Sacha Guitry, L'Age d'or, 1936-1938
Guitry was the very model of the charming, prolific showman: author of some 120 plays, star and impresario of 40-plus films and married five times, always to an actress in his plays and films. At 50 he lent his boundless energy to movies, and in three years wrote, directed and starred in the eight features, plus a short film in verse, included in this magnificent box. His lightly roguish Story of a Cheat consists of narration but virtually no dialogue. The Pearls of the Crown, which leaps from the courts of Henry VIII and the Medicis to modern times, boasts dialogue in French, English, Italian and a faux-Abyssinian intoned by Arletty in dusky makeup and a live python necklace. Most of the films starred Guitry's third wife, Jacqueline Delubac, who in one Pearls scene speaks only in adverbs, and in Le mot de Cambronne utters exactly one word: "Merde!" Lovers of classic high comedy may say the same when they learn that L'Age d'or is unavailable in the U.S. — but what's the Internet for? Go to amazon.fr, pony up 94.50 euros (includes shipping) and be prepared to enter the salon of this delightful boulevardier. The set is reason enough to buy an all-region DVD player, or move to France.
—Richard Corliss