Georges Feydeau , the best-known writer of French farce in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote more than twenty full-length comic plays and twenty one-act ones. Some of these have been adapted for the cinema. Although Feydeau was active well into the era of film he never wrote for the medium, but within two years of his death in 1921 other writers and directors began to take his plays as the basis for films, of which more than twenty have been made, in several countries and languages.
In the 1960s and 1970s the BBC filmed a series of fourteen farces by Feydeau, adapted by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin, under the collective title Ooh La La. Some were adapted from one-act plays, others from full-length ones. All fourteen starred Patrick Cargill.
Title | Adapted from | Co-starring with Patrick Cargill | Producer | Year | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A Good Night's Sleep | Feu la mère de Madame | Amanda Barrie | Stuart Allen | 1968 | [1] |
All Night Sitting | Tailleur pour dames | Amanda Barrie Anton Rodgers | Stuart Allen | 1968 | [2] |
A Little Bit to Fall Back On | Les Pavés de l'ours | Amanda Barrie Jim Dale Fabia Drake | Stuart Allen | 1968 | [3] |
Above Reproach | C'est une femme du monde | Amanda Barrie Donald Sinden Barbara Windsor | Stuart Allen | 1968 | [4] |
Making a Pass | Dormez, je le veux! | Amanda Barrie Robertson Hare | Stuart Allen | 1968 | [5] |
Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted | Gibier de potence | Amanda Barrie Anton Rodgers | Stuart Allen | 1968 | [6] |
Call Me Maestro | Amour et piano | Fenella Fielding Roy Hudd | G. B. Lupino | 1968 | [7] |
Keep an Eye on Amelie | Occupe-toi d'Amélie! | Judi Dench Bill Fraser | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [8] |
A Pig in a Poke | Chat en poche | Richard Briers Joan Sims | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [9] |
A-Hunting We Will Go | Monsieur chasse! | Barbara Murray Tony Britton Joan Hickson | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [10] |
The Lady from Maxim's | La Dame de chez Maxim | Bernard Cribbins Barbara Windsor Betty Marsden | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [11] |
Paying the Piper | Le Dindon | Amanda Barrie Michael Aldridge Michael Bates | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [12] |
Caught in the Act | La Puce à l'oreille | Dinah Sheridan Patricia Routledge Bernard Bresslaw Dennis Waterman | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [13] |
Kept on a String | Un Fil à la patte | Freddie Jones Eleanor Summerfield | Douglas Argent | 1973 | [14] |
Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914.
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Look After Lulu! is a farce by Noël Coward, based on Occupe-toi d'Amélie! by Georges Feydeau. It is set in Paris in 1908. The central character is an attractive cocotte, Lulu, whose lover is called away on military service; the plot involves libidinous foreign royalty, a mock wedding that turns out to be real, people hiding under beds and in bathrooms, and a happy ending.
Inspector Hornleigh is a fictional British detective from Scotland Yard, the protagonist of a popular BBC radio series of the 1930s, three British films, a German television series, and three books.
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