Quadrille (a Gaumont / Éclair digital transfer)

Sacha Guitry: Quadrille (1938).

Josef Breitenbach: Portrait of the Actor Sacha Guitry, Paris, 1938, Gelatin silver print © The Josef Breitenbach Trust. From: La Petite Mélancolie.

Katrilli (Finnish title in IMDb).
    FR 1938. PC: Les Films Modernes. P: Émile Natan.
    D+SC: Sacha Guitry – from his play (1937). Cin: Robert Lefebvre, ass. Charles Bauer – 35 mm – b&w – 1,37:1 – son mono (RCA Photophone). PD: Jean Perrier. S: Antoine Archimbaud. M: Adolphe Borchard, interpreted by Ray Ventura et ses Collégiens. ED: Myriam. CAST (Wikipédia):
    Sacha Guitry : Philippe de Morannes, rédacteur en chef d'un grand journal parisien
    Gaby Morlay : Paulette Nanteuil, comédienne célèbre du théâtre du Gymnase et maîtresse de Philippe
    Jacqueline Delubac : Claudine André, chroniqueuse, amie de Paulette
    Georges Grey : Carl Erickson, vedette d'Hollywood de passage à Paris, dont s'éprend Paulette
    Pauline Carton: la femme de chambre de l'hôtel
    Marguerite Templey : Madame de Germont
    Louis Vonelly : le chef de réception
    Pierre Huchet : un valet de chambre
    Georges Vitry : le médecin
    Louis Baldy : Durmel
    Julien Rivière : le maître d'hôtel
    Marc Hélin : le chasseur
    Paul Alex : le concierge
    Georges Lemaire : le régisseur
    Ray Ventura et ses Collégiens : as themselves
Loc: Hôtel Ritz, 15 Place Vendôme, Paris I.
Aéroport du Bourget, Le Bourget, Seine-Saint-Denis.
Studio: Studios Pathé-Cinema, Joinville-le-pont, Val-de-Marne.
30 Nov – Dec 1937.
    Genre: Comédie romance.
    95 min
    Date de sortie: 25 Jan 1938 au cinéma Marivaux.
    Not released in Finland as far as I know, but there is the Finnish title Katrilli in IMDb.
    A Gaumont / Éclair digital transfer (2007?)
    Corona lockdown viewings.
    Viewed from the MUBI platform, 91 minutes with English subtitles by Éclair, at a forest retreat in Punkaharju on a tv screen, 10 July 2020.

AA: Quadrille belongs to the same lineage as Arthur Schnitzler's Reigen / La Ronde (published in 1903, theatre premiere in 1920). Even the dance metaphor is the same.

It's a vanity fair. We have Philippe du Morannes (Sacha Guitry), the conceited editor of a big Paris newspaper, a veteran seducer. He is startled to meet an American film star, Carl Erickson (Georges Grey), "la sensation du moment", half his age and double his seduction power.

Philippe arranges for Carl un avant-scène, a box seat at the theatre where Philippe's girlfriend, Paulette Nanteuil (Gaby Morlay), the biggest star in Paris, is playing La Dame aux camélias. They instantly connect, leaving Philippe to spend the night alone.

Simultaneously with Philippe interviewing Carl is a no-nonsense journalist colleague, Claudine André (Jacqueline Delubac) to whom Philippe confesses his agony. With her he starts to develop a new affair. But even Claudine is not immune to Carl's charms.

Carl leaves Paris and Paulette after their one night together, and Philippe has Paulette's valises sent to her hotel room. Abandoned by both men, Paulette attempts suicide by overdosing. In the nick of time the doctor saves her, but it is a close call.

The vanity fair turns to tragedy, but Philippe merely laughs, especially when he opens Paulette's two identical suicide notes to himself and Carl. No redeeming features are revealed in Philippe. He is just a self-satisfied bastard, basically with one love affair only: himself. Maybe it is so with both two stars, as well, Carl and Paulette. This leaves Claudine as the only one with a capacity to see beyond herself.

Quadrille moves fast in sparkling and assured steps and patterns, full of witty scenes and repartee. "Your eyes are different, they've seen things", is Philippe's comment to Claudine in the beginning. – When Carl marches through the tea-room, everybody wants his autograph except for one woman (Paulette, the biggest star of Paris, but unknown to Carl, yet he immediately recognizes in her something special). Carl asks for her autograph, but she signs Claudine's name. – "Do you think I'm responsible for my act?", Paulette asks Philippe, trying to justify her position. – With everyone speaking "exactly half the truth", couples are switched, and a marriage cancelled transforms into a marriage with a new bride.

Quadrille is clever and entertaining, but with characters as shallow and trivial as this, it fails to move or even amuse deeply.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: THE MUBI INTRO:
BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: THE MUBI INTRO:

Quadrille
Trailer
Directed by Sacha Guitry
France, 1938
Comedy, Romance

    91
    French
    English, Spanish

Synopsis

A magazine editor whose longtime girlfriend—to whom he plans to finally propose—is uncontrollably drawn to a handsome American movie star. Meanwhile, a discerning reporter watches from the sidelines with amusement and provides the final corner to this romantic rectangle.

Our take

What better film than Quadrille could close our spotlight on Sacha Guitry’s audacious, candid cinema? Romantic comedy meets social satire in this sparky and quick-witted affair: a whirling dance of love entanglements, infidelities, and twists—akin to the screwball comedy, but à la française.

...

IMDb summary: jhailey@hotmail.com: "The battle of the sexes as drawing room social satire. Philippe, a middle-aged newspaper editor, has lived for six years with Paulette, a successful stage actress. He tells her friend Claudine, a realistic and enterprising reporter, that he's thinking of proposing. Into the mix steps Carl Erickson, a charming Hollywood matinée idol in Paris briefly. He meets Paulette, sees her act (his box seat compliments of Philippe), and sets out to seduce her. The next two days bring talk, tears, separation, despair, surprises, and, perhaps, reconciliation as characters speak "exactly half the truth." It's a quadrille of changing partners."

...

Wikipedia synopsis: "Le jeune acteur américain Carl Erikson est la sensation du moment. De passage à Paris, il est sollicité de toutes parts et donne un peu par hasard un autographe à Paulette Nanteuil, elle-même actrice reconnue en France mais inconnue de lui. Sous le charme de la jeune femme, il espère la retrouver mais elle lui a donné un faux nom, celui de son amie Claudine André, journaliste. Il se trouve que Carl Erikson a rendez-vous pour une interview avec Philippe de Morannes, rédacteur en chef de Paris-Soir et par ailleurs, amant de Paulette. Pour le remercier de lui avoir accordé un entretien, Philippe se fait malgré lui le complice du destin en lui offrant une place pour aller voir le soir même le spectacle dans lequel joue Paulette. Carl va la voir dans sa loge, et Paulette, séduite, passe une nuit avec lui. Doit-elle quitter Philippe ou rompre avec Carl ? Et Philippe succombera-t-il aux charmes de Claudine, laquelle n'est elle-même pas insensible au charme du jeune acteur ?  "