Le billet de logement (1932) Review: Shaky Walls and Loud Frenchmen

Honestly, don't bother tracking down Le billet de logement unless you are a complete nerd for early 1930s French talkies. It is loud, it is messy, and it feels like a stage play that someone forgot to actually adapt for the camera. 🎟️

But hey, if you love seeing people squeeze into tiny rooms and argue about military lodging tickets, you might actually have a decent time. Anyone looking for a slick, clever comedy will probably end up throwing their remote at the screen.

The whole plot hinges on a soldier getting assigned to stay at a civilian's house. Naturally, this leads to about ninety minutes of people hiding in closets and pretending to be someone else.

It reminds me of the chaotic room-swapping in Laughing Gravy, though that one had a cute dog and this one just has angry Frenchmen.

There is this one actor, Albert Broquin, who has the most bizarre facial expressions.

Every time he is in the background of a scene, he looks like he is trying to remember if he left his oven on back in Paris. 🤨

And the sets! You can tell they were made of thin wood because the walls literally shake whenever a door slams shut.

Which happens a lot. Like, all the time.

Jeanne Helbling is supposedly the main star here, but she spends half the movie looking slightly annoyed by the camera's presence. I do not blame her.

I did love this one bit where a character tries to hide a bottle of wine under a couch cushion.

The cushion is way too small. You can clearly see the green glass sticking out, but everyone in the scene just pretends it is not there.

It is those little, lazy moments that make these old, forgotten films charming to watch late at night.

It is definitely not a masterpiece like some other early comedies from that era, say Circus Rookies.

But it has a weird, frantic pace that keeps you from falling asleep, even when the jokes do not land.

The audio is pretty rough too. Sometimes the actors speak so fast their words turn into a mushy soup of French vowels.

Still, there is a certain warmth to how cheap and fast this whole thing was put together.

Just do not expect anything deep. It is basically a live-action cartoon with more mustaches.