HULUPALOOZA!! (Post 2 of 12)
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| Boudo Saved From Drowning |
I remember when Down and Out in Beverly Hills came out in 1986, seeing reviews mention that it was a remake of the 1932 French film listed here. Down and Out in Beverly Hills was pretty funny, depicting how a affluent Beverly Hills family takes in a derelict that attempts to drown himself in their swimming pool and this derelict eventually takes over and changes their life.
Boudu Saved From Drowning follows the same plotline in a Parisian setting and is fun...though didn't generate as many laughs as the later film. The culture and class clash here is well depicted as the family tries to reform the tramp, but he ends up reforming them even more. And the final wedding scene is a hoot.
Director Jean Renoir explores these class differences in even greater depth in Rules of the Game.
Boudu, the tramp, is at the outset a funny character, but he becomes more and more annoying. I understand how his role is to expose and reform his host family, but as he becomes more and more unlikable I understand why they just want to get rid of him. Not as funny as the 86 remake.
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