Ils étaient neuf célibataires

"France to the French!" A new law -which is not irrelevant today in some people's mind- stipulates that the aliens gotta get away.Then begins another crazy Guitry film ,another reductio ad absurdum that tends to show that "being honest" cannot be a job,so you've got to live outside the law to be a good man,and in the end ,the facts prove you right.

After hearing a woman (Elvire Popesco) complain about the French government which is about to drive her away of this beautiful country,Jean Lécuyer (alias Sacha Guitry) realizes that the only way for a woman to stay is to get married.An unconsummated marriage of course.That's his lucky break.He sets up a lucrative trade : an old bachelor's home where nine old men (most of them were former tramps)will wait for the ladies.

And what ladies! Marguerite Moreno is the stand out as a rich South American who made her fortune in...guano. In the office ,she wants to make sure that these men are too old to....And the tramp who marries her will have two sons-in-law:the cops(gendarmes) he used to meet on the streets when he was homeless.

Guitry 's lines are witty,funny as ever.Many puns,many mistaken identities (one of the men in his wife's house: she is a madam with her whores but he does think it's her numerous daughters),many absurd jokes : -You've got to be sixty to be admitted in this place.Are you? -Well,it's just a question of minutes!now seconds! Well I'm exactly sixty now! Guitry ,in 1939, even predates Julien Duvivier's "La Fête à Henriette" (1952) final unexpected twist !Guitry epitomized FRench wit at its best!