Les Nouveaux riches (1938)
Directed by André Berthomieu

Film Review

Les Nouveaux Riches starts out promising to be a cogent satire on corporate greed (in a similar vein to Marcel L'Herbier's L'Argent (1929)) but ends up as a pretty lame morality tale, more in keeping with much of director André Berthomieu's lowbrow output.  Already a popular screen icon, Michel Simon goes out of his to demolishes his 'nice guy' image by playing a despicable cad, leaving little in the way of limelight for his equally celebrated co-star Raimu.  The two actors had previously worked together well on Claude Heymann's more enjoyable comedy Les Jumeaux de Brighton (1936), but here you can too readily sense their professional rivalry and it's no surprise that Raimu refused ever to work with Simon again after this film.  Despite a somewhat lacklustre script (which is not helped by Berthomieu's even more lacklustre direction), Les Nouveaux Riches is amply redeemed by the presence of its two iconic lead actors, ably assisted by a likeable supporting cast that includes the vivacious Betty Stockfeld, who seemed to make a career of livening up mediocre French comedies such as this.

Film Synopsis

Once factory foremen, Legendre and Martinet are now millionaires.  Martinet ruined his former employer's company on the stock exchange.  Legendre comes to the latter's aid by buying his château.  To finance a newspaper he is editing, Martinet must sell shares in his own company.  Now installed as the proud owners of a superb château, Legendre and his wife hold a party at their new home.  Their guests include the actress Betty Stepherson and her lover Fronsac, who hope to persuade their host to back their next film.  To save money, Martinet orders that tungsten-reinforced steel be replaced with ordinary steel in his car manufacturing plant.  As a result, his son Georges suffers a serious accident whilst driving one of his cars in a race...