Independent Films, Film Profiles

Fifty Million Frenchmen

Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy written by Cole Porter and produced by Warner Bros. President Harry Warner on Broadway in 1929. It was made into a movie which debuted in 1931.The title is a reference to a hit song of 1927, "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong", by Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher. The lyrics of this humorous song compared free attitudes in 1920s Paris with the censorship and prohibition in the United States.The musical's plot is consistent with the standard boy-meets-girl plots of musical comedies of the first half of the twentieth century. The musical's plot concerns Peter Forbes, a young American millionaire who journeys to Paris and bets his friend Billy Baxter that he can live without his money for a month, and in doing so, get engaged with Looloo Caroll, a woman whom he adores. In the process of trying to woo Looloo penniless, he endures lots of humiliation as a gigolo, a magician and a tour guide.