| The Suitors Club | |
| Producer: | Alfred Greven |
| Starring: | Fernandel Louise Carletti Annie France |
| Music: | Philippe Parès Georges Van Parys |
| Cinematography: | Léonce-Henri Burel |
| Editing: | Christian Gaudin |
| Studio: | Continental Films |
| Distributor: | L'Alliance Cinématographique Européenne |
| Runtime: | 80 minutes |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
The Suitors Club (French: Le club des soupirants) is a 1941 French comedy film directed by Maurice Gleize and starring Fernandel, Louise Carletti and Annie France.[1] [2] [3] The film was produced by the German-backed company Continental Films. It was shot at the Marseille Studios and on location around Nice in the Unoccupied Zone.[4] The film's sets were designed by the art director Georges Wakhévitch.
Having run up heavy debts, a group of young men are persuaded by their creditor to court the wealthy heiress Daisy's hand in marriage. They are given intensive training in the arts of wooing. Amongst them is Antoine a butterfly collector who is more interested in Daisy's cousin Edith. In fact Edith turns out to have the money, while Daisy finds genuine romance with Maxime.
Marcel Pagnol rented his studio in southern France to Continental Films in early 1941. Filming started in April, but was stopped by Vichy authorities due to the "immoral and false insinuations that it contains about French society". Maurice Gleize consulted with the Propaganda Abteilung which respected the French government's right to censor films, but that censoring films in the Zone libre was "not a sound policy". This was the only Continental film made in southern France.