastic, but he nevertheless demonstrated a sure touch for a fast-moving satirical portrayal of bourgeois style and manners. He updated the original play from 1851 to the setting of the Belle Époque, and an opening title dates it specifically to 1895, the year of the birth of the cinema. In addition to the period settings designed by
Lazare Meerson Lazare Meerson (1900–1938) was a Russian-born cinema art director. After emigrating to France in the early 1920s, he worked on French films of the late silent cinema and the early 1930s, particularly those directed by René Clair and Jacques F ...
, the story is filmed in a style which recalls the techniques of the earliest cinema films. Most shots use a fixed camera which does not move with the action; characters walk in and out of shot from the sides. Set-ups are usually in long shot, with the characters backlit to provide contrast with the background; much of the action is built up by details within the shot. Close-ups are comparatively rare. (Only in occasional sequences do we see tracking shots, to follow a moving carriage, or rapid cutting, for instance to suggest Fadinard's growing panic in a dance scene.) The verbal dexterity of the original text is replaced with inventive visual comedy. Each supporting role is characterised by a comic detail which becomes a running joke: the deaf uncle with a blocked-up ear-trumpet; the cousin who has lost one white glove; the bride's father whose dress shoes are a size too small; the bride who feels a pin that has dropped down the back of her dress; the cousin whose tie keeps dropping, and his wife whose pince-nez will not stay on her nose. The visual narrative is made largely self-sufficient, and there are comparatively few intertitles throughout the film.


Reception

On its first release, the film was not particularly successful with the French public, and its initial run in Paris lasted for only three weeks. It was however very positively received by the critics, and it proved to be one of the most durable of French silent films. By transposing the action to the 1890s when the play had found particular success with audiences, the film was seen as a satire of the play itself and of the kind of audience that would have enjoyed it. "With this first big success (artistic more than commercial), René Clair, at the age of 30, achieved his maturity, and established, through his meeting with Labiche, his themes and a style."Georges Sadoul. ''Dictionnaire des films''. (Paris: Seuil, 1983). pp.317-318. "Avec ce premier grand succès (artistique plus que commercial), René Clair atteint, à trente ans, sa maturité, et fixe, par sa rencontre avec Labiche, des thèmes et un style."


Musical accompaniment

In 1952
Georges Delerue Georges Delerue (12 March 1925 – 20 March 1992) was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for '' A Little Romance'' (1980), three C ...
wrote a music score to accompany a screening of the silent film. The British composer
Benedict Mason Benedict Mason, born on 23 February 1954, is a British composer. Mason was educated at King's College, Cambridge (1971–75) and took a degree in film-making at the Royal College of Art (1975–78). He did not turn to composition until his early ...
also composed an orchestral score for the film, into which he incorporated
Jacques Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his firs ...
's ''Divertissement'' which that composer had based on his own incidental music for a performance of the original play by Labiche and Michel in 1929. For the DVD edition of ''The Italian Straw Hat'' by Flicker Alley (2010), an orchestral score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by the Monte Alto Motion Picture Orchestra was provided, together with an alternative piano accompaniment by Philip Carli.


Adaptation

On 1 May 2005, a two-act ballet, ''An Italian Straw Hat'', to a libretto by Timothy Luginbuhl, was premiered by the
National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...
. The choreography was created by James Kudelka, the score composed by
Michael Torke Michael Torke (; born September 22, 1961) is an American composer who writes music influenced by jazz and minimalism. Torke was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Wilson Elementary School, graduated from Wauwatosa East High School, an ...
.


Alternative titles

The film is sometimes referred to by the more exact translation of ''An Italian Straw Hat''. It was variously distributed in the United States as ''The Italian Straw Hat'' or ''The Horse Ate the Hat''. (Other languages: it, Un cappello di paglia di Firenze, pt, O chapéu de Palha de Itália, pl, Slomkowy kapelusz, es, Un sombrero de paja de Italia).)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Straw Hat, The 1928 films French silent feature films French black-and-white films Films directed by René Clair French films based on plays Films set in 1895 French historical comedy films 1920s historical comedy films Silent comedy films 1920s French films