Posing as a wealthy Parisian, Mercadet fleeces friends and casual acquaintances alike. He is forced into this life of crime to keep up appearances, so that his daughter Julie can land herself a rich husband.
Acting
Ruggles' sweaty desperation is silent-era physical comedy gold.
Writing
Balzac adaptation somehow becomes door-slamming bedroom farce.
Director
Richard Oswald
Charles Ruggles
Claude Mercadet
Peggy Ann Garner
Julie Mercadet
Richard Ney
Jacques Minard
Alan Mowbray
Justin
Iris Adrian
Madame Mercadet
Ludwig Donath
Violette
Fritz Feld
Monsieur Louis
John Wengraf
Pierquin
Otto Waldis
Bailiff
Edna Holland
Madame Pierquin
Minerva Urecal
Virginie
Jody Gilbert
Madame Violette
Buster Keaton
Goulard
Curt Bois
Count de la Brive
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ripped from Balzac's 1848 'Le Faiseur,' this was part of Hollywood's post-war obsession with European literary respectability—then they added pratfalls.
Director Richard Oswald fled Nazi Germany in 1933; this fluffy farce was his late-careie American comeback after decades of serious European cinema.
US
