1933 Pre-Code Drama - Topaze
Channel: Сinema BAI
Date: 2022-09-20

Topaze
Plot
Prof. Auguste A. Topaze (John Barrymore), an honest, naive chemist and schoolteacher at the Stegg Academy in Paris, loses his job when he refuses to accede to a demand by the Baroness de La Tour-La Tour to alter the grades of her bratty son, Charlemagne.

On the same day, Friday the 13th, Topaze calls on the Baron de La Tour-La Tour's mistress, Coco (Myrna Loy), who is looking for a tutor for her sister's son, Alphonse, and had gotten Topaze's name from La Tour. Upon meeting and listening to the sincere remarks of Topaze, the baron, head of the La Tour Chemical Works, decides to employ him as a scientific front for his phony curative water.

After an encounter at a cafe, where the Baron narrowly avoids a scene with his wife by calling Coco "Madame Topaze", Coco reveals the true nature of her relation to the Baron to the naive Professor. When they arrive late back to Coco's apartment, the Baron is jealous, but soon realizes Topaze is entirely innocent.

Unaware that the water, "Sparkling Topaze," which is being sold all over Paris, does not contain the medicinal formula he invented for it, Topaze is shocked when Dr. Bomb (who had turned down the "honor" of having the fraudulent water named for him) shows up, demanding 100,000 francs from the Baron or he will expose the fraudulent product. But the Baron blackmails him in return with information about his previous identity, and Bomb is dragged out.