Le Bonheur is a 1934

1934 in film

-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...

 French film directed by Marcel L'Herbier

Marcel L'Herbier

Marcel L'Herbier, Légion d'honneur, was a French film-maker, who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued until the 1950s and he made more than 40 feature films in total...

. It was adapted from Henry Bernstein's play Le Bonheur, which Bernstein had staged in Paris in March 1933 with Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...

 and Michel Simon

Michel Simon

Michel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...

 in leading roles; Boyer and Simon took the same parts in the film.

Background

In 1934 Marcel L'Herbier held discussions with Charles Boyer on making a film about the actor Edmund Kean, but Boyer, whose career was at that time shifting between France and Hollywood, insisted that he wanted to film Bernstein's play Le Bonheur in which he had recently starred on stage in Paris. The rights to the play were held by the Pathé-Natan company, who also had a contract with Gaby Morlay, the preferred actress of both Boyer and L'Herbier for the other leading role.

Plot

Philippe Lutcher, an anarchist, fires a shot at Clara Stuart, a famous stage and screen actress, but only wounds her. The star, through affectation and curiosity to know his motives, pleads in his favour at his trial, but he rebuffs her pity. After he has served 18 months in prison, they meet and fall in love. Philippe however does not really believe in Clara's sincerity, and when he sees incidents from their lives becoming part of her latest film, he leaves her. He vows that their love will continue when he sits in the dark and watches her on the cinema screen.

Cast

• Gaby Morlay
  Gaby Morlay
  Gaby Morlay was a French film actress. She played Queen Victoria in the 1939 historical film Entente cordiale.-Selected filmography:* When Love Is Over * Le Scandale * Nuits de feu...
  
  , as Clara Stuart
• Charles Boyer
  Charles Boyer
  Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...
  
  , as Philippe Lutcher
• Paulette Dubost
  Paulette Dubost
  Paulette Dubost was a French actress who began her career at the age of 7 at the Paris Opera.She appeared in over 250 films and worked with such directors as Jean Renoir, Jacques Tourneur, Marcel Carné, Julien Duvivier, Preston Sturges and Max Ophüls. One of her most famous roles was as Lisette in...
  
  , as Louise
• Michel Simon
  Michel Simon
  Michel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...
  
  , as Noël Malpiaz
• Jaque Catelain
  Jaque Catelain
  Jaque Catelain was a French actor who came to prominence in silent films of the 1920s, and who continued acting in films and on stage until the 1950s. He also wrote and directed two silent films himself, and he was a capable artist and musician. He had a close association with the director Marcel...
  
  , as Geoffroy de Chabré

Production

Filming took place in September and October of 1934.

L'Herbier's assistant directors were Ève Francis

Ève Francis

Ève Francis was an actress and film-maker. She was born in Belgium but spent most of her career in France. She became closely associated with the writer Paul Claudel, and she was married to the critic and film-maker Louis Delluc.-Career:Ève Francis was born Eva Louise François at...

 and Jean Dréville

Jean Dréville

Jean Dréville was a French film director. He directed 45 films between 1928 and 1969.-Selected filmography:* Autour de L'Argent * A Cage of Nightingales * Return to Life...

.

Towards the end of filming, L'Herbier suffered an accident when a camera fell on him from an insecure track. He suffered a broken wrist and permanent damage to one eye. He undertook a prolonged legal action against the Pathé company in which the director argued for his status as an 'author' of the film rather than just a technician employed by the company. He eventually won the case, and it marked the first time that a film director in France was legally recognised as having rights of authorship in his work.

Reception

On its release Le Bonheur proved very popular with the public and was mostly well-received by the French critics. However, after three years of distribution the film largely disappeared from sight for nearly 40 years. It was only in the 1970s that it was revived and recognised as one of the most significant achievements among L'Herbier's sound films.

In February 1935, the film was shown at the first Moscow Film Festival (albeit too late for the main competition) and it received a special "mention of honour" from the Soviet jury.