The Italian Straw Hat

France 1927
88 minutes
Directed by René Clair
Leading players - Albert Préjean, Olga Tschékowa & Geymond Vital

Synopsis

A bridal couple's anticipated happiness is most grossly spoiled when the groom is obliged to make a strenuous search to replace a straw hat which has been eaten literally by a horse drawing a carriage in his wedding party; if he fails, he must fight a duel with the lover of the married lady off whose head the hat has been eaten.

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Clair is quoted as saying: "Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie was originally a Labiche vaudeville that depended almost entirely on lots of very fast talk interspersed with little songs. I had to make a silent comedy from a very talky play, and that was a real godsend, because if it had been in sound, I would probably have made one of those horrible filmed plays that everybody started making when sound came in - and still does, for that matter. I wouldn't have been obliged to invent, and the inventions in that film were what made it so interesting and enjoyable to work on. I think the film was rather successful in its recreation of the period (changed to 1895), especially with the costumes and Meerson's fine sets contributing so much." [The Films of René Clair - R.C. Dale].