On purge Bébé

Undertaken by Renoir to prove his efficiency as a director of talking pictures, this droll adaptation of a slight, one-act farce by Feydeau is chiefly memorable for the relaxed performances and the then revolutionary sound effect of a flushed toilet. The plot revolves around a porcelain manufacturer (Louvigny) vainly trying to sell a supposedly unbreakable line in chamber-pots to a supplier (Simon) for the French army. Meanwhile, the manufacturer's idle wife (Pierry), drifting casually about their apartment in her dressing-gown, struggles to persuade their son to take a laxative. Aside from the inimitable Michel Simon as the slow-witted supplier, the film also features the first screen performance by Fernandel.