Conjugal Happiness [Robert Saidreau - Chapter 12]

To read the previous chapter of this essay on the work of director Robert Saidreau, click here.

The Rope Around the Neck becomes Conjugal Happiness

This film, a collaboration with René Hervil for the screenplay, is rather well documented in the press under the title La corde au cou, which is its working title, under which it was never distributed. As a result, Jean Tulard was deceived and included this working title in his Dictionary of Cinema as a separate production.
On January 21, 1922, production was announced by Comœdia and the start of filming announced on March 31, 1922 by Cinémagazine.
It was on May 18, 1922 that Comœdia simultaneously announced the end of filming and the change of title. And Bonsoir announces on November 27 the press presentation for Tuesday November 28 at the Marivaux. This film and the following one (The Idea of ​​Françoise) are exclusives for the National Cinematographic Agency.

Denise Legeay and Pierre Etchepare

The plot

In Mon Ciné of April 12, 1923, the plot is given: Jack (Etchepare) is a young fickle partygoing man. His uncle (André Dubosc) wants him to marry a serious, rich and plain looking young girl (Denise Legeay) and threatens to disinherit him, although he prefers the beautiful and intriguing Lucienne Legrand who does not have a penny in her pocket. This element pushes the young man to comply with his uncle's wishes and to marry Legeay, which does not prevent him from fleeing to Nice to have fun with Legrand.
Jack's friend, in misery, commits suicide in the suit given by Jack, and the police confuse the two men, so that his grieving wife organizes his funeral, which he does not fail to attend by following the procession in a taxi , thus learning whom he can trust.
He goes back to his wife who forgives him and a child comes to crown the happy end.

Lucienne Legrand

One Lucienne too many?

Mon Ciné of September 28, 1922 details the main cast: Pierre Etchepare, André Dubosc, Dacheux, Denise Legeay, Lucienne Debrienne.
This last person is a puzzle. If there is indeed a Lucienne who plays a preponderant role, it is Lucienne Legrand. However, this one is not listed. As for this Lucienne Debrienne, she is not mentioned in any other film. But Lucienne Legrand, in September 1922, is not a very well-known figure: she was only seen in only one film, La vivante épingle, released barely 7 months before the publication of the article. The film Les hommes nouveaux, already shot, has not yet been released.
The site of the Cinémathèque Française lists this mysterious name also, but the site also confuses the roles of Legeay and Legrand, as well as actor Georges de La Noë as the name of the character played by Dacheux rather than one of the actors in the film. We can therefore doubt the veracity of the information.
Is this name the result of a journalist error, or of a temporary desire to adopt a pseudonym on the part of an actress at the start of her career?
In any case, when talkies arrive, she leaves the profession (and the director Donatien) and, if we are to believe her statements in 1934 when she arrives in the United States, she is then a stylist and travels with her mother. Émilie, because she is officially single at the time. It is because she has probably already met the stylist André Pérugia, already married and now making a career in the United States, whom she will marry in 1952!

As for the other actors, we find here, for the first time, Pierre Etchepare, who will only shoot with Robert Saidreau on his next 5 films. The film The Idea of ​​Françoise, although shot with him later, will even be released a month before the present film. André Dubosc is already an actor known for having already performed some good roles with Henry Roussel, Henri Fescourt, and ... René Hervil! Two familiar faces of the silent screen also seem to start their careers with this film: Gilbert Dacheux and Georges de La Noë. However, it's possible that their names simply haven't been identified in earlier films yet.
One actress we have already met during my article on I Have Killed, one of her last films, is Denise Legeay. She has an unexpected reaction to the film and its director: the newspaper Bonjour indeed tells us on October 26, 1922 that Saidreau, to get the tears he wanted from her in a scene, slapped her. One would expect her to have a legitimate resentment with him. However, in Le Petit Journal of December 1, 1922, she did not let it appear and gave a quick summary of the film, presented the day before. Even more surprisingly, during her interview by J.-A. de Munto in Mon Ciné of April 12, 1923, Denise Legeay confides that it is then the favorite of all her roles, despite all those she has shot before and since. Considering that her career ends shortly thereafter, this is an edifying statement! Of Robert Saidreau, she says he's a charming director. “And one of our best,” whispered Munto. To which she replies: "That's also my opinion."

Denise Legeay

The release

An article of February 2, 1923 invites to "see and re-examine" Pearl White and her lions in A Virgin Paradise and Conjugal Happiness which is therefore in general distribution on this date. On April 12, 1923, Conjugal Happiness was screened at the Maillot Palace
Lucien Doublon from Cinémagazine of December 15 underlines the improbable side of the story (Etcheparre finds himself at his own funeral) but concedes "it's cheerful, brilliant, and that can only please all audiences." This funeral scene was a big comic success and Cinémagazine of February 16, 1923 tells us that Saidreau took advantage of Baroness de Rothschild's funeral to shoot his sequences!

The intransigent confirms on December 9, 1922 that it is a "real success of exploitation" and publishes a good review on February 3, 1923.

The film still exists at the CNC in a beautiful copy as evidenced by Ann Harding's Treasures blog. The CNC website even specifies that it is in black and white and in color (probably tinted and / or toned).

To read the next chapter on the work of director Robert Saidreau, click here.

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That's all for today folks! See you soon !