Un Oiseau Rare (1935)
Directed by Richard Pottier
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Un Oiseau Rare (Rare Bird) is a wide-ranging satire of several mid-1930s aberrations, including giveaway contests, advertising campaigns and pretentious summer resorts. In a virtual repeat of his role in Rene Clair's Last Billionaire, Max Dearly plays Melleville, an eccentric millionaire who wants to find out how those less fortunate than himself muddle through life. Disguising himself as an impoverished contest winner, Melleville signs in at a fancy hotel. Meanwhile, the actual winner, impecunious Jean Berthier (Pierre Brasseur), also shows up at the hotel, where through a series of silly misunderstandings he's assumed to be the wealthy Melleville. The mistaken-identity angle is played to the hilt, with both Melleville and Berthier learning a lot of life's lessons the hard way.