Mauvaise Graine

A sly, bouncy comedy set in the back alleyways and sunlit avenues of 1930s Paris, Mauvaise Graine (Bad Seed) is the remarkable directorial debut of Billy Wilder, the sharp-witted, inimitable creator of such American classics as Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment and Double Indemnity . Shot in France during Wilder's migration from Germany to the U.S., Mauvaise Graine centers around Henry Pasquier (Pierre Mingand), the spoiled son of a wealthy doctor, who discovers high-octane thrills, jazz-era romance and a sense of purpose in life when he unwittingly falls into the company of an organized ring of car thieves. After befriending Jean (Raymond Galle), a dapper young chap with a curious fetish for men's neckties, Henry falls in love with Jean's sister Jeannette (legendary screen diva Danielle Darrieux), who works as car-bait for the gang, luring love-hungry Parisian gentlemen away from their chrome-plated carriages. Cleverly weaving suspense with risque comedy (as he would 26 years later with Some Like It Hot ), Wilder and co-director Alexander Esway concoct an effervescent cinematic highball, garnished with a lively jazz score by Franz Waxman. SPECIAL FEATURES: La Joie de Vivre (The Joy of Living) -- A delightful 9-minute animated fairy tale made in France (1934) by Hector Hoppin and Anthony Gross. Two female dancers are pursued by a mysterious man on a bicycle as they move through graphically complex settings ranging from webs of industrial wires and train tracks to country fields of flowers. It's an exceptional film and an animation landmark!

• UPC: 818522015231
• Release: 2016-08-01
• Content Provider: Flicker Alley, LLC
• Runtime: 85:00
• Genre: Comedy
• Language: French with English subtitles
• Format: DVD-NTSC
• Screen: 0.6729166666666666
• Aspect: 1.33:1
• Rating: NR
• Audio: Stereo
• Color/BW: BW
• Special Features: La Joie de Vivre (The Joy of Living) -- A delightful 9-minute animated fairy tale made in France (1934) by Hector Hoppin and Anthony Gross. Two female dancers are pursued by a mysterious man on a bicycle as they move through graphically complex settings ranging from webs of industrial wires and train tracks to country fields of flowers. It's an exceptional film and an animation landmark!
• Copyright: Special Contents of This Edition (c)2002 by Film Preservation Associates, Inc. / DVD Publication and Design (c)2016 Flicker Alley, LLC
• Number of Discs: 1
• Disc Format: DVD