Rothchild (1934) review - Harry Baur is brilliant in this weird French comedy

If you have seventy minutes to spare and don't mind squinting at old subtitles, Rothchild is absolutely worth a look today. It is perfect for anyone who loves old-school French comedies or just enjoys watching greedy people get fooled by their own snobbery. If you hate crackly 1930s audio or plots that rely on everyone being impossibly dumb, you will probably want to skip this one. 🤷‍♂️

The whole setup is beautifully simple. A homeless guy named Rothchild—spelled without the 's' at the end—gets mistaken for a member of the ultra-wealthy banking family.

Before he even knows what is happening, some shady financial guys make him the president of their new bank. They want to use his famous name to trick regular citizens into dumping their savings into a massive scam.

The legendary Harry Baur plays the main guy, and honestly, he is the entire reason this movie still works. He has this amazing, heavy face that looks like it was carved out of a sad potato.

There is a great bit early on where they try to clean him up and dress him in fancy clothes. He keeps pulling at his stiff collar like it is trying to choke him. It is a small physical joke, but Baur makes it feel so real and uncomfortable.

The movie has that chaotic energy you find in a lot of early talkies. It actually reminds me a bit of the silent comedy Dollars and Sense, where money madness makes everyone act like total lunatics.

But since this has sound, people mostly just yell. A lot.

The supporting cast is... loud. The actors playing the corrupt bankers seem to think the microphone is hidden in another building, so they shout almost every single line.

I did like the actress playing the love interest, even if her character makes zero sense. One minute she is helping with the scam, and the next she is deeply in love with our homeless hero. The romance apparantly exists just because some producer decided they needed a pretty girl on the poster.

There is also this one scene in an office where a tiny dog is sitting on a chair in the background. The dog is shivering and looking directly at the camera crew the entire time. I completely lost track of the dialogue because I was so worried about that little pup. 🐶

The satire itself is pretty sharp, even if the financial details are total nonsense. The filmmakers clearly did not care how actual banking works, they just wanted to show that rich people are gullible idiots.

By the time we get to the big climax, the plot basically falls apart. Everything gets resolved in about two minutes with a couple of quick, lazy conversations.

It is definitely not a masterpiece. But if you want to see a great actor have fun playing a confused hobo-turned-millionaire, it is a really good time.