Monsieur Beaucaire (1946 film)

Monsieur Beaucaire
Directed by	George Marshall
Written by	Melvin Frank Norman Panama Frank Tashlin
Based on	Monsieur Beaucaire by Booth Tarkington
Produced by	Paul Jones
Starring	Bob Hope Joan Caulfield Patric Knowles
Cinematography	Lionel Lindon
Edited by	Arthur P. Schmidt
Music by	Robert Emmett Dolan
Production company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	September 4, 1946 (1946-09-04)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$3.5 million (US rentals)

Monsieur Beaucaire is a 1946 American historical comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope, Joan Caulfield and Patric Knowles. Hope portrays the title character, the barber of King Louis XV of France. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington. It is a remake of the 1924 Rudolph Valentino silent film of the same name Monsieur Beaucaire.

Plot

King Louis XV of France is invited by his rival King Philip V of Spain to choose a suitable husband for Philip's daughter, Princess Maria, as a gesture of unity between their two nations. Louis's choice is the Duc le Chandre, but the duke fancies Madame Pompadour, as does the king.

Louis' bumbling barber, Beaucaire, becomes tangled in a web of deceit along with Mimi, a chambermaid he loves. Both end up exiled from France, and after Beaucaire assists the duke in hiding Madame Pompadour, all must ward off General Don Francisco who is planning to overthrow Philip so that he can rule Spain.

After a series of mistakes and misadventures, Beaucaire shows his bravery in a sword fight with Don Francisco, and is rewarded by the duke coming to his rescue. Beaucaire and Mimi emigrate safely to the American Colonies, where Mimi gives birth to a baby that has Bob Hope's adult face.

Cast

• Bob Hope as Monsieur Beaucaire
• Joan Caulfield as Mimi
• Patric Knowles as Duc le Chandre
• Marjorie Reynolds as Princess Maria of Spain
• Cecil Kellaway as Count D'Armand
• Joseph Schildkraut as Don Francisco
• Reginald Owen as King Louis XV
• Constance Collier as Marie Leszczyńska, The Queen of France
• Hillary Brooke as Madame Pompadour
• Fortunio Bonanova as Don Carlos
• Douglass Dumbrille as George Washington
• Mary Nash as The Duenna
• Leonid Kinskey as Rene
• Howard Freeman as King Philip V
• Lewis Russell as Chief Justice
• Brandon Hurst as Marquis (uncredited)

Bibliography

• Zoglin, Richard. Hope: Entertainer of the Century. Simon and Schuster, 2014.

External links

• Monsieur Beaucaire at IMDb
• Monsieur Beaucaire at the TCM Movie Database
• Monsieur Beaucaire at Rotten Tomatoes