# Screen adaptations of plays by Georges Feydeau

Georges Feydeau, the best-known writer of French farce in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote more than twenty full-length comic plays and twenty one-act ones. Some of these have been adapted for the cinema. Although Feydeau was active well into the era of film he never wrote for the medium, but within two years of his death in 1921 other writers and directors began to take his plays as the basis for films, of which more than twenty have been made, in several countries and languages.

## Films based on Feydeau plays

| Film title | Based on Feydeau's play | Year | Country | Director |
| La dama de Chez Maxim's | La Dame de chez Maxim | 1923 | Italy | Amleto Palermi |
| Il tacchino | Le Dindon | 1925 | Italy | Mario Bonnard |
| Take Care of Amelia | Occupe-toi d'Amélie! | 1925 | Italy | Telemaco Ruggeri |
| Un fil à la patte [fr] | Un fil à la patte | 1925 | France | Robert Saidreau [fr] |
| The Queen of Moulin Rouge | La Duchesse des Folies-Bergère | 1926 | Austria | Robert Wiene |
| On purge bébé | On purge bébé | 1931 | France | Jean Renoir |
| Take Care of Amelie | Occupe-toi d'Amélie! | 1932 | France | Marguerite Viel and Richard Weisbach |
| Un fil à la patte [fr] | Un fil à la patte | 1933 | France | Karl Anton |
| The Girl from Maxim's | La Dame de chez Maxim | 1933 | UK | Alexander Korda |
| La dame de chez Maxim's | La Dame de chez Maxim | 1933 | France | Alexander Korda |
| Champignol malgré lui [fr] | Champignol malgré lui | 1933 | France | Fred Ellis |
| L'Hôtel du libre échange [fr] | L'Hôtel du libre échange | 1934 | France | Marc Allégret |
| Monsieur chasse [fr] | Monsieur chasse! | 1947 | France | Willy Rozier |
| Keep an Eye on Amelia | Occupe-toi d'Amélie! | 1949 | France | Claude Autant-Lara |
| The Girl from Maxim's | La Dame de chez Maxim | 1950 | France | Marcel Aboulker |
| The Turkey | Le Dindon | 1951 | France | Claude Barma |
| Le Fil à la patte [fr] | Un fil à la patte | 1955 | France | Guy Lefranc |
| Äktenskapsbrottaren | L'Hôtel du libre échange | 1964 | Sweden | Hasse Ekman |
| Hotel Paradiso | L'Hôtel du libre échange | 1966 | UK | Peter Glenville |
| A Flea in Her Ear | La Puce à l'oreille | 1968 | France/US | Jacques Charon |
| Le P'tit vient vite | Léonie est en avance ou le Mal joli | 1972 | Canada | Louis-Georges Carrier [fr] |
| Per favore, occupati di Amelia [it] | Occupe-toi d'Amélie! | 1981 | Italy | Flavio Mogherini |
| La pulga en la oreja [es] | La Puce à l'oreille | 1981 | Argentina | Pancho Guerrero |
| The Art of Breaking Up [fr] | Un fil à la patte | 2005 | France | Michel Deville |
| A Finada Mãe da Madame | Feu la mère de madame | 2016 | Brazil | Bernard Attal |

## Television adaptations

In the 1960s and 1970s the BBC filmed a series of fourteen farces by Feydeau, adapted by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin, under the collective title Ooh La La!. Some were adapted from one-act plays, others from full-length ones. All fourteen starred Patrick Cargill.
| Title | Adapted from | Co-starring with Patrick Cargill | Producer | Year |
| A Good Night's Sleep | Feu la mère de Madame | Amanda Barrie | Stuart Allen | 1968 |
| All Night Sitting | Tailleur pour dames | Amanda Barrie Anton Rodgers | Stuart Allen | 1968 |
| A Little Bit to Fall Back On | Les Pavés de l'ours | Amanda Barrie Jim Dale Fabia Drake | Stuart Allen | 1968 |
| Above Reproach | C'est une femme du monde | Amanda Barrie Donald Sinden Barbara Windsor | Stuart Allen | 1968 |
| Making a Pass | Dormez, je le veux! | Amanda Barrie Robertson Hare | Stuart Allen | 1968 |
| Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted | Gibier de potence | Amanda Barrie Anton Rodgers | Stuart Allen | 1968 |
| Call Me Maestro | Amour et piano | Fenella Fielding Roy Hudd | G. B. Lupino | 1968 |
| Keep an Eye on Amelie | Occupe-toi d'Amélie! | Judi Dench Bill Fraser | Douglas Argent | 1973 |
| A Pig in a Poke | Chat en poche | Richard Briers Joan Sims | Douglas Argent | 1973 |
| A-Hunting We Will Go | Monsieur chasse! | Barbara Murray Tony Britton Joan Hickson | Douglas Argent | 1973 |
| The Lady from Maxim's | La Dame de chez Maxim | Bernard Cribbins Barbara Windsor Betty Marsden | Douglas Argent | 1973 |
| Paying the Piper | Le Dindon | Amanda Barrie Michael Aldridge Michael Bates | Douglas Argent | 1973 |
| Caught in the Act | La Puce à l'oreille | Dinah Sheridan Patricia Routledge Bernard Bresslaw Dennis Waterman | Douglas Argent | 1973 |
| Kept on a String | Un Fil à la patte | Freddie Jones Eleanor Summerfield | Douglas Argent | 1973 |