L'oncle de Pékin: A Musical Mess with Good Intentions

Is L'oncle de Pékin worth your time today? Honestly, that depends on how much you enjoy watching old, dusty stage-bound comedies where the music feels like a sudden interruption rather than a narrative choice. If you’re a fan of vintage French oddities or just like seeing how they made movies back when everyone was obsessed with 'the inheritance plot,' you’ll find some charm here. Everyone else? You’ll probably be checking your watch within the first twenty minutes.

The whole premise is classic 1930s silliness. A bunch of terrible relatives are trapped in a chateau, waiting for a buyer. It’s basically The Freshman but with way more shouting and much less actual college. The real stars here are the servants, who spend most of the runtime trying to drive the heirs absolutely bonkers. It’s mean-spirited in a way that feels surprisingly modern, even if the execution is pure vaudeville.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of L'oncle de Pékin (1934) through its definitive frames.

There is this one sequence where the heirs are trying to maintain their composure while the house is essentially falling apart around them, and it drags for a solid eternity. You can almost see the actors looking at the camera like, 'Are we still doing this?' It’s awkward, weird, and kind of hypnotic in a what-the-heck-am-I-watching sort of way. 🎭

The music is… well, it’s there. Sometimes it feels like a genuine attempt at a musical, other times it’s just someone singing to fill the void. It doesn't have the polish of something like The Raggedy Queen, but it’s got a weird, frantic energy that I didn't hate.

Notes from the couch:

• The chateau set looks like it’s held together by tape and prayers.
• The servant characters have all the best lines, even if the stereotypes are pretty exhausting by today's standards.
• The musical numbers feel like they were filmed on a different planet.
• I’m pretty sure someone trips over the same rug at least three times in the second act.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a particularly 'good' movie by any standard measure. But it’s got this strange, messy rhythm that keeps you from turning it off completely. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Le disparu de l'ascenseur, where the chaos just piles up until you stop trying to make sense of the plot and just lean into the noise. Not essential, but definitely weird enough to stick in your brain for a few days.