La prison en folie: A chaotic blast from the past

Is it worth your time?

If you like your movies loud, slightly messy, and very much stuck in their own time, you might get a kick out of this. It’s definitely not for the folks who need a deep plot or high-stakes drama. If you’re looking for something that feels like a theater sketch caught on film, jump right in. If you get annoyed by characters shouting over each other, maybe watch Noisy Neighbors instead for a different kind of headache.

There is this one moment about halfway through where someone drops a tray of plates and it feels like the noise lasts for an eternity. It’s not even a funny gag, really. It’s just loud. You can tell the sound guy was probably having a rough Tuesday.

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it’s sprinting toward a punchline that doesn't exist, and other times it just stops dead. It’s like the editor was working on two different movies at the same time and accidentally spliced them together.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of La prison en folie (1931) through its definitive frames.

Odd little things I noticed

• The uniforms look like they were tailored for people twice the size of the actors.
• There’s a cat in the background of the mess hall scene that clearly has no idea it's in a movie.
• The dialogue feels like it was written on the back of a napkin right before cameras started rolling.

I found myself zoning out during the scenes with the guards. They keep trying to be authoritative, but they just look like they’re trying to remember their next line. It’s charming in a way, I guess? Or maybe it’s just lazy. Hard to tell with these older comedies.

It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Flying High, though that one had a bit more of a rhythmic flow to the madness. Here, the madness is just… constant. It’s like being trapped in a room with someone who is really, really excited to tell you a joke you’ve already heard twice.

Is it funny? Sometimes. Usually when no one is talking and they’re just falling over things. The physical comedy holds up better than the script. 🤡

Don't look for a moral. Don't look for character growth. Just watch them run around in circles and let it be what it is. I think I liked it, but I also think I needed a nap right after it finished.