A man is on his way to his wedding when his horse eats the hat of a married woman who is having a secret tryst with a soldier, and the hapless groom must replace the chapeau or face the wrath of the lady’s lover. René Clair’s sublime, kinetic farce is set in 1895, at the dawn of the film era, and fondly recalls the techniques of the earliest silents. Pauline Kael called it “one of the funniest films ever made, and one of the most elegant as well.”
Restoration by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in partnership with the Cinémathèque Française
Live musical accompaniment by the Guenter Buchwald Ensemble
Introduction by Guenter Buchwald
Special support from the French American Cultural Society, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Co-presented by the Alliance Française de San Francisco, SFJAZZ, and Center for the Art of Translation
ASL interpretation provided