of which is a novelist. It would be fortunate, however, if the reader understood that, by prompting remembrances of the artisans who, between 1900 and 1910, gave birth, in France, to the first cinema industry in the world, their pupil wanted to render homage to their memory." Clair acknowledged an influence on his own script from Molière's L'École des femmes, with its story of an older man's rivalry with a younger one for the affections of the same woman. The central role of M. Émile was originally intended for Raimu, but after his unexpected death in 1946, it was taken on by Maurice Chevalier, who was appearing in his first film for seven years. American version For the release of the film in the United States under the title Man About Town, Clair experimented with an English-language version which did not use either subtitles or dubbing. Working with American screenwriter Robert Pirosh, he produced a running English commentary on the action and the dialogue which was spoken on the soundtrack by Chevalier during the pauses in the French dialogue. The effect was supposed to be that of sitting next to a friend who explained what was being said when necessary, but in the event audiences were put off by finding the same voice/character feature both within the action on-screen as well as commenting on it off-screen, which seemed to diminish credibility. For this version, an additional musical scene was filmed in which Maurice Chevalier sang "Place Pigalle". The American version was, however, shortened to a running time of 89 minutes (compared with 106 minutes for the original French version). When the film was shown in London in 1948, it appeared under its original French title and was subtitled; the running time was however recorded as 99 minutes. Reception In France, Le silence est d'or was welcomed for marking not just the return of Clair to France, but his resumption of the preoccupations and the wit and elegance of his pre-war films. In the UK, the film received some qualified enthusiasm, alongside a feeling that it did not represent Clair at his best. For example: "...film and audience most enjoy themselves when the action is confined to the studio with sets and all the paraphernalia of primitive film-making perpetually collapsing and a quartet of hands, strayed from some Gallic crazy gang, eternally playing cards... This is not a major film of