Remontons Les Champs Elysees (1938)

A school teacher (Sacha Guitry) tells his class the history of the Champs Elysees which involves several historical personages including Louis XV (Sacha Guitry), Napoleon (Emile Drain) and Richard Wagner (Robert Pizani) among others. Written and directed by Sacha Guitry, this is an odd little film. There's no real point to it, not really and if there is, I missed it. It's a series of vignettes which while fictional interpolate actual historical characters into the narrative. It's often amusing as the segment in which King Louis XV (Guitry) is told by a fortune teller that he will die six months after his best friend (Lucien Baroux) dies and forces his friend to live a healthy life without excess while he does the exact opposite. The movie attempts to cram a lot of history in under two hours but does so with charm but I hope no one takes this as an actual history lesson as the film isn't really concerned with accuracy. The large cast has many actors playing more than one role. With Jean Davy, Jeanne Boitel, Lisette Lanvin and Raymond Galle.