Léonce Perret was one of the three most influential forces(along with Louis Feuillade and Abel Gance ) of the French silent age :working in his native country and in America , he used framings, lightnings which opened new horizons for the cinema ;along André Antoine ,he took the movie out of the studio and often filmed on location : "l'enfant de Paris" and "le mystère des Roches de Kador " were his most famous works, the latter is particularly modern ,in spite of an obvious lack of means ,due to the era .
Hadn't he died at 55 , three years after this movie, he could have adapted himself to the talkies ;"enlevez-moi" is a screwball comedy,which does not lack tempo ,madness and humor .
Plot:Edgar receives a letter from a former lover who comes to visit him in Paris ;but she's a sub-prefect's wife and he wants to get rid of her ;so he asks his good friend René to welcome her and to tell her he's away for business;a pretty girl shows up and says she's here to stay (at least ten days) ; it's love at first sight ,and when Edgar comes back ,surprise ,surprise :not only the girl is still here,but it's actually his sister whose honor and reputation were sullied ;so he wants to fight in a duel with that cad......a boor whose new squeeze asks him to abduct her ;so begins a long chase .Perret did not forget to film on location,and one can see pictures of early thirties Paris and of the mountains.
Based on an operetta , there are plenty of songs, but ,although very old-fashioned, they are never dull ,some are even peppy ("c'est ma carte") .Halfway through they meet an oriental (?) prince,Agat who's fluent in FRench ,but sometimes uses his native language (pure gibberish) ;he's got his mistress with him and once she appears ,the viewer has only eyes for her :Arletty ! It's her third film , and she's already irresistible ( her line in which she mixes up Issoudun town with Soudan is Jeanson-like );and it's something when she sings "j'enlève ma liquette" (I 'm taking off my shirt)!
The story is quite mad,which is fine with me:prince Agat is actually broke and he is to marry the sub-prefect's sister for her dowry ; René ,who was an untidy highbrow, turns into a dandy dressed up to the nines ...
Apart from Arletty ,the cast fell into oblivion, but they all have plenty of go and a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
